In the past I've had people come in to the school I was training at and inquire about the differences between TKD and other arts. Like the person that came into your school, most people are curious about the differences between TKD and karate.
Without getting too technical, I think the best thing to tell them is that TKD emphasizes kicking over most other elements. There are standing kicks, skipping kicks, jumping kicks, flying kicks, sliding kicks, etc. Karate does not have the same large variety of kicking techniques that TKD has.
Also that TKD is more effective at greater distances than karate is. It's generally considered a long range art. Karate is usually more effective in a closer range due to a larger portion of their techniques being done with the hands.
Aside from that TKD has similar techniques and execution to what you would find in shotokan karate... of course that also depends on your TKD background as well.
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