I recommend that people watch the movie "time of the wolf".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324197/

It's scary in way that horror films cannot be, because it centers on disorientation and uncertainty.

I think it's very easy to get the message across to people in person, as I do it all the time.

Let them bring it up, in the form of high heating or gasoline costs.  If you start, it sounds like proselytizing.

Never use the term "peak oil."  It either introduces something they don't know, which you have to explain anyway, or they have heard it and think it's one of those weird online conspiracy things.

Tell them prices are high because of supply and demand--the amont of oil being produced can't keep up with the quickly rising worldwide demand, particularly from China.  They understand S&D, so you'll have no trouble there.

Then hit them with a fixating stat: The world uses 85 million barrels of oil per day.  That's old news to everyone here, but when non-energy geeks hear it for the first time it stops most of them dead in their tracks.  

Then tell them oil production has been declining in the US48 since 1970, and mention other exporting countries that are seeing big drops.  This is where they get the wide-eyed look.  

Finally, tell them that this isn't really old news--some geologist guy named Hubbert predicted the US48peak in 1956.

If they're still breathing, tell them they can find more information on TOD, EB, etc.

I try to get people used to the idea by trying to get them to see where "conventional wisdom" is flawed.

That is, when talking to most people, the opinion that "there is plenty of oil" typically comes up pretty soon. I ask them if they think there is an infinite amount.

If they truly believe that, I will never convince them of anything. But usually with a little prodding people will grudgingly admit that there must be some limit.

From here it is easy to conclude that we will start running out sometime. The response is often along the lines of "Yeah, but that is so long from now it doesn't matter."

How long is that? Even the most riduculous forecast, anyone they can mention (USGS, the Saudis, oil companies themselves), agree there is not much more that 50 years of oil left, prehaps 100 (obviously that is a crass statement, assuming an impossible amount of recoverable oil and ignoring all sorts of physical issues, but it is sufficient for our purposes here).

So is 50 years a long time?

That is in the (current expected) lifetime of many of us. Easily in that of our children. Very possibly, our grandchildren won't even be out of high school in 50 years. Your parents probably remember 50 years ago. 50 years is not long at all.

This make it more tangible. Even the using the farthest out, most pie-in-the-sky projections, we will "run out of oil" so soon you could be around see the day. After that we will have none. Nothing. No cars, no planes, nothing at all. And people we know and love, our kids, perhaps even us, will be dealing with it.

Most people will at least stop for a second here.

Then you go into why the extreme projection are likely way off (big fields peaking all around the world already). And how things like ANWR are so tiny as to not make much difference (85 million bpd vs perhaps 1).

And the ancedote about Hubbert predicting the peak of US oil is usually pretty good. I find many people don't realize that US oil production has been decreasing for almost 40 years.

I was a kid in the UK during WW2 and I have beeen thinking how little we relied on oil in civilian life at that time, every drop was needed by the forces.
I went to school on a tram(streetcar) powered by electricity from a coal fired power station, there were diesel trucks and  some diesel buses but a lot of commerce was delivered by horse drawn vehicles, Laundry, green grocery, bread, milk, coal, post and hardware were brought to your door by horse drawn traffic. There were also steam lorries (trucks) which were coal fired. They were quiet and surprisingly fast.
It was possible to travel by steam train to just about anywhere in the UK and there was a lot of waiting in line to book tickets and then to board the train. you were exceptionally lucky if you gat a seat.
We kept warm with coal fires which had a back boiler for hot water and a side oven for baking, or we could cook on a gas stove fuelled by gas made from coal at the gasworks which every town had.
Lighting was by electricity 1 X 60 watt bulb in a living room was thought adequate. But there were a lot of houses which had gas lighting which hissed and burned with a greenish glow It was paid for with a coin in a meter so when the light started to go dim there was a hunt for small change
 lot of people cycled and had allotmants, a bit of ground rented to you at a nominal sum by the municipal athourities.
for the purpose of growing produce, also people kept ducks, or chickens or even a pig if they had room.
The air was filthy in a coal society. Thousands of domestic fires. locomatives and factory chimneys all belching out smoke caused fogs, lung disorders, and blackened buildings.
there was always a smell of sulpher in the air and the sun shone weakly through the haze.
Most things were rationed, there was very little protein or fat but diet wise people were healther than before the war or since. Obesity was not a problem.