Page 142 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

Practical conventions and common confusions 131

depend on your target audience. After that first explanation, you
may just use the acronym in the text that follows.
I once received an e-mail referring to APAC populations. I imag-
ined that the writer was referring to Asia Pacific populations... but
decided to see if there were other acronyms for APAC. There cer-
tainly are! I will list just a few:

APAC: Asia and Pacific;
APAC: Asia Pacific Advisory Committee;
APAC: All People Are Customers;
APAC: Atlantic Pilotage Authority Canada.

Each group will no doubt have it that their target audience will,
100 per cent, understand their acronym. But my experience as a
consultant tells me otherwise!

CASE STUDY How an unexplained acronym created
problems

A director was giving a presentation at a large multinational company
recently. One slide, entitled ‘BHAGs’, was beamed across the hall and,
without explaining the acronym, the director spoke enthusiastically on
a ground-breaking vision for the company.
After a while, he asked if anyone had any questions. A hand went
up, and one brave employee asked: ‘What is a BHAG?’ pronouncing the
word as ‘bag’.
’You don’t know what a BEE-hag is?’ asked the director, noticeably
surprised. The questioner probably felt embarrassed. ‘Would anyone
like to explain?’ continued the director. There was silence from the
floor. It seemed that nobody could be actually sure what the acronym
stood for. Certainly nobody volunteered to explain so it was likely that
the questioner was not the only one not to understand.