Be a Nerd That Talks Good: Transform Your Technical Knowledge Into Powerful Messages

by Joel Benge

The nerd’s ultimate guide for turning technical knowledge into compelling and effective messagingEvery tech founder who tries to get the message out about their product knows the moment they’ve lost their audience. Blank stares come from the people you need most to buy into your message or understand your concepts. Without the ability to effectively explain technical concepts to a nontechnical audience, data points and all your knowledge become a hindrance instead of a relevant message. Even when you nail every technical concept in your pitch, if your messaging isn’t delivered in a way that becomes relevant to the listener, they won’t pick up what you’re putting down.

For two decades, MessageSpecs Consulting founder Joel Benge has been helping tech nerds ditch boring IT pitches in favor of authentic people-first messaging without getting caught in jargon. Combining classical philosophy and modern neuroscience, Be a Nerd That Talks Good guides tech nerds on how to tell their story and connect with audiences. Inspired by Aristotle’s rhetoric, Joel uses his MessageSpecs heart, head, and gut model to teach you how to balance your messaging and use emotion, logic, and credibility to get noticed, be understood, and accomplish goals.

You’ll The reasons why technical messaging often fails and how to avoid pushing people into their overloaded “caveman brains” without dumbing it down.How to leverage your Big Idea to capture your audience and hold their attention.The keys that will take your message from one that simply informs to one that resonates and converts audiences into clients.How gamifying the process can help you hack your brain into creating messages that stand out, stick with your audience, and scale across teams.Tools to create consistency and engagement in your message to keep you from wasting money on unclear marketing plans.If you’re a tech nerd ready to go from oversharing and underselling your tech to communicating with confidence, Be a Nerd That Talks Good bridges the gap between deep technical knowledge and clear, effective messaging, turning those blank stares into blank checks.

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 11, 2025

About the author

Joel Benge is the principal nerd that talks good at MessageSpecs Consulting and helps other nerds talk good too. Joel has always been more interested in how people communicate technology than the inner workings of the technology itself, so he uses “message therapy” (no, that’s not a typo!) to not only address the how of technical messaging but also the so what, the why, and sometimes even the wtf.

Working with companies from Nickelodeon to NASA, Joel has mastered the art of communicating complicated ideas and technology to every kind of audience and team. Always the one who “talks good” at his jobs, he knew there needed to be a better way to help technical companies communicate on their own. He developed MessageDeck, a card deck that gamifies the process to help developers better communicate their ideas and discover their credibility builders and hooks for their messaging. In his book, Be a Nerd That Talks Good, and his podcast, Nerds That Talk Good, Joel shares how technical communicators and facilitators can break through the blank-stare moments to reach their audiences.

Joel is a recovering theater kid, technical nerd, and startup survivor. With a background in theater, education, and video games, Joel became an IT guy and went into cybersecurity and compliance. He worked as the principal cybersecurity communications manager for the Department of Homeland Security and coordinated policy and communication to teams, leadership, and Congress. He moved on to being the director of communications at a cybersecurity startup. At a marketing agency, he serviced dozens of security startups, the Defense Department, and intelligence agencies, helping them communicate and fixing their marketing approaches, eventually becoming the head of content. He’s had speaking opportunities in Zurich, Switzerland, the RSA Conference, and a private audience at the White House.

Born in Lansing, Michigan, as a military brat, Joel settled outside of the DC/Baltimore area. He is a husband and father, a hobbyist card game creator, a puppeteer, and a (poor) didgeridoo player.

For more information on Joel’s work, visit his website at https://messagespecs.com. You can also listen to his podcast, Nerds That Talk Good, at https://messagespecs.com/the-podcast.