Many business speakers feel the need to show off in front of an audience by using big words.

Don't do it.

The shorter the word, the better. The smaller the word, the more common the word, the better.

If you don't use a word regularly in every day speech, chances are, you shouldn't use it in a speech. William F. Buckley, the long-time conservative polemicist, can get away with using super-huge words because that's a part of his shtick. But you aren't William F. Buckley.

Don't say "utilize" when a simple "use" will do.

Don't say "mitigate" when "lessen" will do.

Forget "parameters". Use "boundaries."

The eye is better at reading multi-syllabic words than is the ear at hearing them. Even as learned a person as Winston Churchill prided himself in being able to give a complicated speech on foreign policy while never using a word with more than two syllables.

It's OK to think and communicate big ideas, but use words as small as possible when talking to your audience.

Are you ready to practice your next speech?

 

~ TJ Walker

 

 

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