Put jargon to practical use in meetings

Sounding off on corporate jargon in confabs, powwows, and tête-à-têtes

As every writer knows, you don’t always use the same words in speech that you use in print. You can—you should—use terms from the BusinessSpeak Jargon Builder, subject to the following guidelines:

Here’s a scenario:

Boss: Team, you know about the low-down for this meeting. We’ve got to do some out-of-the-box ball-parking of our cherry-picking toolsets. If we can’t pick some low-hanging fruit, we’re going to be road kill when the rubber meets the road. Susan, what does Department A have?

Susan: Department A has the virtual partnering practice. This is it, people. It’s blowing the competition away.

Boss: Looks like a winner, Susan. Can your people hit the ground running with the VPP?

Susan: Boss, my people aren’t just running with the VPP. They’re shooting and scoring. It’s a whole new ball game.

Boss: Keep those balls in the air, Suse. Ed? Status me on Department B. You guys haven’t been sittin’ on your hands, have you? Gotta keep that nose to the grindstone, ya know.