“Big Words”: Those multi-syllable and confusing monsters that can ruin any good presentation. This is one of the most frequent pitfalls that professionals at any level fall into. I came across an article by TJ Walker that discusses this problem, and I think he makes a good case for keeping your presentations simple.

Here is the article, I’ll share more of my thoughts in the My Comments at the end:

The Big Word Trap

Many speakers can’t resist the temptation to use big words while giving a speech. Sometimes it is a conscious effort to appear to be smart, sometimes it is an unconscious impulse because that’s what a speaker thinks he or she is supposed to do in a so-called “formal” speech.

Either way, it’s a bad idea.

Read the rest of this entry »