We Should Have Mandatory Media/Communications Training For All Communicators
Verbal tics and poor speech reduce impact of high-stakes ideas—time to fix that.
In a LessWrong post, Darren McKee argues that far too many EA/LW communicators undermine their high-impact ideas through sub-optimal oral communication—verbal tics like ums and ahs, mumbling, poor linearity, and insufficient audience awareness. He claims these issues act as noise that reduces clarity and wastes limited 'weirdness points' in public perception. Training, he suggests, acts as a force multiplier: improving how ideas are delivered also surfaces hidden flaws in the underlying logic.
The proposal is not a strict mandate but a new social norm: strongly encouraging training, making it part of professional objectives for front-facing roles, or a requirement for grants where oral presentation is involved. Scope covers podcasters, panelists, interviewees, and anyone speaking publicly about their work. McKee emphasizes the training is not about slick PR-speak but about becoming a clearer, more authentic version of oneself—so the weirdness budget is spent on ideas, not on appearance or speech quirks. The ultimate goal is to increase the impact of EA/LW work by ensuring it is understood.
- Training targets oral communicators on podcasts, panels, interviews, and high-stakes networking.
- Proposal is primarily a social norm, secondarily an employer/ grant requirement for front-facing roles.
- Focus is on clarity, linearity, and audience adaptation—not on superficial PR-speak or deception.
Why It Matters
For EA professionals: how you speak can outweigh the work itself in public impact—training is a force multiplier.