During business conversations and presentations, would you like to reduce your filler words, to sound more authoritative and get buy-in faster?  You can do it with a technique that actors use when they are preparing to speak extemporaneously.

You already know that filler words (um, uh, so, well, like, you know) rarely add meaning and are usually just a distraction for your listeners.  And that they jeapardize your ability to project confidence and commitment.  Reducing your use of fillers will help you enhance your credibility and your leadership presence.  Borrow this practice technique that actors use:

Set a timer for increasing time periods of time, two or three minutes to start, and record yourself as you speak in extended sentences on a topic of your choice.  Choose a business topic that you know well, something you enjoy speaking about (but not your elevator speech or a sales pitch).

As you speak into the recorder, imagine that each word that comes from your mouth is connected to the next one, which is connected to the next one, and so on:  the way pearls are connected on a string of pearls.  When you feel the urge to use a filler

• Stop yourself
• Pause
• Say the filler silently to yourself

When the timer rings, play back the recording and notice your fillers.  Then repeat the exercise, with new topics of your choice.

As you become comfortable with this exercise, increase the setting on the timer, perhaps starting at five or seven minutes.  Then, continue the practice until you can speak extemporaneously on new topics of your choice for fifteen or twenty minutes straight, without the use of fillers.

I guarantee:  when you practice this on a regular basis, you will find that, over time, you are decreasing the number of fillers that you use.  You will sound more confident and more authoritative.  And you’ll increase your ability to influence!

https://youtu.be/dDo238t9Ik0

One way to sound authoritative and enhance your credibility when you speak is to minimize your use of fillers:  those words that add no content.  Common fillers are “um”, “uh”, “so”, “well”, “like”, and “you know”.

Fillers often distract your listeners and decrease your ability to project confidence and authority.  Minimizing your use of fillers will help you enhance your image as an expert.

To minimize your use of fillers, rehearse this technique that actors use when they prepare to speak extemporaneously:

Set a timer for increasing time periods of time:  two minutes, five minutes, or seven minutes to start.  Record yourself as you speak in extended sentences on any business topic of your choice.  Choose a topic that you know well, something you enjoy speaking about (but not your elevator speech or a sales pitch).

As you speak into the recorder, imagine that each word that comes from your mouth is connected to the next one, which is connected to the next one, and so on.  Use the image of a long strand of pearls that are connected with no break.

Whenever you feel the urge to use a filler, do these three things:

1. Stop yourself
2. Pause
3. Say the filler silently to yourself

When the timer rings, play back the recording and monitor yourself for fillers.  Then repeat the exercise with different topics.

As you become comfortable with this exercise, increase the setting on the timer (five minutes, ten minutes, and fifteen minutes), until you can speak for twenty minutes straight, extemporaneously, on new topics:  without the use of fillers.

If you continue to rehearse this technique, you will find over time that you are reducing the number of fillers that you use.

You will sound more authoritative than you did in the past:  you will increase your credibility and your professional image when you speak.