Apples to apples & the whole nine yards

Last week I was in the Netherlands and had the opportunity to work with some very dynamic colleagues.  As expected, we spent most of our time talking about presentations.  During the week I gave four presentations; I must say I was a little nervous. Of course I was concerned how my message(s) would be received, but there was something else.  Everyone in these audiences spoke English very well; however, it was their second (or third) language.  Presenting in this situation can be a challenge, you aren’t sure if your phrases and terms will be understood by your audience.  Given how we speak, it is virtually impossible to avoid some slang terms (or colloquialisms) unless you are going to “read” your presentation from a script, which can be problematic (boring) in itself.

During one presentation, I used the phrase “apples to apples” and the expression “the whole nine yards”.  While my colleagues understood “apples to apples”, “the whole nine yards” didn’t have a Dutch equivalent that my colleagues could immediately think of.  There is a lesson here – if you are presenting to a group in a language other than their first one, remember that the phrases you use every day at home, may not mean anything to them.  Use simpler words and more direct phrasing (but don’t dumb it down) and speak clearly. The whole point of the engaging style of presentation is to make it easy for your audience to follow you and understand your message.

One Dutch colleague told me that he presents to his Chinese colleagues in English; in this situation, no one in the room is communicating in their first language.  He suggested in this situation it may be better to use a more traditional presentation style, and put more words on the slides.  This way the audience could read some of the words they didn’t understand, and it would help them follow along.  Adding a few more words to these slides (the opposite of the engaging style) makes a lot sense in this situation, I study French and I can read it better than I speak it.  Of course having too many words will cause other problems. In this situation using more/ better images could be a big help as well, as long as they resonate with your message.

The last thing to do is slow down, make sure the words are clearly heard. When you are passionate about your topic it’s easy to get excited and speed up. I know this is one of my challenges as a presenter.

I am interested if you have any tips or ideas about presenting to an audience whose first language is different than your own. As my colleague put it, it’s good just to be aware of the challenge.

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

Just to be clear, “the whole nine yards” means completely, the whole thing, or everything.