Yet these insidious verbal hiccups are ubiquitous, uttered by most speakers in most speeches every day.

Robin Hutchins writes:

I teach a college speech class. The most common struggle my students have is the use of filler words such as um and uh. Do you have a strategy that helps to omit filler words?

What can be done? Is it hopeless?

In this article, we examine why filler words have a negative impact on your effectiveness, and learn a five-step strategy for reducing them.

Um… What’s the Problem?

Some people adopt a zero tolerance policy when it comes to filler words, believing that a few ruin the delivery and invalidate an otherwise solid speech.

I’m not one of those people. An occasional filler word does not trump passion and a great message. Furthermore, I’ve heard audience members comment that an occasional filler word makes the speaker seem human (and not robotic).

Nonetheless, speakers should strive to minimize filler words. They contribute nothing, and weaken your effectiveness as as a speaker in two primary ways:

• Filler words represent verbal static that has to be filtered out by your audience. (It’s one of the communication barriers cited in a recent article by guest author Stacey Hanke.) Why say it if the audience has to immediately filter it out?
• Repeated and excessive use of filler words weakens your credibility. It may be perceived as indicating lack of preparation, lack of knowledge, or lack of passion. All of these perceptions are bad for you.

Filler Sounds, Filler Words, and Filler Phrases

I’ve started this article using the collective term “filler words”, but this is really a convenient shorthand for three related speech fillers:

• Filler Sounds — e.g. um, uh, ah, mm
• Filler Words – e.g. basically, actually, literally
• Filler Phrases – e.g. “I think that”, “you know”, “what I’m trying to say is”

All of these — and there are more in each category — contribute nothing and could be completely wiped from your vocal patterns without any loss in meaning.

[Note: There are cases where some of the words/phrases do convey meaning, but this is rare.]

A Strategy for Removing Filler Words from Your Speech

I wish there were a switch that could be flipped to strike these from a speaker’s vocabulary. (I would flip the switch for myself!) Since the magic switch is elusive, here are the steps I recommend for minimizing these fillers.

Step 1 — Assess how often you are using filler words.

Before you embark on an effort to extinguish filler words, you should assess how frequently you utter filler words in your presentations. There are three easy ways to do this:

1. Recruit an audience member to track it and provide feedback. Ask them not only to provide a count of each filler used, but also to comment on the impact.
2. Record your voice, and do an objective analysis. I occasionally do this with a digital voice recorder. This can be done non-obtrusively for nearly any speech you deliver.
3. Record yourself on video. This is marginally more obtrusive, but delivers more benefits. You get verbal feedback, but you also get to see the expressions on your face and what happens to your eyes when you are… uh… filling in words.

Your goal in assessment is to answer the following:

• How often are you inserting filler words?
• Are they distracting?
• Are they undermining your credibility?

Step 2 — Understand why you are doing it, and why it is unnecessary.

Filler words — that is, filler sounds, filler words, and filler phrases — are inserted when our brain needs a moment to catch up to our mouth.

In certain contexts, filler words can serve a minor purpose. In a phone conversation, for example, a filler word sends a signal to the other person which says “I’m still thinking, and I’m not willing to pass the conversation back to you just yet.” In this way, the filler word fills the otherwise dead space which might indicate that you have completed your thought.

In the majority of public speaking situations, however, this is a completely useless signal. There isn’t any risk of someone in the audience taking over as soon as you go silent for a moment. You don’t need to fill that space to say that you’re thinking. You just need to … think, and your audience will understand.

Step 3 — Raise your level of preparation.

I have observed my filler word usage is highest when my preparation is lowest. Failure to prepare adequately has two effects:

1. Your brain needs to “create” words on the fly, as opposed to pulling them from (preparation) memory. This increases cognitive strain, making it more likely that you’ll fall behind.
2. You are (usually) more nervous when unprepared. Feeling nervous makes most people speak quicker, thus making it more likely that your brain won’t keep up.

One additional aspect of preparation which merits mentioning is the importance of adequate rest. When you are rested, your brain will be sharper and you will find it easier to articulate your thoughts without stumbling.

Adequate preparation (which has many other benefits) will thus reduce the occurrence of filler words.

Step 4A — Slow down.

Slowing your pace will also reduce those um’s and ah’s, because it makes it easier for your brain to keep up. It doesn’t have to be a drastic change; even a modest reduction in pace will help. As an added bonus, speaking a bit slower probably improves the ability of your audience to understand you.

To make this possible, you must be realistic about your time constraints and the amount of material you have. As speakers force more and more content into their presentation, they’ll have to talk faster and faster to complete it on time. Avoid this temptation.

Step 4B — Embrace the pause.

The best advice I ever received to reduce ums and ahs is to just pause. Replace the filler word(s) with silence. Since you’ve probably become accustomed to using filler words, replacing them with silence will take practice. Commit yourself to the change, and it will happen.

Step 5 — Monitor your progress, and be patient.

Every so often, step back and monitor your progress. Revisit the assessment tasks in Step 1, and compare the results.

• Have you reduced the frequency of filler words in your speech?
• Have you reduced the negative impact on your effectiveness caused by using filler words?
• Do you notice a correlation between preparedness and speaking filler-free?
• Is your pace slower?
• Are you simply pausing when you think about what to say next?

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

How would you answer Robin’s question? Do you have a strategy to stop using um’s and ah’s?

Similar Articles You May Like... Are… um… Filler Words… ah… Okay? Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety Bookending Your Speech: A Master Technique How to Ace the Short, Impromptu Speech

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

It is a touching performance. Even though I have seen it numerous times – I use it as part of one of the courses that I teach on public speaking – I never tire of it. Although there is room for improvement, the positive aspects of Gilbert’s talk make it moving and memorable.

This is the latest in a series of speech critiques here on Six Minutes.

I encourage you to:

1. Watch the video;
2. Read the analysis in this speech critique; and
3. Share your thoughts on this presentation in the comment section.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is a lot that can we learn about public speaking from Gilbert’s talk. For the purposes of this post, I have chosen three things that I liked and three areas where I see room for improvement.

First the positives:

She speaks with sincere passion.

Garr Reynolds, the author of Presentation Zen, has said that if he only had one tip to give to speakers, it would be to be passionate about the topic and let that enthusiasm come out.

“The biggest item that separates mediocre presenters from world class ones is the ability to connect with an audience in an honest and exciting way. Don’t hold back. Be confident. And let your passion for your topic come out for all to see.”

Gilbert is certainly passionate. It is easy to see that she truly cares about the subject matter and that she wants the audience to understand what she is saying and why. Her passion builds to a crescendo as her talk progresses. Note, for example, her description of the moonlight dances in North Africa (15:53) and her encouragement to the audience to “do your job” (18:27).

For me, the passion with which Gilbert speaks is the biggest strength of her talk. It more than compensates for any shortcomings. When you show your emotions like Gilbert did, it’s true that you are taking a risk. You are going out on a limb. But that’s where the best fruit is.

She tells stories.

Stories help us connect with our audiences in a way that all the charts, graphs, statistics and bullet points in the world will never be able to do. They help to make our messages resonate in people’s minds long after the telling.

Gilbert uses the power of stories to great effect. Going through the transcript of her talk, I found five personal stories from her life and five stories about other people. The stories reinforce her points in a powerful way.

Psychologists who have studied the power of storytelling have concluded that people are hardwired for stories. It is perhaps the oldest method of communication. So be sure to incorporate stories in your presentations. You have stories too, and telling them will bring your presentation to life in a way that bullet points never can.

She engages the audience.

As Gilbert’s speech progresses, it seems less like a speech and more like a conversation that she is having with a close friend over a cup of coffee. She engages the audience throughout and that makes her very easy to listen to.

Gilbert does not put on airs. Her voice is natural. She smiles. She makes good eye contact with the audience. She laces her talk with humor at appropriate points. All of these things help to “shrink the distance” between Gilbert and her audience. They make her likable and being liked is very important for a speaker. (Just ask anyone who has ever spoken to a hostile audience.)

Now the areas for improvement:

She needs to slow down and pause more often.

Gilbert makes many important points and backs them up with wonderful stories and anecdotes. However, she often runs her ideas together quickly. Furthermore, often when she comes to a point where it would be good to pause, she fills the space with words like “you know”, “right?” and “OK”. These “filler words” eat away at the fabric of our speeches and make them weaker.

Pausing serves us well in many ways:

1. It allows our audiences to absorb and digest what we have said.
2. It can be used to signal that something important is about to come, and thus focus our audience’s attention.
3. It helps rid us of the bad habit of feeling compelled to fill the silence with awkward filler words.
4. It makes us look thoughtful, confident, and credible.

Pauses need only last a second or two, but the effect can be profound. It’s been said that music is what happens between the notes. I believe that a great speech happens between the words, during those moments when the audience internalizes our words. Always remember to pause.

Her hand gestures were frequently distracting.

It’s obvious that, especially at the beginning of her talk, Gilbert was nervous. (Who wouldn’t be at least a bit nervous speaking at TED?) But the nervous energy was frequently released through the wringing and grinding of her hands (see, for example, at 0:30 and 1:05 to 1:25). This is a shame because at other times she used her hands quite effectively to emphasize her points (see, for example, 6:26 to 7:26, 10:20 to 11:03 and 15:59 to 16:40).

Effective gestures can enhance the impact of your message, but they have to be used properly and in moderation. Think of adding gestures to your presentation the way in which a world class chef would add spices to a fine meal: judiciously, to enhance the flavor of the food, but not to overpower it.

Practice getting comfortable with leaving your hands at your side from time to time when you do not need them. That way, when you do gesture, the gestures will be more effective.

She could have related the message to the audience more than she did.

I love the message that Gilbert conveys – that we should do our work as best we can, even if the recognition and acclaim do not come, because it is the doing that is important. I feel, however, that she could have done a bit more to relate it to the audience. Indeed, in the entire speech, which lasted almost 20 minutes, I counted relatively few times when she expressly mentioned the audience:

• 2:20: “Is it logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this earth to do?”
• 12:12: “And I would imagine that a lot of you have too.”
• 14:35: “I fell into one of those pits of despair that we all fall into when we’re working on something that’s not coming.”
• 15:50: “And I know you know what I’m talking about.”
• 18:31: “Just do your job.”

Don’t get me wrong. I do not question for one moment the sincerity behind Gilbert’s message. I am simply saying that it would have been nice to hear her talk more about the audience and the challenges that the people there might be facing. Also, it would have been nice for her to state that her message about creativity applies to people beyond the fine arts, because I do believe that her words have meaning for us all.

Never forget that a speech is, first and foremost, for the audience and about the audience. Why should the audience care? That is the question that we as speakers must always ask ourselves.

So there you have it. Some thoughts on a great speech by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Your Thoughts?

What did you think of this speech? What are Elizabeth’s strengths? How could this speech have been made better?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Similar Articles You May Like... Video Critique: Majora Carter – Greening the Ghetto (TED 2006) Speech Critique: Dan Pink (TED 2009) Speech Critique: Jacqueline Novogratz (TED 2009) Six Simple Techniques for Presenting Data: Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) Video Critique: J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Speech Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005)

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

John Zimmer is a Canadian now living in Geneva, Switzerland. A lawyer by training, he has spoken extensively before courts, tribunals, business conferences, bodies of the United Nations, and more. He lectures on public speaking and presentation skills at the University of Lausanne and elsewhere. John is a four-time European champion of Toastmasters International public speaking contests. His writes regularly about public speaking and presentation matters on his blog.

However, if you ask singers to name the most important part of vocal technique, 9 out of 10 will say “breathing.”

So, is there some special way to breathe that makes your voice better?  Yes!

In this article, we explore breathing as it relates to vocal variety as a speaker. I’ll provide you an easy to follow technique, as well as tips to improve your voice through better use of air.

The results of applying these tips will be more Power, better Pacing, more interesting Pitch and more effective Pauses in your speaking.

Contents

• Lose Your Breath, Lose Your Voice
• Overview of Breathing
  • Breathing 101
• Breathing and Vocal Variety
  • Pace
  • Pitch
  • Pause
  • Power
• Practical Advice for Daily Life

Lose Your Breath, Lose Your Voice

In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “Loss of Breath”, the narrator loses his breath as he is about to berate his wife. Except for some frog-like utterances, his voice also stops with his breath. Shocked by this, he agonizes, philosophizes, and tries to hide his condition, all to no avail. Eventually, he finds his voice when he finds his breath. (Did I mention that someone stole it? This is Poe, after all!)  Although the story is a bit macabre, it underlines the fact that if you lose your breath, you lose your voice … and it’s never a good idea to berate your wife.

Overview of Breathing

So how does one breathe for better speaking and singing? Well, watch a baby breathe. You’ll see that she seems to breath from her stomach, but she is really using her abdominal muscles. It’s breathing 101 — so easy a baby can do it. Here’s how it’s done:

Breathing 101

Read the following instructions out loud carefully, and then try them. (An audio file of these instructions can be heard by clicking here.)

1. Sit forward in a chair and let your stomach muscles relax.
2. Breathe in through your nose and imagine that you are a vessel filling up with air as you would pour water into a vase. Fill up your abdomen first, then your lower ribs (you should feel them expand) and then all the way up to your chin.
3. Hold this breath for a count of ten.
4. Now exhale slowly. As you exhale, keep your ribs expanded and tighten your abdomen as you would if you were doing a “crunch”—that is, the lower abdominal muscles should come in first as though you were rolling up a tube of toothpaste. (Since you are not a tube of toothpaste, keep your chest up as you exhale.)
5. Repeat. Once you have mastered the exercise sitting down, practice incorporating it into your speaking and singing. You may need to do it slowly at first until you can coordinate all the actions smoothly.

The key thing to remember is that breathing should be low and expansive. If you do the exercise correctly, your stomach will go in while your chest stays out and expands. Practicing this technique will provide many benefits, including:

• Awareness of your breathing will enable you to breathe more effectively.
• Proper posture for breathing creates a confident, strong appearance. Deeper breathing makes you feel more confident and strong as well.  Andrew Weil, MD writes, “You cannot always center yourself emotionally by an act of will, but you can use your voluntary nerves to make your breathing slow, deep, quiet, and regular, and the rest will follow.”
• Deep breathing decreases tension and helps to focus intellectual activity.  Charles Kirk describes how proper breathing technique helps him to remain calm on the trading floor.

Breathing and Vocal Variety

An earlier Six Minutes article advised you to “use your voice to complement your message.” This is what I refer to as vocal image: how you are perceived by the sound of your voice.

Ideally, you want your content to align with your delivery method and both to align with the sound of your voice.  Vocal variety is all about the sound of the voice and, in this case, that vocal image is created through several aspects of your sound, including pace, pitch, pause, and power.

Pace

Pace is the speed of your delivery. In general, for vocal variety you are encouraged to vary your pace by speeding up and slowing down appropriately for the message you are delivering. However, some people have trouble with pacing due to poor breathing. If you speak too quickly, or if your speaking is labored or too slow, consider the following:

• Speaking too fast is often the result of not stopping to breathe often enough.
  Solution: To slow down your speaking with the breath, consciously take a breath before you begin. Remember to stop and breathe between ideas. The next time you practice a presentation, take time to inhale and exhale deeply five times before you start to speak. Then take one more deep breath and exhale vigorously into your first words.

• Speaking too slowly can also be caused by not taking in and using enough air.
  Solution: Not using enough air can cause a person to sound dull and lifeless. This may also be caused by poor posture. Practice the breathing technique above, paying special attention to posture. Be sure you move that air with the abdominal muscles as you speak. Overdo the latter when you practice so you really feel the breath in the sound. By breathing deeper and then using all the air in your sound, you create a more energetic sound and you feel more energized, too.

Pitch

Pitch is determined by the notes we use when we speak. Yes, we use notes when speaking just as we do for singing. Speaking notes, however, are random, informally ordered, and usually of shorter duration than notes we sing. To create vocal variety, one uses different pitches to make their sound more interesting.  Sometimes problems with creating variety in pitch can be the result of poor breathing technique. Here are two such problems, their likely causes, and some ways to fix them:

• A voice that is too high-pitched and thin can be the result of shallow breathing (without abdominal expansion and support).
  Solution: The solution to shallow breathing is to relax the abdomen and drop the air in lower. This also relaxes the larynx so it doesn’t ride so high. A high larynx can create a higher, thinner sound.

• If your voice sounds squeezed or strained, or too low, you may not be using all the air you take in.
  Lisa Braithwaite comments rightly that speaking too low can do vocal damage.
  Another lesson from Poe’s prose is that you can produce a sound without breath. He writes:

I discovered that had I, at that interesting crisis, dropped my voice to a singularly deep guttural, I might still have continued … this pitch of voice (the guttural) depending, I find, not upon the current of the breath, but upon a certain spasmodic action of the muscles of the throat.

If you don’t want to be limited to a guttural growl, air should flow freely in your voice. You can improve a strained sound by practicing a breathy sound and then gradually adding more and more vocal sound to it. I call this “energizing the voice.” It also has the effect of making pitch variety much easier to achieve because the voice becomes free to move and create more pitches. If you do this correctly, you will definitely feel the freedom in your voice!

Pause

When speaking, pauses are the golden silences that allow your listeners to take in what you are saying. They are the “beats” an actor uses between phrases; they are that special something that leads to “comedic timing.” Importantly, pauses also give us time to breathe.

Here’s how to apply breathing to your pauses:

• Breathe before speaking your first words.
  Taking that first breath allows you to align everything physically, mentally, and emotionally. It also allows your larynx to be stimulated but relaxed. And finally, it gets the oxygen flowing so that you can think more clearly and look your best.

• Be aware of your breathing.
  It is amazing to see how many people simply forget to breathe when they are in front of an audience. As you may have experienced, nerves can play a big part in forgetting to breathe and feeling out of breath. So the short term solution to this, as blogger Denise Graveline mentions, is to pause and breathe!  The long-term solution, however, is to practice being aware of your breathing all day long. Awareness of breathing makes for natural pauses. The more you practice, the more likely it is you’ll remember to breathe when you’re speaking in public.

Power

A common misconception about Power is that it is the same thing as volume.  The truth is that vocal power is so much more than how loud you are. Vocal power is all about the impact your sound has on others. Your personal vocal power may be found in the tone of your sound or in how you phrase a thought.  Many people are surprised to learn that power can be heightened or lessened by how they breathe and how they use their breath.

• Sound moves on air, so you need to have air to get a powerful sound.  You can speak loudly, but if you aren’t incorporating that air into your sound, you will be shouting. Your impact on others may be quite different than you intended! In addition, keeping the air moving with the sound allows for wonderful control of your voice so that you can use all of your vocal variety techniques more effectively.

• A powerful speaker is one who is relaxed and comfortable. A powerful voice is relaxed and comfortable. Breathing deeply relaxes the larynx so the voice can settle into a comfortable, natural sound rather than one that is contrived or forced.

Practical Advice for Daily Life

Try to practice good breathing technique several times a day and soon you will naturally incorporate it into your everyday speaking. Here are a few tips for practicing breathing:

• Practice breathing while driving. Your hands are raised as you drive which makes it easier to keep your chest high. And practicing breathing can also ease road rage significantly!

• Practice breathing while sitting at your desk when you would normally be slumped over in your chair. Sit on the edge of your chair and take 10 practice breaths three times a day.

• Practice breathing when you are about to go to sleep or lying down on the floor at the end of a workout session. When you are lying down, it is easier to isolate the abdominal muscles and strengthen them for proper breathing. (You can even put a book on your abdomen to exaggerate the way you use those muscles for even better awareness of how to do this correctly. Watch the book go up and down as you breathe “with your stomach.”)

The final and real test, of course, will come in how well you incorporate good breathing into your presentations. On the day of your big presentation, remember to consciously practice using the air you take in. Take time to inhale and exhale deeply five times before you start to speak, then take one more deep breath and breathe into your first words. Don’t forget to slow down and breathe from time to time during the course of a talk in front of an audience.

As they say, practice makes perfect. So practice and it won’t be long before you are able to make your learned breathing as natural as the breathing you are using now, and the benefits will be enormous.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Kate Peters is a singer/actor, voice coach, speaker, and the author of Can You Hear Me Now? Harnessing the power of your vocal impact in 31 days. Through her presentations, seminars, workshops and private coaching, Kate helps executives, speakers, and performers find the strengths in their voices to better express themselves in their professional and personal lives. For more information, visit Kate’s blog.

What is relevant to them?
What do they already know?
How do they feel about our topic?

When I recently spoke at two conferences in Africa, I discovered that there is another, more fundamental layer of audience needs to consider as well.

In this article, I will share the lessons I learned about basic communication issues when speaking to a culturally distinct audience.

1. Don’t assume they can understand you
2. Be cautious of cultural jargon
3. Be adaptable to local style
4. Slow down
5. Watch your body language

Tip 1: Don’t Assume They Can Understand You

Although English is the official language of business in both places I spoke (Nigeria and Kenya), their English is more formal, flowery, and structured than casual, American English where we regularly use contractions (e.g. can’t, mustn’t, would’ve) and drop the endings on words (e.g. are you comin’ to the party?).

To enhance the audience’s ability to understand you, speak clearly and articulate carefully. Minimize your use of contractions. Check with the audience to see if they understand; encourage them to interrupt you if they do not.

Tip 2: Be Cautious of Cultural Jargon

Local terminology, popular culture references, and humor likely will not translate. If they don’t, the point you’re trying to make is lost on the audience. Humor from your culture may even be offensive in other cultures. Things you are very familiar with (e.g. Starbucks, Seinfeld, online banking) may not have any meaning to your audience.

For example, in part of my presentation in Nigeria, I was talking about various social media tools and quickly found that, although Facebook is popular, LinkedIn is not widely recognized there.

If you want to use a cultural reference in your presentation, do some research and find a local one that will resonate with the audience. If you must use one local to your culture, explain it. Avoid jargon and slang. If you use acronyms, spell them out.

Tip 3: Be Adaptable to Local Style

In my presentation skills training classes I teach people not to open their presentation with the standard “I’m so happy to be here”, but instead use those precious first moments to grab the audience’s attention with a powerful, on-message opening. When I speak, I follow my own advice. However, in both Nigeria and Kenya, openings were uniformly formal and almost ceremonial.

In Nigeria, as the only Western, white person in a room of 350 people, I felt it was much more appropriate to abandon my normal style and open my remarks by telling the audience that it was my first visit to Africa and how honored I was, and grateful to the Board of Trustees, to be a part of their conference. My comments were completely sincere, but style-wise, a little over the top for me. In this case, however, it was the right decision: the audience responded with a huge, welcoming round of applause.

Tip 4: Slow Down

This is actually good advice for most presentations, but it’s particularly important in a cross-cultural context. If you have some difficulty understanding your audience speak, because of accents or cadence, they probably have the same difficulty understanding you. The faster you talk, the more difficult you are to understand. If you are being simultaneously translated, speaking quickly also makes it more difficult for the translator.

Tip 5: Watch Your Body Language

Gestures (e.g. pointing) or unconscious habits (e.g. maintaining direct eye contact) may be offensive in other cultures. Do your research to determine what’s appropriate and what’s not where you’re speaking.

A resource to check is Gestures: The Dos and Taboos of Body Language Around the World by Roger Axtell. It is available from amazon.com for just $11.53.

The Bottom Line

Speaking in another country to people from another culture is an amazing experience. Do your homework, incorporate a few modifications into your presentation, and eagerly embrace any opportunity that comes your way.

Learning More

You can research the cultural characteristics of your audience with these resources:

• CIA: World Factbook
• BBC: Country Profiles
• US Department of State: Country Notes

Have you ever spoken to an audience from a culture different than yours? What tips can you share?

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words 6 Communication Barriers and How You Can Avoid Them Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety 8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions and How to Fix Them

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Kathy Reiffenstein is the founder and president of And…Now Presenting!, a D.C. area business communications consulting and training firm, where she draws on her background in sales, marketing and customer service to create confident, persuasive speakers. She works with business executives, authors, non-profit leaders and the military to help them speak clearly, effectively and engagingly to their audiences.

How about you?

In this article, you will learn:

• 8 common faulty assumptions you might be making;
• the subsequent result on your presentations; and
• how to fix your flawed thinking.

8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions

Eight common faulty assumptions that speakers make are:

1. Deep knowledge of a topic alone will enable me to present ideas on it.
2. My audience members are mind readers.
3. I can present information/concepts that took me 3 months to learn in a 20-minute presentation.
4. Everyone in my audience is equal.
5. I don’t need to practice out loud.
6. I’ll have plenty of time to get there.
7. If I get off the platform/stage, I will be closer to audience members.
8. If I speak at my normal speed, everyone will understand me.

Let’s examine each of these a little deeper.

Assumption #1 — Deep knowledge of a topic alone will enable me to present ideas on it

Knowledge of a subject you are going to speak about is critical, but it is only a beginning to have an impact on an audience. You also need to determine:

• What you want to achieve by delivering the message? In other words, what is your purpose? What do you want the audience knowing, doing, and/or feeling as a result of your presentation?
• Who you are speaking to? What are their expectations, level of understanding, and attitudes. Depending on this, you will organize your materials accordingly, and emphasize the information that is most critical to the audience.
• Logistical considerations — How much time do you have? How many people will be in the audience? What types of visuals will work best? You need to understand all of this to determine how much information you will be presenting — and how to present it.

Assumption #2 — My audience members are mind readers

Unfortunately, audience members never know what you want them to take away from your presentation, unless you tell them multiple times.

Despite what you may think, they are not hanging on your every word. The goal is to be clear and concise. Don’t let them guess.

Assumption #3 — I can present information/concepts that took me 3 months to learn in a 20-minute presentation

Frequently, speakers want to look smart — or demonstrate that they have worked very hard — so they do a data dump. They forget that audience members can only absorb so much information at a time.

Step back and determine what they must know. Leave the rest out, or save it for the Q & A.

Assumption #4 — Everyone in my audience is equal

Typically, there are audiences within an audience. There may be a hierarchy or politics involved. Analyze the audience, and determine which members are the decision makers, and who are the influencers (sometimes they can be the same), and then plan accordingly.

If everyone is equal in rank, play to the masses.

Do your homework. Learn exactly who is in the audience.

Assumption #5 — I don’t need to practice out loud

Thinking through a presentation is very different than speaking it out loud, in a simulated environment, using your notes and/or slides.

Actors, musicians, and athletes all practice. Why should speakers be any different?

Practice helps with fluidity, timing and comfort level. Each time, say it differently, so it doesn’t become rote.

Peter Drucker said, “Spontaneity is an infinite number of rehearsed possibilities.”

Assumption #6 — I’ll have plenty of time to get there

Although the unexpected can happen, speakers should do everything possible to arrive at a speaking event/meeting well in advance.

If you don’t do your due diligence in leaving with ample time, or getting directions, you will likely arrive at the last minute — harried and looking unprofessional.

If other speakers are before you, sit in to get a sense of the tone of the meeting, and how the audience is responding.

By arriving early, you can talk to audience members, and further customize your presentation. And, of course, this allows you time to check your appearance, do some breathing exercises, check your equipment, and to be there to welcome the audience members as they arrive.

Assumption #7 — If I get off the platform/stage, I will be closer to audience members

Many speakers wrongly believe getting off a platform or stage will help them better connect with audience members. But, in fact, the majority of the audience won’t be able to see them when on the same level.

Getting into the audience can work effectively only if …

• It’s a small audience
• The room is set up for this
• You are tall enough to be seen.

Most of the time, the speaker’s need to get closer to the audience can be an annoyance to audience members when they don’t know where to look.

Stay on the platform or stage, and connect with large audiences in better ways, like using questions to get participants to raise hands, and interactive exercises in subgroups.

In a larger venue, try to have the room arranged with several aisles. That way, if you do walk into the audience, you will have a place to go.

Assumption #8 — If I speak at my normal speed, everyone will understand me.

The standard rate of speech in the United States is 120 or 160 words per minute. This varies in different parts of the country.

Speakers need to adapt their rate regionally, as well as when the information is technical and people need time to absorb it, and also when English isn’t a first language. If they don’t adapt, participants may not understood what they’re saying, or key concepts may be missed.

How to Fix Your Faulty Assumptions

Now that you’ve identified these faulty assumptions, how do you fix them?

What do you think?

What faulty assumptions have you made, only to learn the hard way?

Please share your lessons in the comments.

Similar Articles You May Like... 5 Speaking Resolutions to Wow Your Audience in 2012 Speaking is a Team Sport: 3 Ways to be Responsive to Your Audience Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking Stop Rehearsing! 3 Critical Things to Do Before Your Speech Speaking Survey says: Speaker DO’s and DON’Ts

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Marjorie Brody is a Hall of Fame speaker, coach to Fortune 500 executives and author of more than 18 books, including Speaking is an Audience-Centered Sport. She is CEO of BRODY Professional Development, a business communication and presentation skills company located in the Philadelphia suburbs that offers tailored training programs, workshops, keynote presentations, and executive coaching. To contact Marjorie, visit www.BrodyPro.com.

Does your voice put your audience to sleep? Does it put you to sleep?

Do you find it hard to convey emotions with your voice?

Are you easy to listen to, or does your voice let you down?

The sixth Toastmasters speech project guides you to harness the power of your own voice. This article of the Toastmasters Speech Series examines the primary goals of this project, provides tips and techniques, and links to numerous sample speeches.

Why is This Speech Important?

The aims for this speech project are to use your voice to complement your message by enhancing your:

• pace,
• pitch,
• power, and
• pauses.

Your voice is the best tool in your delivery toolbox. You must learn to use it effectively to enhance your presentation.

Tips and Techniques

1. Plan Around the 4 P’s: Pace, Pitch, Power, and Pauses

Be conscious of all four major vocal variables, and work all of them into your speech.

1. Pace — One of the easiest ways to incorporate variable pace is to slow down through key statements.
2. Pitch — A convenient way to hit different pitch points is to play with different emotional content. A sad voice takes on a different pitch than a content voice, which is distinct from an excited voice, and so on. Stories are good speech building blocks for many reasons, including how they bring a speaker’s voice alive through different emotions.
3. Power (Volume) — Don’t overdo it with changes in volume. Again, align your variations in volume with emotional content. Anger or joy tends to bring out a loud voice. Fear or sadness calls for a quiet voice.
4. Pauses — There are a multitude of ways to incorporate pauses in a meaningful way (watch for a future Six Minutes article dedicated to pauses). For this speech, keep it straightforward. Make sure you’ve got short pauses following every sentence, and longer pauses at the ends of paragraphs or transitions within your speech.

2. Be Deliberate (Keep Score if You Have To)

Don’t just write a speech and try to incorporate vocal variety on the fly as you deliver it. You won’t get any value from this speech project if you take that approach.

As you write, edit, and rehearse your speech, select words or phrases where you will consciously vary your voice in each of the four P ways. As you grow as a speaker, you’ll hit all four of these unconsciously, but when you are learning, it’s okay to be a little more deliberate.

Consider annotating your speech with colored pen to highlight vocal variation opportunities.

You might even consider making a “scorecard” in the margin of your page, and giving yourself one point for each vocal manoeuver. Shoot for a score of at least 3 for each P.

3. Align Your Voice with Expressive Gestures

One of the best ways to bring out your most expressive voice is to use expressive gestures, particularly facial gestures!

If participate in teleconference calls or webinars, you may have learned this trick. Even though nobody can see you, it really helps to stand up in your office and give body, hand, and facial gestures as you talk on the phone. Your voice will naturally come alive, as if synchronized with your gestures.

The same trick applies to face-to-face presentations as well. If you are expressive with your face and other gestures, your voice tends to naturally align.

4. Ditch the Notes, Keep Your Head Up, and Project Your Voice

Maybe you have used notes for the five previous Competent Communicator projects, but now is a great time to break free of your notes.

• When you glance down to read notes, your neck and throat bend and can get contorted. Your voice tends to be low, or poor quality, and low volume.
• Without notes, you’ll be able to keep your head up high and your eyes on your audience. With your head high, your neck and throat will be stretched out, and the quality of your voice will be much more resonant.

5. Exaggerate Words

If your speech allows, find some words where you can play with the pronunciation to add some vocal spice to your delivery. For example:

• Instead of saying “The car was a long way from the beach,” you could say “The car was a looooooong way from the beach”.
• Instead of saying “The hamburger was delicious,” try “The hamburger was deeee-licious.”

6. Don’t Speak About Vocal Variety

When choosing your topic for this speech, avoid the temptation to speak about vocal variety, like this guy (who admits he “cheated”). If you do, you are missing the point of this speech project.

Your objective for this speech project is not to educate your audience about vocal variety. Your objective is to incorporate vocal variety to enhance your delivery.

You have infinite speech topics at your disposal… explore!

What I Did for Speech 6

I chose to deliver a biographical speech about Theodor Seuss Geisel, the children’s book author better known as Dr. Seuss.

This topic was fantastic as it begged for me to use my voice in a wonderful variety of ways:

• My “normal” speaking voice was used for “bones” of the speech — the biographical details which formed the framework. Even in this section of the speech, I used vocal variety to emphasize key words, phrases, and points.
• I included numerous quotations from his stories, each carefully selected to both (a) illustrate the biographical details and (b) allow me to convey a different emotion or mood. Each of these required varying the pitch, pace, and volume. For example, I included:
  • Happy, sing-songy passages from Fox in Sox and The Cat in the Hat
  • A stalwart, committed passage from Horton Hatches the Egg
  • An angry passage from The Lorax (this was one of my all-time favorite moments in Toastmasters as I used one of the audience members as a “prop” to be the source of my anger)
  • An optimistic passage from Oh, the Places You’ll Go

Reading Dr. Seuss books and other stories with my daughter is one of my favorite activities. Therefore, this topic revealed an inherent passion, and I knew this would come through in the quality of my voice.

Toastmasters Speech 6 Examples

Here are a few sample video speeches which may provide inspiration for you. As you watch some of these videos, ask yourself which speakers are using vocal variety to enhance their speeches, and which are missing opportunities. Then, try to emulate the best behaviors in your own speech.

• How to Communicate with Me by Shana(?)
  • Pauses are used effectively, particularly before/after transition statements. This (along with clear language) helps convey the structure of the speech.
  • Increase volume and pace when impersonating another person @ 2:00
  • Varying voice to mimic personality traits on “the person who needs love more than information” @ 2:35
  • Emphasis on the word “perturbed” (to make it sound perturbed!) @ 2:55, and the great emphasis on  “I wish you’d show me more respect” (in a way that is demanding respect)
  • “I was in this one loooooooooong class about muscles” @ 4:05
• For the Love of Animals by Emilie Staryak
  • Effective use of pauses throughout, particularly in the opening minute of the speech, to enhance the understandability. For example (starting @ 1:00), notice the pause after phrase  “herding, hauling, and hunting”; brief pauses after after “loyalty” and “security”; and then the longer pause after “companionship”.
  • Effective exaggeration used in the phrase “DESperate meOW” @ 2:08
  • Notice the variation in pitch @ 2:25 and 2:40, and also how this is accompanied by gestures
• The Art of Procrastination by Chance Litton
  • Effective vocal variety throughout.
  • The speaker’s variation in pace and pauses conveys much of the humor.
• Is Your Dream a Loud Gong or a Faint Whistle by Daniel
• Unknown Title by Anonymous
• Last Child in the Woods by Paul Miller
• That’s Just Rude by Dianne
• Friend or Foe: It’s All In Your Perspective by Robin
• Sioux Hockey Fan by John Sanders
• My Turn Around by Jerome Moore
• Who Wrote That Book? by Stephanie Bryant
• Beyond the Nineteenth Hole by Glenn Woodson
• It’s Your Money by Anonymous
• Unknown by Dick
• The Upside of Failure by John Armstrong

Next in the Toastmasters Speech Series

The next article in this series examines Toastmasters Speech 7: Research Your Topic.

Similar Articles You May Like... Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) Speech Preparation #7: Choreograph Your Speech with Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety How to Thrive When Speaking Outside Powers of 10: Time Scales in Public Speaking

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Majora Carter’s TED talk has both incredible strengths — passion, energy, authenticity — and one unfortunate weakness — rapid speaking rate. Both extremes are worthy of public speaking analysis.

I encourage you to:

1. Watch the video;
2. Read the analysis in this speech critique; and
3. Share your thoughts on this presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What is Phenomenal about this Speech?

Guy Kawasaki has written a thorough 15-point speech review, describing the many wonderful aspects of this talk. His entire review is worth reading, but I’d like to quote a few excerpts which echoed my own analysis:

• She immediately provides a clear problem statement. (1:00-2:00)
• She personalizes her story all the way through the speech.
• She shows raw emotions and unveils a piece of her soul when she breaks into tears when talking about her brother being gunned down. (5:10)
• She capitalizes on alliteration: “pimps and pushers and prostitutes” (6:50) and repetition: “economic degradation begets environmental degradation which begets social degradation” (7:24).
• Her presence exudes power and confidence without a trace of arrogance, fear, or condescension.
• She ends with an insanely great call-to-action: “Please don’t waste me.” (17:57)

In short, Majora Carter exhibits incredible passion — more in 19 minutes than many of my college professors in an entire semester. Her message is captivating, and her enthusiasm is infectious. All speakers can learn from Majora Carter.

But… it could be much, much better

This talk by Majora Carter is not without flaws. Here’s what Guy Kawasaki wrote about her speaking rate:

• She speaks rapidly—bordering on too rapidly, but she is articulate at all times. And she slows her cadence for her most important points. You can tell that she’s trying to observe her time limit—communicating that she respects the audience’s time.

While I agreed with much of Guy Kawasaki’s analysis, I believe he is being too generous on this point.

Majora Carter speaks too fast for much of this talk. Period. It does not “border on too rapidly.” It is too rapid.

Her talk is packed with dense information, often delivered at a rate too fast for many in the audience to absorb. Garr Reynolds recently wrote about a presentation by economist Robert Frank. One of Frank’s slides asks these questions:

• How much can I cover today?
  vs.
  How much can my students absorb today?

While Majora Carter may be respecting the audience’s time, she is not respecting the audience’s capacity to absorb information.

I have the luxury of watching this video three times, pausing, and rewinding to get the meaning. This is a luxury that your audience rarely has. More importantly, your audience will rarely give you more than one opportunity. Overloading them with information is not effective.

Her speaking rate is so fast that she trips over her own words multiple times. At times, she seems breathless. Used sparingly, a rapid speaking rate can be used to very good effect by a speaker. However, when most of the talk is delivered at this rate, that’s a clear sign that too much information is being presented.

What’s the Solution? Aggressive Editing.

If you have a 20-minute time slot and 40 minutes of information, the solution is not to double your speaking rate. The solution is to cut the material in half. Keep the best lines, the best stories, and the most powerful images. Be ruthless in trimming the rest.

Depending on your speaking scenario, you may be able to include additional facts, figures, statistics, stories, and diagrams in handout material for the audience.

What about Reading from a Script?

It is generally better to avoid reading from notes, but that in itself didn’t bother me in this presentation. Despite frequently reading, Majora connects deeply with the audience throughout the talk. Her face is expressive, her body is active, and her vocal variety is excellent. She compensates well for the use of notes.

The indirect problem with reading notes is that it encourages rapid delivery. This is a problem that I have personally battled. In the past, I often wrote with red pen in margins of my notes: “SLOW DOWN!” In recent years, I go without notes or with only a few key phrases to guide me along. The time it takes me to occasionally catch my thoughts is time well spent — it allows the audience time to digest what I’ve just said.

Critical analysis notwithstanding, this is still a fantastic talk from Majora Carter. It could have been better with some aggressive editing and a slower delivery. [For contrast, watch this 2-minute video from Majora Carter demonstrating a much better speaking rate.]

Your Thoughts?

Did you enjoy this speech? What did you like most? What did you think of the speaking rate?

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) Six Simple Techniques for Presenting Data: Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) Video Critique: Al Gore (TED, 2006) Speech Critique: Dan Pink (TED 2009) Speech Critique: Jacqueline Novogratz (TED 2009) Video Critique: J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007)

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.