Avoid This Common Pitfall in Your Presentations

As an Executive Speech Consultant and creator of Fripp Virtual Training, I’m dedicated to helping you sound as intelligent and credible as possible during your presentations. Whether you’re delivering a sales presentation, a keynote speech, or a critical boardroom report, selecting the right words elevates your message and ensures it resonates and sticks. This is true in the boardroom and on the convention stage.

Specificity Adds to Your Credibility

Is your goal to build your credibility? Use exact and powerful words to sound intelligent and ensure your message is impactful. Avoid vague language that causes your audience’s attention to drift.

The Power of Specificity

During a coaching session, a highly educated engineer prepared for a session at his company’s international customer meeting. Initially, he said, “There are two things’ people love about our services…” Prompted by my question, “If it weren’t a ‘thing,’ what would it be?” he clarified, “Innovative upgrades.”  I then asked, “There are billions of people in the world. Which people love your innovative upgrades?” His response: “Systems administrators.”

On stage, his message transformed to, “There are two innovative upgrades that systems administrators love.” This specific language tailored his message to an exact audience and enhanced its impact. This was especially critical as his audience was globally diverse, with customers from 71 countries.

The Lazy ‘Thing’ and How to Avoid It

I am on a crusade to help executives, engineers, speakers, experts, and sales professionals upgrade the word “thing.” It’s broad, unspecific, and often a placeholder for a more precise concept. As a decades-long National Speakers Association and Professional Speechwriters Association member, I am embarrassed to admit how frequently I’ve noticed its misuse among professional speakers and speechwriters who often write for history. It’s a simple yet fuzzy word that dilutes the power of a message.

Sharpening Your Language

I encourage replacing “thing” with more potent and specific alternatives to combat linguistic laziness. Here’s an alphabetized list I created to help refine your vocabulary:

Options to ‘Thing’

Approach, Assumption, Attitude, Challenge, Commitment, Conclusion, Condition, Consideration, Deduction, Deliberation, Detail, Discipline, Distraction, Element, Event, Example, Exercise, Experience, Fact, Focus, Habit, Idea, Image, Inspiration, Instruction, Lesson, Message, Method, Miracle, Moment, Necessity, Opinion, Opportunity, Option, Organization, Paradox, Perception, Philosophy, Practice, Precaution, Principle, Problem, Process, Program, Reason, Reflection, Routine, Safeguard, Secret, Sentiment, Speculation, Speech, Strategy, Tendency, Thought, View, Way.

Next time you catch yourself or someone else falling back on “thing,” take a moment to choose a word that adds more precision and impact to the sentence. These substitutions enrich your vocabulary and enhance your credibility and the clarity of your communications.

Empower Your Words, Empower Your Message

Carefully chosen words build credibility and sound intelligence and ensure your message is heard, remembered, and acted upon. As you integrate these practices into your presentations, you’ll notice a significant shift in how your audience perceives and reacts to your messages.

FrippVT is a state-of-the-art, web-based training platform that emulates live training and coaching. It is almost as if Presentation Expert and Executive Speech Coach Patricia Fripp were sitting with you. Fripp Virtual Training Powerful, Persuasive Presentations is designed to be immediately engaging and makes it fun to learn. You will immediately upgrade your presentations if you are a novice or seasoned professional.  Sign up for your complimentary trial and discover how FrippVT can transform you and your message,

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