When do buzzy words stop working?

My 86-year-old dad was looking at my website the other day and asked, “What is SaaS?” When I explained it to him, he asked, “Will others know what that it is?”

Now, my dad is no newbie to tech. He was THE product/project manager for the airplane phone in the 1980s–really! (Cue the stories about us having an early IBM PC). And he also fought a lot of naysayers regarding artificial intelligence back then. YES! I have vivid memories of him being a huge believer in what was to come…

So MY question is, are your descriptive words and acronyms future-proof? We all have stories (especially as product marketers) where no one in our family and friends groups knows what we do. Throwing around a bunch of acronyms and buzzwords sounds like a good game, but is it really good for us as professionals?

What would you remove from your “about me” or “skill set” or “website” that may be off-trend soon? Comment below!

Thanks for the barbecue inspiration Emma Stratton. The explanation she gives for explaining what your product does at a barbecue in "Make it Punchy" can totally be applied to what WE do as well!

P.S. I often use my dad’s story about launching the airplane phone as one of my 2 truths in the “2 truths and a lie” game. Now I will need to come up with something new!