UM... ah... what if we wrote the way we talk?

"Hello Mr. Customer, I am your, ah, presenter for today. We will, um, be discussing your, um, total solution, um, ah, your telecommunications equipment, and um, your network. Feel free to, um, discuss any, ah, concerns you may have, um, at any time." - nervous sales people everywhere

If we typed the way we talked, it would be annoying. Imagine how your listener feels? UM and AH are filler words. We use them when our brain needs to catch up to our mouth. It becomes such a habit to say UM or AH we don't even realize we are using them.

I recently had the opportunity to work at a charity event in a media team capacity. I was working with a youth volunteer. We had the guest speaker on camera in focus, he was mixed at the sound board, all of his presentation information was displayed; but his presentation was missing something - BIG!

I turned to my youth volunteer and smiled and said, "Hey, count the number of times he says AH and UM." "Just say the number out loud so you don't have to write it down - we need to stay sharp."

He began counting, "One.... two.... three, four, five.... six." He looked shocked and said, "Wow, I never realized how many times he said UM."

In the next two minutes we counted 22 ahs or ums. It became so distracting, the speakers message was lost; to us at least. Is your message being lost?

My challenge for you:

1. Mentally listen for your personal filler words such as; um, ah, and you know.
2. For your next presentation, ask your Sales Manager or co-presenter to count how many times you use them.
3. After your meeting, review the Ums & Ahs. How did you do?
4. Work on eliminating unnecessary words.

Constant personal improvement will build you; your character, your performance, and your SUCCESS!