Preparing to Master the Stage

Avoid Jargon-Creep

Keep your language simple and universal whenever possible. Unless you’re speaking to a closed audience made up entirely of industry members who understand the buzz words, stay away from acronyms and slang.

Computer people are especially prone to this. (I can say that because I’m one of them!) We like to use cool acronyms and techno speak because we know how to do that. Secretly, at least for us guys, it’s because we think that if we use all the coolest words and jargon, all the pretty women will want to have sex with us. So far, that theory hasn’t proven to be as solid as I originally thought!

Nevertheless, the urge to impress your audience with huge words and acronyms that only the cool people know can be pretty powerful. For the benefit of your audience, who only wants to be impressed by your message, open up your language to the masses and use wording that everyone in the room can understand.

I once watched a spiritual speaker who gave a thirty-minute talk, and apparently, it was about the use of our spiritual nature to manifest our desires. For thirty minutes, I listened to huge words and spiritual jargon that made zero sense to me. To this day, I still have no clue what he was talking about. I just didn’t get it at all.

So, what’s the lesson? Keep the language relevant to the audience. When in doubt, simpler is better.