There is something I have noticed with a number of company clients when working on online presentations. Presenters often say their name and title, their product or service, or other job-related terminology in an unclear way, usually because they pronounce it too quickly.
It may seem like a small detail, but it can change how the presentation comes across.
When something is said so quickly that it becomes unclear, it can sound as though it is something of little importance. It can even give the impression that the speaker does not care much about it, is not particularly enthusiastic about the role, or does not think the product or service is especially important.
Of course, this is not what the presenter usually means.
The interesting part is that the presenter often does not notice it.
Familiarity changes how we speak
I understand why this happens. During a normal workday, we say the same product names, processes, acronyms and other professional terminology many times. They become completely familiar to us.
And when something becomes familiar, we tend to say it differently.
We no longer need to think about it. We do not need to give it the same attention. It becomes part of the routine.
A presentation is different, however.
A client of mine experienced something similar when preparing his first presentation for a potential customer. He was saying various elements of the service-related terminology very quickly, with relatively little clarity in the pronunciation.
It was almost a “you know this well, you know what I mean” style of delivery.
But the customer did not know it well.
For the presenter, these were familiar terms that appeared every day. For the customer, they were essential parts of a presentation about a service they were considering.
The words were important, but they sounded like something that could simply be passed over.
The audience is listening
This becomes particularly important in online presentations.
We tend to think of an online presentation as something people watch because there are slides on the screen. But the audience is still listening.
They may see your name, your title, the name of your company or your product on the slide, but they are also hearing you say it.
And the way you say it contributes to how that information is perceived.
This is why I pay particular attention to things such as names, titles, product names, acronyms and other job-related terminology when working with professionals on presentations.
These may look like minor pronunciation details, especially when the speaker has said them hundreds of times before.
They are not necessarily minor to the listener.
The unfamiliar listener hears it differently
There is a simple difference between the person speaking and the person listening.
The speaker has familiarity.
The listener may not.
The speaker knows the product, the service, the terminology and the context. The listener is still building that context while the presentation is happening.
So something that feels routine to the speaker may be important information for the listener.
This is not about speaking slowly all the time, or exaggerating every word. It is about recognising that not everything in a presentation has the same status simply because it feels equally familiar to the person presenting it.
Sometimes the most familiar words to us are exactly the ones that deserve more attention when we say them.
You may have said the name of your product a thousand times.
Your customer may be hearing it for the first time.
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