Effective public speaking: Avoiding the AH word
If you have ever attended a Toastmaster’s meeting, you are familiar with the “ah” counter. They let you know how many times you use the “ah” word while making a speech. It might surprise you if you did it yourself in your next presentation.
Often, the success of a project may depend in large part on the effectiveness of the communications that go along with it. As Toastmasters puts it, they “strive to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of crutch-words and filler words” such as “ah,” “um,” “er,” “you know” and ‘uh.” These utterances undermine our power of speech and distract the audience.
But at the same time, counting the “ah” word really distracts you during a speech because you are always listening for it or trying to avoid it while making your speech or presentation. Every day you listen to people talk at work, at business meetings, on TV and radio and you hear even very successful people using the filler words. You ask how can this be? That is a no no. Most of us are not conscious of filler words unless we have taken formal speech classes.
So keep it in mind (but don’t let it dominate your thoughts!) the next time you make a speech or even when you listen to a speech. Avoid the Ahs and get your point across much more effectively.
mare commented:
The thing I need to get rid of is "you know". Is that possibly a Texas thing. Mary
Mare commented:
Filler words are necessary, however when you start counting 15 to 20 ah's in a speech you can miss the content that is trying to be told
lakshmikanthan commented:
Filler words are a must to make any speech interesting and meaningful,the question is how effectively and frequently one uses.The right blend of filler words make the speeches lively.
Pamela Winter commented:
We use filler words (ah, um, you know, like) as an unconscious effort to give our brains time to think of our next statement. When we have practiced what we need to say or speak with confidence, our brains are already in gear and moving along quite nicely. We use less space fillers only through practice. While the Toastmasters' use of an "Ah" counter or Grammarian may seem intimidating, it teaches us to speak with more assuredness so that speaking without the use of filler words becomes a habit.
