There aren’t many big problems in life that can be solved by doing nothing, but fortunately, that is the solution for many speaker woes.
Do you find yourself saying too many uhs, ums, ers and you knows when you are giving a presentation? The solution is to do nothing, i.e., pause. By pausing throughout your presentation, you will correct many of your problems.
I remember when I was in first grade and it was time for an art class. What I didn’t like was that my teacher required me and the rest of the class to color every square inch of our piece of paper. We couldn’t just draw a cloud in the sky; we had to color the whole sky blue and all the grass green. Everything had to be covered.
Many adult speakers take the same attitude with their presentations. They feel as though every second they are standing they must cover up the air with some sound.
The result?
The speaker puts out a steady stream of ums, likes, you knows and other verbal parasites. All the words come out a jumbled mush. The speaker comes across inarticulate, unsure, and lacking in confidence.
Over the years, I have found out the hard way that it is not productive to ask people to focus on NOT saying uh or um. All this does is make the speakers even less confident and more jittery.
Instead, I get the speaker to focus on pausing more often. Pause after a thought, Pause when you are uncertain. Pause when you feel like saying uh or um. By specifically trying to pause more, the mind learns that it is OK not to be uttering sounds every second. Once you develop the habit of pausing when you give a presentation (we all automatically pause all of the time during normal conversation), you will enhance your image as a polished speaker.
…..so pause away.
