Freeing the Voice from Habit: Words to Savor

It’s easy to leave our audience behind when we slide through important words:

• Names

• Places

• Acronyms

• Jargon

• Terms of art

• Foreign words

Instead, I invite you to savor these words. Let them land. Enjoy them.

Even if everyone knows the name, or we assume they do (“Kim Kardashian”), we need to slow down and deliver it with love (“KIIM KAHRDASHEEAN”).

The same applies to names of places (“Tallahassee”) and foreign words, even if commonly used (“voila”).

Pay special attention to technical terms, jargon, and terms of art. Who is your audience? Do they speak this technical or professional language? These are words that we may assume our audience knows, but it’s best not to assume anything! Even if one person does not understand or cannot hear us, we have lost them.

Acronyms demand the weight of a period after every letter. S.E.L.C. stands for the Southern Environmental Law Center. Without the periods, it sounds like, “essee-el-see.”

This week, SAVOR names, places, acronyms, jargon, technical terms, terms of art, and foreign words. Give them love and weight.

Here is a video illustrating exactly what I mean.