You Don't Need a 10-Dollar Word: Take it from a Public Speaking Coach

“I get self-conscious about my vocabulary when I’m speaking in front of a fancy audience.”

This is a sentiment I hear from my public speaking clients all the time. And often, I hear it from the people I’d least suspect—brilliant speakers who I’ve seen win over a room in 10 seconds flat.

And yet, when placed in front of a “sophisticated audience” they worry they don’t use enough impressive words.

So, let me set the record straight: You don’t need 10-dollar words to be an impressive public speaker.

There are no bonus points for having the highest average syllables per word in a speech.

Don’t get me wrong, language and word choice are extremely important in a speech.

But instead of worrying about how fancy your vocab is, you need to be paying attention to how clear it is.

Can the audience picture what you’re talking about?

It is far more effective to use language that is specific and visual than it is to use language that is “elevated.”

For example, which of these sentences gives you a clearer picture of Gary?

Example A: “Gary was a loquacious interlocutor in a myriad of different social contexts.”

Example B: “Gary must have been a hairdresser in a past life. He could strike up a conversation with anyone.”

Personally, I’m much more interested in learning about the Gary from Example B.

And look, I am fully in support of folks expanding their vocabularies.

I love words. And the more words you know, the more colors you have in your palette to paint with.

But while you’re adding those colors, please know that you probably already have all the words you need to paint an excellent picture for that audience.