Jargon hurts meetings

Wanting to sound smart at meetings makes people use heavy words and phrases. The flip side is, after the meeting, not many may recall what was said. Here is a collection of 50 odd words and phrases, used in only two meetings. Though most are part of normal conversations, choosing to use all of them repetitively only creates sleep-inducing blabber. The ones in bold tend to throw off listeners till one chooses to ignore it for the sake of the main message. 

Basically
Literally
Factor in
in totality
Client side
Be judicial
Benchmark
Touch upon
Make a note
How exactly
Key message
Elaborate on
Reality check
Leader-driven
Dedicated line
Sell internally
Call for action
Plan to roll out
Formal agenda
Rough estimate
Broad overview
Formal structure
Reflect a sense of
Pan-India basis
Subtle and classy
Having the luxury
Sensitizing people
Need to figure out
Operational details
Go down that road
That’s a good point
Assess the number
Top-down messaging
Elements considered
Evolved expectations
Good you raised that
Personalized message
Manageable logistics
Firm up the logistics
More-or-less in sync
Identify those aspects
Put a timeline on that
Take into consideration
Drastic spike in turnout
Maintain an element of
Fine to run for a few days
Focus on some key things
To give you a background
Garner maximum visibility
Thoughts were shared with
Ready to roll in a sense that…
based on previous assessment
Carry forward through the year
First question that came up was
Works like a substantial re-enforcement

Unnecessary use of heavy words puts people off and hurts the purpose of the meeting. When people do not understand what you are saying, there is a high chance that the decision may get postponed to another meeting. Some of our partners speak in plain and simple language, and they are able to get across very clearly what they want. That, we need to learn from.

Speaking in simple language IS best practice!