Last week I saw a flyer advertising SPEAKER TRAINING. The sub-head stated that “The Fear of Speaking is Worse Than The Fear Of Dying”.
I have met many business professionals who certainly feel that way. Nerves make us do things we do not want to do. One of the most common indications of a presenter’s nervousness is a repetitive “tic”, and the most common “tics” are Um’s and/or Ahh’s.
Sometimes the presenter will say either of those (sometimes both together) between almost every other word. It is the most common problem among presenters AND the most common question I get when I am doing training seminars: “Can you help me get rid of the “um’s and ah’s?
I always say that um’s and ah’s are God’s way of telling you to slow down. Now I am pretty certain God is a little to busy to care one way or another, but the audience would surely like it if you stopped doing it.
Here’s how: Think about pronouncing every syllable in each word you are going to say and you will rarely ever do it again. It is that simple. You would never think to WRITE an um or an ah in the written version of your presentation. So if you THINK about what you are going to SAY, you probably won’t say um or ah.
All it takes is a bit of practice and a conscious effort. It is like a magic trick that anyone can do.
If you have a problem with word tics, try thinking about pronouncing every syllable in every word and bye bye tics.
JV
