Do You Speak Geek?

When you saw the title of this article you instantly thought it was going to be about computers or computer repair or maybe how to use the computer didn’t you?

Well surprise! It’s not. It is actually about Geek Speak in general. The “geeks” of the world made this term popular a few years ago by forgetting that everyone in the world does not understand how to format a hard drive. And many people, even today, don’t understand the difference between a hard drive and ram.

But what we tend to forget is that WE ALL speak geek. It just happens to be our very own dialect. Kind of the same as I can’t tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese, because since I don’t know either of them they sound very similar to me.

I also don’t understand the things that my accountant says to me, or things that I hear everyday at live networking events.

Accounts payable, accounts receivable, P & L reports, swedish massage, deep tissue massage, etc are all words we may hear on any given day. But how many of us TRULY understand them. I mean really understand to the point that we could explain it to our 10 year old child who may have never heard the words before.

Car people speak geek speak. Marketing people speak geek speak. Fundraising Non-Profits speak geek speak. Real Estate Agents speak geek speak. Every industry on the planet has their own version of geek speak.

I find myself doing it, even though I am aware of it, it still happens. I was talking with someone the other day about my blog. I was telling them how often I post and that I added a new plugin and had made some changes to the theme. Then I noticed it. The look. You know it, you have seen it or maybe you have felt it. That glassy eyed, confused look that says “I am listening to you because it is polite but I have no idea what you are talking about” look.

I stopped and asked the question I should have asked to begin with “do you know what a blog is?” The answer I got was “I have heard of it, but I don’t understand what it is”.

Geek speak strikes again!

I asked if they wanted to understand (some people don’t after all) and when they said yes, I explained it in basic detail. I made sure to ask questions often and let them know that if I said something that didn’t make sense to stop me and ask.

Sometimes people will not ask you to explain something because they don’t want to sound like an idiot. They will listen politely and the go home and ask their family or friends. Or they will simply walk away confused.

This is NOT the feeling you want to leave people with.

Think about your industry. Do you have words that you use every day? Do these words describe things that you do or that you offer that are only available in your industry?

Guess what…that is your geek speak. You understand it. To you it is as simple as the words we, us, they and them. These things are part of your daily life and they seem way to simple to not be understood by everyone.

But things that seem so simple to you make no sense at all to the rest of us. We may know the words, but we do not truly understand what they mean.

So how am I ever going to understand if I need what you have to offer if I don’t even know what it is?

Every so often you need to find a child in your world and offer to buy them ice cream or another special treat if they will help you out. (Yes, bribe them or rather pay them for their pain and suffering since you are probably going to bore them)

Then sit down with them and tell them what you do. BUT…tell them what you do, exactly the same way you tell people you meet at networking events. Don’t change anything. Or maybe read them your brochure or your website.

Then have them explain to you what you do. What did they get? Is it right? Do they look at you with a blank stare totally confused?

You spoke geek speak. Go back to the drawing board. You need to figure out how to explain what you do in generally understood words and in a way that anyone, no matter what age they are will understand it.

When you can do that, then you are on the right track…

Where do you hear geek speak? Is there one particular industry (besides computer people) that you find it hard to listen to? Share your experiences below, you never know who might be reading and realize that they too are speaking geek speak…

About The Author:
Cindy Clemens is a mom, author, speaker, marketing consultant and Co-Founder of Your Marketing University. Her goal is to teach marketing in a simple easy to understand format that businesses can use to help gain marketing ideas & market their businesses to boost sales.

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