"Let Me Make This Perfectly Clear."

 "Let me make this perfectly clear."  That's one of many quotes attributed to Richard Nixon.  That quote should resonate loudly in today's social media, and in any effort to get a message across?

I love reminders that we need to communicate simply and directly – without a veneer of words and phrases that we know, but our audience may not. 

Jeremy Epstein did a great job of doing just that. He was writing primarily about talking to non-native English speakers. But here’s the real nugget is his post:

“It’s extremely easy to forget how much we already know…and ASSUME that our audience knows as well.”

Well said. 

I’m not questioning that some people and their presentations assume the audience has the same breadth and depth of knowledge.  In many cases, it’s okay.  But I’m also suggesting that we get too wrapped up in acronyms, abbreviations and buzzwords the “big guys” use.  We do the same presentation but keep adding the new “pro” words until we start missing some of our audience.  

 Surely you’ve seen someone nod their head in agreement during a presentation, then afterwards say, “What did he mean by that?”  We thought everyone was on the same page, but a few folks were behind a few chapters.

Our mission is to communicate clearly and give people reasons to communicate about us, about our product, about our ideas.  Don’t let your own familiarity dull the focus on words and images. If we expect people to pass along that we are remarkable, special, top notch, etc. – shouldn’t we take extra time to be sure they actually get the right message to pass along?

My suggestion:  take everything off the table and put it back one piece at a time.  Examine the audience, then decide if your words, stories and images match their languages, cultures and contexts.  It’s all about them.