Introduction
For a speech to be spontaneous, it has to come from the heart. It's about saying what you mean and saying what you think. On the other hand, filler words can make it hard to get your message across to an audience. If you're like me, you may have noticed that your mind can't always keep up with how fast your mouth moves when you're speaking in public or to someone one-on-one. In fact, we all use them from time to time. But if you use too many in a talk or presentation, it could hurt your credibility and take attention away from what's really important: what you say.
Why does it matter?
It's not a big deal unless you or someone else notices it. If you are talking to yourself, filler words won't be noticed unless they are written down somewhere. The problem starts when you give a public speech and someone records it on video or audio. They might think you're nervous or not ready for your presentation if you keep saying "ums" and "ahs."
If this happens often enough, people will start to think of you as nervous and unprepared when they watch videos of your presentations online, even if those videos were made before this became a problem for them.
Use how you move.
As long as your gestures aren't too showy, they can help you express yourself and take attention away from your voice. When you make a gesture, the attention goes from your mouth to your hands. Your audience won't be as interested in what you're saying as they will be in how well you use your hands to talk to them.
Start early.
Getting ready is really important. If you already know what you're going to say next, you probably won't use fillers. This can mean anything from using slides or notes in your presentation to keeping a neat writing pad in front of you during an interview.
Even if you just write down the words as they come out of your mouth, this will help a lot with reducing filler words and improving the overall quality of your speech.
Stay in the here and now.
Keep yourself in the present when you speak. Pay attention to what you are saying and why you are saying it. Things will go wrong if you let your mind wander. You'll start to think about what to have for dinner, if you took the chicken out of the freezer, or why that guy in the front row looks so bored...
Your audience will be able to tell when your speaker's attention isn't where it should be. They'll be able to tell by the way they act and speak, and they might even be able to tell by how long it takes them to answer or ask questions, or if they don't ask questions at all.
Don't be afraid to read your notes, but try to keep them short.
Let's say you are giving a speech about why recycling is important. You should talk about how important it is to recycle, how much trash we make, what happens when we don't recycle, etc. But if you have a long, detailed list of points written out in front of you during the speech, it can look like you don't know what you're talking about or that your mind is wandering (or, worse, that parts of your speech aren't working). Instead, try putting bullet points or short phrases on 3x5 cards so that you can quickly look at them and keep your eyes on the audience.
Watch out for distracting things you do with your mouth, like lisping, rolling your eyes back, or making other sounds with your mouth.
You also sound like a twit when you talk in funny ways. If you're addicted to lip balm or have some other habit that makes your mouth move on its own and takes attention away from what you're saying, it's time to get rid of it. One of the most common signs is rolling your eyes back in their sockets. Another is lisping, which a lot of people do without realising it. Fix these things before they start to bother you too much.
If you can't say what you want to say, stop and try again.
Don't use filler words to hide what you don't know or to give your brain time to catch up.
When we don't know what else to say, we might say "um" or "ah" to fill the silence. This can be frustrating for our listeners because they're waiting for information that we're not going to say (or, even worse, that we'll say later in a way that doesn't make sense).
Filler words can make it hard for you to speak in public.
When you use a filler word, it means you don't know what to say next or aren't ready to talk about the topic.
Filler words are words like "um," "uh," and "like" that show doubt. People lose faith in you as a speaker because they make it sound like you're not ready for the speech or don't know what to say next. If you can't think of anything else to say after using these words, try pausing before starting a new sentence instead of using filler phrases like:
Conclusion
Filler words are fine to use, but they can hurt your ability to speak in public. Watch out for them and make sure they don't sneak into your presentations.
Since receiving a PGDip in Jazz Performance from Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance in 2002 and being awarded the Archers Scholarship, Jimmy has studied vocal technique with Colin Baldy (New College Oxford) and later with Kevin Burke in New York.
He holds a Master's degree in Voice Pedagogy from the University of Wales Trinity St David as well as acceptance and commitment therapy training.