Public Speaking Tip: Stuffing Your Sentences

"So, you know, like sometimes when you hear someone talk, they like say a lot of like totally unnecessary words and umm, that sort of like, makes the sentence like really, really long.  Umm, what's with that?  Like it's just so like ah, strange, you know, that they can't say something so ah, simple like straight to the point, you know."

The above is an example of excessive use of "sentence fillers".  The words in bold are the unnecessary words that we use all the time unconsciously in our daily conversations.  In other words, we stuff our sentences.

This may not be practiced in written form, but record yourself when you're having a conversation with a friend and you may surprise yourself at how you literally stuff your sentences with all these fillers.

When you come for a Toastmasters meeting, you will notice that there are people taking up various roles such as grammarian, timer, evaluator and this strange role called "Ah Counter".

The Ah Counter's job is literally, to count the number of times you use sentence fillers such as:

• Ah
• Umm
• Err
• So
• Like

And other unnecessary repetitive words.

So why do we stuff our sentences like this?

Well, it's not to say that these words don't have a place in daily conversation.  They do play a role in bridging conversation, if used moderately, that is.

However, excessive use can indicate things like nervousness, hesitation, lack of knowledge and just plain lack of preparation, which is a no-no in the fine art of public speaking.

In that case, what can you do to reduce the number of fillers you use?  We say practice, practice, practice.

But what about impromptu speaking such as the Table Topics?

One good public speaking tip is to slow down your speech to give yourself time to think.  Or better still, give yourself time before you even start speaking to gather your thoughts.  After all, the timer doesn't start the clock until you are ready.

To know more about sentence fillers and how to reduce them you can read an article here taken from our Toastmasters magazine.

If you would like the opportunity to hone your public speaking skills as well as learn leadership skills, join us for our bi-monthly meetings on every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month.  Our meetings start at 8pm.  For further information please contact us at gurneyhydrotoastmastersclub@gmail.com or refer to our Next Meeting page for information on our next meeting.