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Language Tutorial
The words that you choose can greatly strengthen your message, or undermine it. It's important to present using your everyday language and diction. This makes your presentation more conversational, and thus engages the audience. Don't attempt to impress your audience with big words, instead find words that clearly and crisply make your point.
How:
- Use short sentences (8–15 words).
- Use positive language that tells people why they want to listen. For example: "This is a power way to solve your problems. The next slide displays a problem that I know is important to everyone here."
- Check your grammar.
- Use analogies to make technical terms come alive.
- The first time you use an acronym introduce it with a brief description, then tell the audience that you'll be using the acronym for the term.
Why:
- Research shows people can't process sentences of more than 13 words.
- Using jargon is like speaking a foreign language, and it requires your audience to add an extra information processing step.
- Correct word choice sustains audience attention.
- To control use of non-words.
Practice Ideas:
- List common acronyms and jargon that you use. Promise yourself that you will explain those terms during the presentation.
- Practice giving your presentations in front of a friend or a colleague. Have them count the number of words in your sentences. Calculate the average length of your sentences.
- Chose a few technical terms prevalent in your organization. Brain storm analogies for the term. See how it works to use the analogy.
- Think of a presentation that you have been given. Write positively worded transitions for some of the slides that you will present.
Watch Out For:
- Giving your audience the message that what you are saying is not important, or is boring. For example: "I have been tasked with", "You probably know that", or "I'll just quickly review this".
- Jargon and acronyms.
- When speaking to diverse cultural groups, remove colloquialisms and any terms that may be difficult for non-native English speakers to understand.
- Weak language. Avoid saying, "I hope", "I'll try to", and "I might". Replace with, "I will", "I can", or "You will".