Warning, you could be infected with a verbal virus. Be aware that it could impact your sales, social life, political life or your career. They will certainly detract from any presentation or speech that you may give.
What are they? Verbal virus refers to those nasty filler words that creep into our conversations such as; um, ah, like, so, you know, no doubt and the two I use to distraction, fabulous and awesome. These viruses can also include lip smacks and any other mouth sounds. They are quite nasty and can result in something terrible: very irritated listeners. That’s something we definitely want to avoid.
How do we cure ourselves of nasty filler words? First, learn what yours are, because we all have them. To do this you have a few options.
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Record yourself while you are speaking on the phone or leaving a voicemail message for someone, and then listen.
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Go to Toastmasters, they count filler words during a meeting and let you know what yours are and how often you use them.
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Enlist the help of a friend or spouse and ask them to listen to you during a conversation and note what you use and how often you use them.
Next we need to work at getting rid of them. There’s a few alternative ways of doing this.
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Use a pause instead of a filler word. As Joe Maddens (www.talkforchange.wordpress.com) says. “Pauses are more than just ok. They give your audience or listener time to think about what you just said, rather than having to listen to ums or ahs in between sentences. Pauses also help you maintain an even pace and give you time to breathe, making your speech more effective and your voice smoother”.
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Practice. We’re more likely to use filler words when speaking off the cuff. If you’re giving a speech, knowing your material well and practicing out loud will help you avoid using filler words.
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Try chunking. Olivia Mitchell (www.speakingaboutpresenting.com) explains chunking as” talking in short chunks of words with breaks in between the chunks. When you chunk you get into a rhythm: burst of words/break/burst of words/break.” Focus on that rhythm and your viruses will be defeated. Initially, it will feel weird and uncomfortable.
A few years ago, my husband and I were at a photography seminar and the keynote speaker was a world renowned travel photographer. Her lecture was the most painful I have ever listened to. She used verbal viruses incessantly. This could be a real detriment to her career which involved teaching and giving seminars.
Become aware and help stop the spread of verbal viruses. Your listeners will thank you.
Mary Anthes is a retired business owner, speaker and a Distinguished Toastmaster. She can be reached at nmanthes@shaw.ca.
