But you’re right. I always thought the hardest part of any paper was the abstract - condensing a bazillion pages of research to one paragraph! But it was a good exercise nevertheless.

In fact, that’s a problem I have right now in my new consulting job. Coming up with a coherent description of what we can do for a client isn’t so easy when the actual work can be pretty, well, “fluid”, if you get my meanin’. :-\

But hopefully I’m learning.

That’s why it’s so important to give some thought to who’s really listening. In fact, this particular forum makes it even more complicated because of the international aspect of our audience. Sometimes things just don’t translate all that well.

@ Kris - I don’t think you need to eliminate them completely - after all, reading is supposed to be learning as well. But you do need to be careful to explain them, at least in context, or you’ll leave your readers floundering.

I, too, am a subscriber who finds your blog valuable.

In addition to the techniques mentioned in your block, I would also suggest that you also keep slang and idioms to a minimum when you don’t know your group. Last month, I got an E-mail from someone who didn’t understand the phrase “Marshall your forces”. She demanded to know who Marshall was and why I brought him up. You would think I would learn, but no.

I recently made a comment on a group that I was “playing devils advocate by saying thus and so” and boy did I get jumped on! No one understood that a devils advocate deliberately states the opposite in order to start a conversation/discussion. (I am still smarting from that one, can you tell?)

No slang, no jargon, no idioms. I am learning:-))

I think Mike’s right about knowing your listener, because you can achieve blah blah even with no jargon and the plainest of words if your material isn’t relevant or interesting to them.

Joanna

@ Brad - Yes, I’ve heard that advice many times. Unfortunately, it’s so easy to forget in the heat of a presentation, or even in a simple discussion!

I know there’s a whole group of people who absolutely HATE PowerPoint, but for me that’s one of its values - it forces me to think in simpler, more universal “bites” and leave the jargon on the cutting room floor.

@ Mike - You got it in one, buddy! Sometimes you can see the “deer in the headlights” effect in their eyes, but sometimes not. Blah. Blah. :-\

I think the biggest challenge is that a lot of meaning and context are inside the listener’s head, and unless you know the listener well, you don’t really understand those two elements, and that’s what generates the blah blah blah effect. Blah blah.

Robert Michel