WHEN SPEAKING, NOTE THERE ARE 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 delight listeners. 

Indeed, some might divert their attention completely from presenters, listening for and noting each speech imperfection on some 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.