Public Speaking & Writing: How to Expand & Impact your Audience-Part 2 (Words to Avoid)

Why to Choose your Words Mindfully

You have a very important message you get across.  You’re a leader.  There are people waiting to hear from you.  These are people who are ready to change themselves, a system, or some component of their personal or work-related life or both.   Yet they need you to show them how.  You have the information, the experience, the vision.  Here is how to successfully communicate it to them.

Ways to Use these Word Strategies

These strategies are effective for both speaking your information and writing your information.  Realize that it will be easiest to practice this in writing than in speech. The reason for this is that the components of speaking and writing are different.  More time is allowed for language formulation when writing.  When you get really good at this in writing, you’ll have an easier time transitioning to effectively using these strategies in speaking.

How these Strategies Work

The purpose of the following examples and word replacements is to help you convey your message much more clearly to your audience.  The examples provide a word to avoid and a word to replace the avoided word.    Remember, your audience can be one person or a hundred or more people.  They can be listening to you speak or processing what you’re writing.

2 Words to Avoid and their Replacements

Word #1 (Although)

AVOID: Although

Benefit: Avoiding the use of the word “although” forces you to break your one long sentence into two simpler sentences.  The pause after “however” catches the listener’s attention.

Original Example: Although many service providers know their subject well, they have a hard time conveying it.

Replace with: However

New example: Many service providers know their subject well.  However, they have a hard time conveying it.

Word #2: To (verb)

AVOID: To (verb)

Benefit: To (verb) is more passive.  When you use active verb forms, you bring your audience into your experience more directly.

Original Example: You have the power in the word combinations you choose to either hasten the learning rate of your audience members or to prolong it.

New example: You have power in the word combinations you choose.  You can either hasten the learning rate of your audience members or prolong it.

Summary

Your spoken and written words are critical to leaving your audience with every bit of your information (and YOU) that you want them to remember.  To catch the listener’s attention, pause after using the word “however” as a replacement for “although”.  Replace “to (verb)” with the verb itself to engage your audience more fully.

To your communication excellence,

Cher