MORE TO ‘UMS’ THAN ‘UMS’

Interspersing speech with ‘um’s,’ ‘ah’s’, ‘er’s’, and ‘or’s’, is distracting and off-putting to listeners. These hesitations, space fillers and time grabbers can distract listeners. Indeed, some might divert their attention completely from presenters, listening for and noting down each speech imperfection on some sort of a mental (or physical) tally sheet.

Variations to the ‘um’ count include the following:

• Beginning each sentence with ‘look’.

• Interspersing ‘you know’ through the verbal speech text.

• ‘Double clutching – ‘um, um’.

• Using ‘and’ ad nauseam as a sentence stretcher and space filler.

The list goes on. ‘Listen’ when listening and you will hear what I mean.

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CONSIDER A CRITICAL COLLEAGUE

Think of having someone as a CRITICAL COLLEAGUE offer you feedback on your presentations. Ask for recognition of your strengths and constructive criticism on things you might improve in future.

The presentation challenge is everlasting. We never reach the pinnacle. If we feel we have made it, with nothing left to learn, our slide into the area of lesser effectiveness begins immediately.

Encourage those in your workplaces, to consider speech and speaking development. So many people are frightened of dealing with the public because they lack communications confidence. Help them up.

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PUNCTUATE SPEECH

When speaking, insert punctuation so that the audience ‘hears’ commas, semi colons, and full stops. This is achieved through pause which adds the emphasis punctuation is about.

Pause is a way of emphasising important points that have been made. To pause gives listeners a brief reflective space. In that context ‘pause’ is a way of emphasising elements of speech.

‘Inflection’ is a way of building emphasis and highlighting points that are being made. This adds to the vibrancy of speech and triggers listening reception that helps to make points ‘stand out’ in audience comprehension.

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