Earlier, I blogged about the problem of filler words (or lack of a problem). That makes it probably a good time to talk about how to solve the problem (if there is one).
What causes the problem? It’s problem caused by the speaker’s brain not having got the next thing to say ready. Which makes the solution pretty simple – don’t speak until you’re sure you know what you’re going to say. Like many things in this world, however, just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Dieting is simple (eat less and exercise more)… but that doesn’t make it easy.
Rehearsing is the main tool in the presenter’s arsenal. Going over material time and time again will fix it in the mind. (But don’t forget the perils of over-rehearsing and of becoming formulaic and scripted!).
In this context, specifically, I don’t mean rehearsing the script (never use scripts) – I’m talking about just practicing delivery. By way of an example, I’ve got a big presentation on Friday, for which I’ve set aside all of Tuesday to go over … and over… and over… and this is material I was already an expert on! Â (I’m a conference speaker on emotional resilience.)
If you do happen to flounder for a moment, despite your rehearsal, the basic way of tackling the issue is to wait.. and wait… until you’re ready to speak. There are times when silence is better than saying the wrong things. Simple – but it takes nerves.
There’s a technical bit of help here too – presenter view. Â Presenter view is a must for all serious presenters, to be honest, and I’m always surprised that would-be speakers are amazed when I show it to them.
In presenter view, what the audience sees on the screen and what you see on your screen are different. Â That means you can have two big advantages to help avoid the dreaded fillers.
How a Confidence Monitor could look when presenting, using presenter view
Firstly, you can have keywords in big, friendly letters on your screen (called a Confidence Monitor). Your security blanket is right there in front of you. Â Secondly, when it’s set up right, Presenter View will show you the images of two slides… it’ll show you what the audience is seeing on the main screen and it’ll show you the next slide – the one that’s going to appear the next time you advance a slide.
That way, you can do your thinking about what’s coming next in advance of when you need it! Sweet, eh?
Simon,
Thanks for both these posts on Errrr etc. I’m with you on the prissines that some speaking coaches encourage, and prefer ‘human’ and therefore imperfect, over ‘robotic and overcoached’ every time.
Here’s another few thoughts from my own dark place- http://www.jim-harvey.com/?p=139 I’ve added a link to this post from to here too and, of course given you a credit. I love the original thnking here.
Cheers
Jim
And I wish I’d spell checked before sending! That would be ‘prissiness’ and ‘thinking’ then!