I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read a lot of stuff over the years, online, about so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfiller words\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00c2\u00a0 You know the kind of thing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Erm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ah\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and so on. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to put them in the same box as longer fillers made up of proper words – habit such as putting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So…\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at the beginning of a sentence or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122know\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at the end.<\/p>\n
“So… we need to get this sorted out by Friday at the latest, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122know?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n Organisations like Toastmasters even go so far as to count the number of this fillers in a presentation. Someone sits there and instead of listening to the overall effect of the presentation, simply listens out for the killer\/fillers!<\/p>\n Now all this is very well, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got two problems with that approach.<\/p>\n Firstly, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153so what” element.\u00c2\u00a0 Weighing pigs doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fatten them and testing school-kids doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t teach them anything… and counting the number of times I say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcerr\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in a 20 minute session in front of my audience doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t teach me how to stop doing it.<\/p>\n To be honest, speaking as a musician as well as a speaker, my experience is that simply drawing attention to my faults simply makes me more likely to stumble of them. \u00c2\u00a0Without a tool for dealing with it, knowing there’s problem simply makes me nervous!<\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an argument, perhaps, for knowing the size of the problem but the line between knowing about it and making it worse in the process is a pretty thin one. Frankly, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen a formal counting process that helped.<\/p>\n (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go further: in places like Toastmaster, I suspect it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of a semi-deliberate attempt to build up a myth of public speaking – but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve no proof of this and this is a side-point… don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let it distract us from real argument.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More importantly, however, is the second issue – that of the whole thing being an irrelevance anyway.<\/p>\n Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face it, if the only way you can tell that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a problem with overusing one word is to have someone sitting there formally counting the use of that word, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a problem!\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about how many times the presenter does, or doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use a particular filler word – if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a problem to the audience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get me wrong, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying that there aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t time when fillers get in the way -\u00c2\u00a0 there certainly are – but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as big a problem as people seem to think, judging by the number of websites I’ve seen about it.\u00c2\u00a0 The reason, basically, is that filler words – up to the tipping point where it all goes wrong! – potentially serve a positive and useful function for the audience.<\/p>\n Remember that a presentation isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about what the presenter says<\/strong>: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about what the audience hears (and remembers). With that in mind, fillers can be very useful ways of giving the audience time to assess and assimilate what they’re hearing. \u00c2\u00a0You’ll know from personal experience, I bet, that people who give you too much information, too quickly, or with too little personal involvement, don’t hold your attention.<\/p>\n That means you forget what they say, assuming you even understand it in the first place!<\/p>\n In short, fillers can be good. \u00c2\u00a0They can make the presentation more natural, as well as easier to understand and absorb.<\/p>\n So what’s the issue here? \u00c2\u00a0Well firstly, let’s stop panicking and pretending the world’s going to end. \u00c2\u00a0Secondly, can we also stop counting for the sake of counting?<\/p>\n Thirdly, check with audiences to see if there is a problem. \u00c2\u00a0Then – and only then – should we work in it. But as I’m at 600 words, I’ll stop and put that in another entry! :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read a lot of stuff over the years, online, about so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfiller words\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00c2\u00a0 You know the kind of thing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Erm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ah\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and so on. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to put them in the same box as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presentation-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}