Antoni Lee’s blog

Robert Louis Stevenson said that when we know all a person’s adjectives, we have all his or her treasures.

In a media interview, speech or presentation, when a person overuses a word we accept that it’s out of habit and we bear with it. Perhaps he or she loves the word, ‘awesome,’ or ‘absolutely,’ and peppers the conversation with one of those words. When it goes on and on, we tune its meaning out. Overusing a word or phrase dilutes its power.

In another category of favourites, some words sound good when spoken. Words like absquatulate, crepuscular and sesquipedalian tumble nicely out of the mouth. Unfortunately when they land on people’s ears, the results may not be what we anticipated.

I’m all for music in language, but unless you’re William Faulkner, using obscure or overly long words can be a bad idea:

1. It can look like showing off.
2. It can embarrass people when they don’t know what one of your words means.
3. It makes of a fool of the speaker or writer who rushes in and misuses words.
4. It can be a long-winded, woolly, unnecessary substitute for a short, clear word.

Some rules of thumb:

1. Use words that express rather than impress.
2. Don’t use a word just because it sounds good. Use words in palette and context.
3. Use adjectives for specificity, not emphasis.
4. Don’t overuse a word or phrase. Repetition works best when it’s intentional and well-placed.

Many writers have useful things to say on this topic, including George Orwell, Mark Twain, William Zinsser and Sol Stein.

One sign that standards of public communication are low is the delight we feel when a public figure says something with insight briefly and clearly. Too often, our ears glaze over under the wash of drivel and dross, our eyes fail to see the vision because the speaker hasn’t made their message clear.

Unmask your message.

Unclear thinking is bad for communication. Unfortunately well-established, poor communicators legitimise bad communication. Poor communication in high places is copied by less experienced communicators who think that what they hear and see is ‘best practice.’ It usually isn’t.

It’s easy to see that the most experienced communicators are not always the best communicators. A British Labour MP recently said that his boss, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, needs to learn ‘fluent human’ if he wants to connect with voters. No doubt Brown is intelligent, experienced and politically savvy, but those things do not necessarily make for great communication. An Adelaide-based English professor writing in The Australian accused Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of speaking bureaucratese and diplo-babble. Rudd can communicate well, but like most of us, he doesn’t always do so.

It’s easy for speakers to justify themselves with excuses: ‘This is a highly regulated/sensitive/specialised/ complex field,’ or ‘I was speaking only in the context of such and such a forum.’ In other words, ‘My content is above or beyond simplification’ or ‘In this context, it’s acceptable to speak incomprehensibly.’ Rubbish. Be as complicated as you like within very limited professional circles, but not in public (and by extension not in the media).

So what to do? Here’s a short list of ways to add zip and sparkle to your language (written and spoken):

1. Cut out unnecessary words
2. Use simple words
3. Use short words
4. Avoid or explain technical words
5. Let verbs be verbs, don’t turn them into nouns
6. Use fewer abstract nouns and more concrete nouns (i.e. words that create pictures)
7. Avoid double and triple negatives (e.g. “I could not fail to disagree with you less.”)
8. Link your thoughts so others can more easily follow
9. Cut out the jargon
10. Avoid ambiguity (repeat nouns rather than use too many pronouns)
11. Use the active voice (e.g. ‘the dog sat on the mat’ rather than ‘the mat was sat on by the dog’)
12. Emphasise the positive aspects and people will want to keep reading. Negative phrasing can seem bossy and hostile. Negative words may give you an unintended headline if you’re speaking to the media.
13. Cut unnecessary preambles
14. Kill or define initialisms (not to mention calling initialisms acronyms)

Hiding behind a lack of (presenting or other) education is not good enough. If you’re an adult and have access to the Internet, you can access and learn from the best resources in the world.

Do you use too many buzzwords? Britain’s Campaign for Plain English offers a simple remedy: Write down the top ten buzzwords or phrases you use and come up with a plain English alternative list.

In private and informal conversations, speaking conversationally includes hesitant starts, unplanned repetition, half thoughts, trailing off, expletives, not quite saying what you mean, and so on. That’s all fine in private, but disastrous in the media and in public.

The start to speaking powerfully is to speak clearly. Politicians who focus as much on speaking plainly as much as they do on speaking politically, will win more votes. Businesses that shorten and tighten up their written communication will increase efficiencies and sell more products. Lawyers who write in plain English help people engage more effectively in legal action and processes.

Poor communication certainly costs. It adds to cynicism and lack of trust. Is there hard evidence that clear communication can make a positive difference? Back to the Campaign for Plain English, for a single example. The campaign helped British Aerospace redraft and cut a 150-page international leasing agreement down to 50 pages. The result: shortened timeframe to close a ₤120 million deal by several months.

Speaking well involves the right content AND the right delivery, but most speakers focus only on the content. (Frankly, many speakers in business and politics don’t even do that very well, using hackneyed phrases, jargon, unexplained initialisms, passive voicings, double negatives–and so on.)

Speaking well involves more than choosing content.

Proper attention to delivery involves lots of things, including posture, expression, dress, location, projection, nerve management, and using your voice.

Communicating excellently and achieving excellent communication results involves proper expression through the vocal ‘instrument.’ Sadly for speaker potential, proper and maximal use of the voice is often ignored by speakers, usually because they aren’t aware of the possible improvements and how to make them.

Take speaking pace for example. How fast is the right pace? Most people would have to guess. Knowing the right natural pace in words per second (and what that feels like) will help you work out the number of words required for any speaking performance. Pace also directly influences speaker potential to project and vary tonal patterns, draw on speaking fuel (i.e. breath) and to make the most of rhythm.

If you have to speak in public, don’t forget that your vocal performance can enhance your message, allowing light and dark, rhythm and pitch variation to lift your audience out of a soporific vocal monotony.

If you want more specifics about how we train speakers to harness their personal vocal style and potential email me at antoni@redact.com.au.