A presenting one, two, three.

If I’m not careful this will turn into a rant about people who are reading in church but who don’t rehearse.  It’s not, of course, a problem limited to Bible-readers, but let me use one as an example… I’ve just had to decode the following reading which, to be honest, reads more like a badly constructed Hyku! It has the wrong number of syllables but pretty much the same slightly surreal and disjointed feel that many of them have….

• He climbed.
• A sycamore tree because.
• He was coming.
• That way!

I particularly wanted to laugh at the way the last “sentence” was emphasised, giving it the feel of an exclamation. “That way!”.  It really would have been better suited to part of a conversation about running away from a monster.

“Quick!  That way!  He can’t follow us if we make over the bridge!”

Now, it’s absolutely obvious to anyone with half an ounce of common sense what the reader was trying to say (although the Bible translation used doesn’t make it any easier for people by having bad grammar, I know).  The point is though, that while-ever my mind is pre-occupied with ‘translating’ from what it sounds-like-was-meant to what I figure probably-is-meant, I’m less able to concentrate on the meaning.

That in turn means that I’m less likely to understand it and, ultimately, less likely to act upon what I’ve heard.

And that’s the best possible solution – it could get worse, because it’s not out of the question that I might put such a set of ‘sentences’ together in a way which isn’t what was meant at all!

Surely the point of talking to people is to tell them something.  And in doing that, you want the world to be a slightly different place.  If the world isn’t going to change (even a little bit), why are you telling them something at all?  If I tell you I drink tea with milk in it but no sugar but you still put sugar in it, what was the point of me telling you anything?

In most business situations the way in which you want the world to change is in the way someone behaves.  Perhaps you want them to invest in our company.  Perhaps you simply want them to understand why you can’t do what they’re asking for and that they should leave you alone to get on with what you can do.  Perhaps you want them to give you a promotion – or give you a job.  Perhaps you want to get them to use the technology you’ve just invented!

So who’s responsibility is it to make sure what you say is understood by your audience?

No surprises for guessing what my answer is…

So then, here are some (very!) simple hints for making things easier for you if you want your audience to find it easier to get to grips with what you’re saying (and therefore more likely to understand you, remember you and act on what you’re saying!).

One – Practice. If you’re going to read something to people, read it ahead of time.  Only real experts can read and speak at the same time.  And believe me, there are far fewer of these experts than think they are experts!  Just reading through the passage even once would have solved the problems in the example at the top of the page, as the reader would have known the point and flow of the passage.

Two – Translate. If your audience doesn’t speak Slovak, you wouldn’t start talking to them in Slovak, would you?  No, not if you’ve got any choice.  So if your audience doesn’t speak Geek, why would you talk to them in Geek?!  If they don’t speak Accounting Jargon, why would you?!  At the very least you need a translator.

Three – Breathe. You’ll all have been told, when you were kids, by your teacher that you put a comma in your writing when you take a breath.  (Technically that’s not quite accurate but it’s close enough for teaching younger kids!)  The major downside is that people tend to assume the reverse is true and so whenever they hear a breath, they infer a comma. Get your breathing sorted out by learning to breathe with your diaphragm so that you don’t have to breathe in the middle of a sentence.  That way, when you breath, it’ll be because you want to, not because you need to!

Simple.

Of course the last one in particular is easier said than done… but it’s worth it!  The example I gave at the top of the page was cause, in part, because the speaker was running out of breath as they tried to make themselves heard.