Think before you speak!
I recently attended a media presenter course at Pinewood studios. I love presenting and therefore I like to hone my skills whilst being up to date with the latest demands and techniques.
One of things that was discussed in depth is the use of er and um
mm. In TV presenting the use of this is very frowned upon. We talked about er and ummm and how it undoes and devalues what you are trying to communicate.
The short answer is to think before you speak as otherwise it sounds like you are unsure of what you are talking about.
I heard this sentence in a practice observation recently:
Read this out loud….
“The cost of your treatment, er is er, let me see, umm, yes it is £95.00” Would you like to, er book that treatment?
Now let’s take out the er’s and replace them with a pause.
Read this out loud….
“The cost of your treatment (insert pause) let me see (insert pause) Yes it is £95.00. Would you like to book that treatment?
See how much nicer it sounds and that you are in control. I know what some of you are thinking we can improve the choice of words and yes that is true, but just see the difference in just taking out er and Umm, it has already vastly improved the sentence.
So if you are an er and umm or another word that you say non-stop clinician, use the word or noise less to aid you to build value in what you are trying to communicate.
Michael