
How to stop saying “um”, “ah”, and “you know” - tarr11
https://hbr.org/2018/08/how-to-stop-saying-um-ah-and-you-know
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fpalmans
Becoming comfortable with silent pauses in your speech in key, I have found
that it not only captures my audience's attention, it also calms me down.
Furthermore, the silent pause should also be used purposefully as a multi-
purpose tool and be inserted consciously in your speech. I have noticed that
using pauses strategically helped me reduce my use of disfluencies
considerably.

I agree that preparation is everything. It can mean different things for
different people though. I have found that preparing a speech by writing it
out and memorizing it does not work for me. What does work, is knowing as much
as I possibly can about the subject matter, having a short list of the talking
points or story and most importantly, the key message(s) intended for the
audience.

Finally, have fun speaking. Be enthusiastic about what you are saying and put
that energy in your voice and your gestures. Again, this doesn't only engage,
it also makes one more comfortable speaking.

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fimbulvetr
Lately, I've noticed people are saying "I mean, ...". I hear it and
automatically think it's a bit odd because they did not attempt to articulate
anything before that, so they did not need to restate anything.

I've noticed myself that I've done it a few times.

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sguwwochqbib
seems like everyone is saying "right?" and the end of every sentence this year

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Robin_f
I know right.

