When it comes to reaching your audience, simple words and sentence structure work best. Speak simply when speaking!
In his book, The Sir Winston Method: The Five Secrets of Speaking the Language of Leadership, the author asks us to imagine what the fate of World War II might have been if the Prime Minister of Britain did not have an excellent command of the spoken language. Imagine if Churchill had not uttered his immortal, “I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat, and tears.” But, instead said, “I have nothing to offer but sanguinary fluids, sudorific secretions, and lachrymal elements.”
I think Sr. Winston would have lost command of his audience with the second rendition of his famous quote. Don’t you agree?
Best-selling novelist James Michener used basic language. In his marvelous book about his life and writing career, The World Is My Home; he made one recommendation in two words: write simply. He explained: “I try to follow the pattern of Ernest Hemingway, who achieved a striking style with short, familiar words.
Short words are the quickest, most direct way to people’s minds.
Acronyms
If there is any one thing that can confuse your audience, it is acronyms. So even if speaking to an audience familiar with your topic or industry, you can never be too clear about the acronyms in your talk.
When I was the Training Coordinator for the Office of Research at UCLA, we used acronyms up the wazoo, as you can see in the image above. Do you think our audience remembered many of these, even if we explained the acronyms when first introduced? Not likely.
The best practice is to create a cheat sheet of acronyms that your audience can refer to during your talk. Let them know it is there right from the start. Then you can save lots of wasted minutes spelling out what each acronym you utter means.
In conclusion: Speak Simply when Speaking
Let us not forget one of the greatest speeches in History – The Gettysburg Address. Less than 275 words in length, Lincoln’s three-minute-long speech defined the meaning of the Civil War.
