How much information do players actually need?

I love blethering and I am guilty of chatsplaining everything up front at times.

I want the players to understand the activity, so I explain the set-up, the purpose, the technical detail, the likely problems and the solutions to problems they have not even seen yet. By the time I finish, the first thing I said has disappeared.

During a recent session, I introduced an activity looking at how attacking lines can manipulate defenders. The introduction was short. The players needed to understand what was happening, why we were doing it and enough detail to start safely.

They did not need every possible answer before they had seen the picture or had a chance to explore and fail.

Once the activity started, the problems became real. We could talk about the defender's movement, the line of the attacker, the timing of the pass and what different solutions might look like. The feedback now had a picture attached to it rather than being another sentence in the opening explanation.

This does not mean throwing players into a confusing activity and hoping they work it out. If the group has no idea where to stand, what the rules are or what they are trying to achieve, the explanation has not done its job.

I try to keep it to three things: what is happening, why we are doing it and what they need to know to begin.

The rest can come through observation, questions, feedback and changes to the activity.

The more I speak, the less they remember anyway.

Safe in, safe out.