Our current system in the talent show metaphor: here are contestants. Voting takes place. The contestant with the largest share of the votes wins; there are no rounds of elimination.
AV: here are contestants. Voting takes place. The contestant with the smallest share of the votes is eliminated. Second round of voting, in which everyone who voted for the eliminated contestant in the first round switches to their favourite of the remaining contestants instead.
Basically, AV makes sure that nobody's vote is wasted, even if their favourite is unlikely to win outright. And I think that's a good thing; it means that nobody's forced to vote for a party that isn't the party they really want just because it's 'safer'.
Re: let me have a go at explaining it
AV: here are contestants. Voting takes place. The contestant with the smallest share of the votes is eliminated. Second round of voting, in which everyone who voted for the eliminated contestant in the first round switches to their favourite of the remaining contestants instead.
Basically, AV makes sure that nobody's vote is wasted, even if their favourite is unlikely to win outright. And I think that's a good thing; it means that nobody's forced to vote for a party that isn't the party they really want just because it's 'safer'.