Friday, April 03, 2009

When Buzzwords Attack

All business people should be working constantly on refining their elevator pitch - the 10-second to two-minute description they use to explain what they or their companies or their products actually do.

In mingling with the software moguls at the Branham 300 lunch event in Toronto earlier today (see previous posts), I found myself meeting lots of people who weren't able to escape the jargon and explain their offering (and benefits) in language that could be easily understood by laymen, journalists, or their children or grandparents.

So when I saw this video, I had to laugh. Click below and watch as a standard corporate video descends into buzzword hell and becomes increasingly - and humorously - incomprehensible. Then think of the poor journalists, ad agencies, accountants and spouses who have to follow jargon of this type every day.

Click here to meet the Rockwell Retro Encabulator. (It's just two minutes.)



Thanks to John Mayer for the link. (Yes, that John Mayer. We're Twitter pals now.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

...just thought I'd mention that the video was a gag.

It was presented by Rockwell Software at a conference a few years back - poking fun at itself and the industry (for buzzwords).

None of what he says makes any actual sense.

I mean, as if hydrocoptic marsal veins could prevent side-fumbling...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the context, Anom.

It's good to see that big corporations can poke fun at themselevs, and at behaviour like this - because it is actually a serious problem. There are many large "siloed" organizations where no one understands or communicates well with anyone in the other silos.
Rick

Amanda Crowe said...

Is Retro-Encabulator a fictional device??

Rick Spence said...

Sadly, yes. Its capabilities are far beyond today's levels of technology - like a PC operating system that doesn't crash.