How To Lose Your Ums And Ahs
If you have ever had to sit through a boring speech that was just plain annoying, it was probably because the speaker felt compelled to say um and ah a lot.
You know the type of nervous, repetitive ums and the compulsive ahs that seem to punctuate an otherwise interesting speech or sermon.
Perhaps this is your problem and you are wondering just how to overcome this incredibly recurring stumble and fumble of public speaking.
Breathe easy, there is a solution and it is incredibly simple once you learn the secret to smoothing out your public speaking skills and have your audience hanging off your every word, instead of gagging at your verbal stumbles.
The first part of overcoming this problem is to understand exactly what the problem is the causes you to say these dreaded words, um an ah.
Public speaking is listed as one of the two greatest fears in life, and alongside of dieing, it comes in a strong second.
Well perhaps for obvious reasons, it is a terrifying exercise to have to go through, especially if you are unprepared.
Now the problem of this unusual verbal stubble, is not just confined to those who have not prepared well.
The root of the problem lies in the fact of feeling compelled to not leave any gaps when you speak.
There is something inside of our heads, call a voice or whatever you may, but there is definitely a compulsion to not leave our audience hanging without hearing something coming from our mouths.
The strange thing about this is that a well placed pause is actually quite important if you want to have an effective communication with your listeners or audience.
Just after you have made a point, you break and leave silence and just watch the impact this has on those listening.
When words stop, people are naturally able to if not forced to begin processing what you have just said.
A continual firing of words from out of your mouth without a break can seem like a torrential downpour that they have no escape from.
When people are digesting what you have said during your pause they are not thinking about you, they are focusing on what you have said and trying process whether or not it has an relevance to them or not.
Now what if you added in pauses just like these appropriate ones, when you are unsure of what to say next.
Guess what happens? Yes just like pavlov's dog, your audience begins to initiate the internal examining process and despite your gravest fear, they are actually being assisted in their understanding of what you have to say.
Now when you are tempted to say um, at the end of a thought just say nothing.
When you feel an ah coming on, resist and just say nothing for a moment or two.
This pause actually allows your mind to gather it's thoughts and you will find the right thing to say next.
The key to remember here is conditioning and how people have been trained all their lives to react to certain stimuli and as two of the put you to sleep type words are um and ah when mixed into a presentation or speech, you can rest in knowing that it is conditioning that flips the processing brain to internal for your audience the moment you go quiet.
It does take some practice to get this technique down pat, as it feels pretty weird just saying nothing while everyone is looking at you.
But here is the kicker that will keep you cool, they are switched from listening to processing once there is a silence.
Notice how your audience reacts, by observing the looks on their faces.
When you have this ammunition up your verbal sleeve a few times, you will find that your ums and ahs have disappeared almost completely.
Don't get me wrong here, you have spent years getting into this verbal stumble and it is not something that you can cure over night but with a good amount of practice in front of a mirror and by yourself, you will find the time it takes will certainly not be years.
Another good tip on overcoming this problem is to record your next speech or sermon and count how many times you say each of these words.
Study carefully by listening to your thought processes and see if you can identify the points that punctuating your speech and see if I am right.
Well as they say practice makes perfect and the more you practice without pressure by speaking to the mirror, the better you will be when in front of your audience.
You know the type of nervous, repetitive ums and the compulsive ahs that seem to punctuate an otherwise interesting speech or sermon.
Perhaps this is your problem and you are wondering just how to overcome this incredibly recurring stumble and fumble of public speaking.
Breathe easy, there is a solution and it is incredibly simple once you learn the secret to smoothing out your public speaking skills and have your audience hanging off your every word, instead of gagging at your verbal stumbles.
The first part of overcoming this problem is to understand exactly what the problem is the causes you to say these dreaded words, um an ah.
Public speaking is listed as one of the two greatest fears in life, and alongside of dieing, it comes in a strong second.
Well perhaps for obvious reasons, it is a terrifying exercise to have to go through, especially if you are unprepared.
Now the problem of this unusual verbal stubble, is not just confined to those who have not prepared well.
The root of the problem lies in the fact of feeling compelled to not leave any gaps when you speak.
There is something inside of our heads, call a voice or whatever you may, but there is definitely a compulsion to not leave our audience hanging without hearing something coming from our mouths.
The strange thing about this is that a well placed pause is actually quite important if you want to have an effective communication with your listeners or audience.
Just after you have made a point, you break and leave silence and just watch the impact this has on those listening.
When words stop, people are naturally able to if not forced to begin processing what you have just said.
A continual firing of words from out of your mouth without a break can seem like a torrential downpour that they have no escape from.
When people are digesting what you have said during your pause they are not thinking about you, they are focusing on what you have said and trying process whether or not it has an relevance to them or not.
Now what if you added in pauses just like these appropriate ones, when you are unsure of what to say next.
Guess what happens? Yes just like pavlov's dog, your audience begins to initiate the internal examining process and despite your gravest fear, they are actually being assisted in their understanding of what you have to say.
Now when you are tempted to say um, at the end of a thought just say nothing.
When you feel an ah coming on, resist and just say nothing for a moment or two.
This pause actually allows your mind to gather it's thoughts and you will find the right thing to say next.
The key to remember here is conditioning and how people have been trained all their lives to react to certain stimuli and as two of the put you to sleep type words are um and ah when mixed into a presentation or speech, you can rest in knowing that it is conditioning that flips the processing brain to internal for your audience the moment you go quiet.
It does take some practice to get this technique down pat, as it feels pretty weird just saying nothing while everyone is looking at you.
But here is the kicker that will keep you cool, they are switched from listening to processing once there is a silence.
Notice how your audience reacts, by observing the looks on their faces.
When you have this ammunition up your verbal sleeve a few times, you will find that your ums and ahs have disappeared almost completely.
Don't get me wrong here, you have spent years getting into this verbal stumble and it is not something that you can cure over night but with a good amount of practice in front of a mirror and by yourself, you will find the time it takes will certainly not be years.
Another good tip on overcoming this problem is to record your next speech or sermon and count how many times you say each of these words.
Study carefully by listening to your thought processes and see if you can identify the points that punctuating your speech and see if I am right.
Well as they say practice makes perfect and the more you practice without pressure by speaking to the mirror, the better you will be when in front of your audience.
