If you spend more than 2 minutes talking to a Toastmaster about Toastmasters, no doubt the subject of ums and ahs will come up. They seem to suggest that no communication can be had if you use either of these words (and some of their cousins like so, but, and, etc.).
I think it is about time we stop this intense focus on these disfluencies. There is so much more to communication than the utterance of a few ums here and there. Sure, if a speaker has more than 10 for a 5-minute speech, then their evaluator can let them know, but do we really need a Grammarian to keep track of everyones? (Many clubs combine Grammarian and Ah Counter) The Grammarian can concentrate on real grammar, the use of metaphors, similes, alliteration, etc.
I have found that when speakers become comfortable speaking in front of an audience that most of their disfluencies go away. Shouldn’t the focus then be on building confidence rather than reducing verbal utterances? Just because a speaker has no ums or ahs does not make them engaging, compelling, or interesting.
There are a number of ways to build confidence:
- Stage time
- Positive feedback
- Mentoring
- Skill building
- Pushing past our fears
Start a revolution in your Toastmasters club. Remove the focus on ums and ahs, and instead start building on the road to confidence.
Next week at your Toastmasters meeting start a “grammarian focus of the month.” Here’s 6
- Power Words
- Alliteration
- Metaphors
- Similes
- Active tense
- Internal Rhyming
Leave a comment to let me know how it goes.
Posted under Toastmasters
This post was written by john on March 14, 2009
I’ll meet you halfway. Um’s and Ah’s give the appearance of uncertainty and desperation.
There is a wide range of how badly these are abused. I think tracking them/dinging them is effective – I know I’m only called on them once or twice a year now.
The other argument, that lack of um or ah’s does not make a speaker more engaging is also true. A boring speaker is still a boring speaker – but at least they take less time being boring.
Take the confidence from getting rid of Um’s and Ah’s and pour it into your writing and delivery style. It all works together.