Comments on: Eliminating Verbal Pauses

By: Quincy

Quincy — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 05:48:25 +0000

In seventh grade, my English teacher had a heck of a trick for this. She would have one of the students serve as the “Um” counter, though instead of just counting, that student would have a bell that he would ring. It’s great instant feedback. In addition, the added pressure made normal public speaking seem easier. (Enter Suvarov once again: “Hard training, easy combat. Easy training, hard combat.”)

By: Project Nothing! » Blog Archive » Eliminating verbal pauses

Project Nothing! » Blog Archive » Eliminating verbal pauses — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:55:53 +0000

[...] e’ve all been there. Problem is, we don’t realize just how bad it can get. STEVE PAVLINA has a great post on the subject in which he writes: First, sta [...]

By: Shy Sir

Shy Sir — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 15:41:49 +0000

Verbal pauses in a conversation are a defensive measure. If you pause during your side of a conversation, it’s likely the other person will interrupt. Perhaps we should all adopt the verbal signal “over”, as used in two-way radio communication, to indicate that we’re done talking.

By: lifehack.org

lifehack.org — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 11:38:14 +0000

Eliminating Verbal Pauses

Steve Pavlina over his blog has posted a entry about verbal pauses which he learned in Toastmasters. Verbal pauses are when you say bridging words when your brain still processing for next sentence – like umm, ahhh, you know, and, and but. It is somet…

By: The Ninth Wave

The Ninth Wave — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 06:15:05 +0000

Steve Pavlina – Eliminating Verbal Pauses

This post is absolutely on target. About three years ago a friend of mine called attention to the number of times I would say “you know” in a conversation, and ever since I have found that as I strive to speak clearly and deliberately my confidence a…

By: Otaku

Otaku — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 00:44:50 +0000

I had a teacher during my Bachelor’s who lectured in math, who was particularly bad at the “Um and Ah and Er”. Especially the long drawn out “arrrhhhh.” In less than an hour we clocked him at over 2,000 “verbal pauses” before we lost interest in counting. One of those few classes where you came out knowing less than you did when you went in.

By: John Richardson

John Richardson — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 22:06:15 +0000

Great post Steve! Eliminating UM’s, Ah’s and You Know’s can be difficult at first but will become easier with time. If there is one thing that separates an amateur speaker from a professional one, it is the use of these “filler” words. The use of a clicker can help you spot these dreaded words as you speak them. Some Toastmasters clubs have an audience member provide a click every time you say a filler word. While this can be distracting it can quickly help a habitual UMer to see the error of his ways.

By: Software Enthusiast

Software Enthusiast — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 19:55:23 +0000

An uncle of mine taught me to eliminate verbal pauses – by just observing them and eliminating them. No need for someone to count them.

This helped me improve my speaking in from of audiences skills quite a lot.

By: Duff

Duff — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 19:00:40 +0000

Great stuff, Steve! The clearer your communication, the greater your impact. Eliminating verbal pauses is a great start.

By: Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:53:11 +0000

@Fred: My current estimate puts that in the Fall.

Right now I’m writing content for my book, this blog, speeches, and occasional articles, so I want to finish the first draft of my book before I start writing content for the newsletters. Otherwise I think I’d be spreading myself too thin.