Foghorns, or fillers as they are commonly known, are distracting. They reduce a speaker’s impact and simply take up space. Fillers such as ‘like’, ‘you know’, ‘kind of’, ‘sort of’ add nothing to the message a speaker is trying to deliver.
I recently sat through a talk (on Indian tax….!) and the only thing I could focus on was the number of fillers the presenter used. He said ‘errr’ once or twice in every sentence. He knew his stuff and was well prepared, but ultimately the additions ruined his delivery.
Fillers creep in when you least expect them, and as a speaker you may not even realise they are there. It can take a lot of effort to reduce them from your speech.
I recently delivered a workshop in Mumbai on presenting your message. We played ‘Just a Minute’, whereby the participants had to speak for a minute on a given subject without using fillers. One simple rule – any fillers and they were knocked out of the game. It’s suprisingly hard. Only one participant completed the minute filler free!
So what should you do if you feel the urge to use a filler? Make use of a pause instead. Using a pause instead of a filler will make you sound more articulate. However, don’t use it too frequently as it can break the flow of your speech and make it hard for your audience to follow you.
How else can you reduce fillers? Keep a tally. The first step is to become conscious of them which in itself is a challenge. Record yourself speaking off the cuff for a minute. Listen to the recording and count the number of times you used a filler. Write the number down and continue to do this every day for a couple of weeks or more. You should, with time, find a reduction.
Finally, there are also apps you can download. LikeSo: Your Enterprise Speech Coach (iOS), Ummo (iOS and Android) and Um Counter (Android) can all help you to improve.
What’s your approach to reducing fillers when you speak?