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It’s raining cats and dogs outside at the moment.  The window next to me has just fogged up so I can no longer see outside.  Meanwhile, I’ve been online with various clients, colleagues, and reporters discussing upcoming news for the mainstream consumer audience.

The fog on my window has forced me to focus on the things close to me as I can no longer see the vista beyond.  Sometimes, I have to also remind myself that beyond the foggy window, or finger of fog descending upon the hills, there lies a world where not everybody has an iPhone, not everyone Tweets every day or plays Foursquare, and those who, dare I say, don’t even check their email every nanosecond like I do (I know… loser).

When it comes to technology public relations, it’s easy to fall victim to the TLAs (three-letter acronyms), buzz words (social graph, anyone?) and common assumptions (what?! you don’t have an iPhone?) that we in Silicon Valley toss around in our daily conversations.  But as I was reminded by a colleague today, this unique vocabulary and set of beliefs we have can sound like a foreign language and thereby distance the message from those who actually might be interested in hearing it.

So while the stereotype of the geek may have changed from the guy above to Neo of The Matrix or to Mr. Million Twitter Followers Ashton Kutcher, I still remind myself to leave the acronyms at the door and just speak in plain English.  It’s not about the features.  It’s what the features can do for me.  And now, I think I’ll wipe off that fog from my window.