Check out minutes 2:00-4:00 in the video above. The interviewee, Jo Becker, has a lot of interesting things to say in regard to Obama’s foreign policy, but unfortunately her message gets lost in a haze of um’s, ah’s and sort of’s.

How do you fix this? Get a rubber ball. No joke. Go through your presentation and squeeze the ball every time you say “um”, “ah”, “like”, “sort of”, or “kind of”. Go easy to start, just notice how often it occurs, then run through the presentation again, and really commit to a long moment of silence when you squeeze the ball, and resist the urge to fill the space with stammering.

We use these vocal fillers when we a) don’t have our thoughts organized or b) feel the need to qualify or weaken our stance on the topic we are speaking about. We fix the vocal tic issue when we a) pause in silence and take time to clarify our thoughts during our presentation or b) stop qualifying our ideas so darn much!

In any case, give me a buzz if you’d like to work on this issue. I’m happy to help you get your presentation to the next level!

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