You will be more effective delivering presentations when you use gender neutral speech. This avoids offending people by implying stereotypical behavior. It also makes your message more inclusive, which increases its appeal to all of the people in your audience. Here are general tips on how to make sure your words appear on the right side of good. * When talking about a group of people (e.g., executives, engineers), use plurals because this allows you to refer to them with plural pronouns (they and them) instead of singular pronouns such as he or she. * Rework sentences to avoid using pronouns. For example, instead of saying, When the doctor looked at the analysis she was surprised. say, The doctor looked at the analysis and was surprised. *Replace singular pronouns with nouns, such as executive, spouse or child. * Use generic trade names, such as sales person, clerk, or employee instead of salesman. * Convert idioms to equivalent statements, e.g., act like a man becomes act courageously or stand tall. * Of course, use appropriate pronouns and terms when talking about a specific person. To use these techniques, you will have to prepare your presentation carefully. Listen to your rehearsals critically, and then change the wording as appropriate. And as you might expect, these techniques apply in any dialogue. Use them to create a favorable impression everywhere, with everybody. |
