Presentation skills ~ tellingpeople

Tim’s excellent Mother Tongue Annoyances blog had a recent article about how to get rid of the bane of the nervous presenter - umm and err.

The idea behind his article - and many of the comments - was that by providing feedback, so that the speaker knew he/she was “umming” during their presentation, they’d magically stop doing it.

I have to say, that’s not my experience; not personally and not in my training. Tim’s idea of video recording yourself and looking back at it is fine as far as it goes (and helpful!) but some of the others (typical of toastmasters etc.) such as putting up your hand every time you hear your presenter umm is just designed to fluster an already nervous disposition!

It’s about as much use as putting out fire by pouring petrol (gasoline) on it: after all, water’s a liquid and petrol’s a liquid, therefore petrol should put out fires like water does, right?

Errrrr…. no, actually!

As a presentation skills trainer - particularly in my public courses (which tend to be frequented by those who have to make presentations, rather than want to make them) there are two basic causes of ‘fillers’ such as umm and errr. The first is that the presenter/speaker doesn’t know what to say and is sub-conciously filling the silence while they think of what to say next… and that this is caused by them not having done enough work before-hand.
For this kind of presenter I have little time or sympathy. If they’re standing there, presenting, without having practiced and rehearsed (the two are not the same!) to the point where they know what to say, then they deserve to sound as daft as they inevitably will!

The second type of filler-sound-maker gets more of my sympathy. This is the kind of presenter who really would rather not be there. They’re presenting because they have to: perhaps because of a direct edict from their boss or the necessity of their work. More often in my experience though, because they’ve got a passion about something and they need to say it; not so much because they’ve got to say it but because they “can’t not” say it, if you see what I mean.

For this kind of presenter, filler-sounds are a kind of self-deprication. These people know they’re not God’s gift to presentions and they don’t need to be reminded of it every 30 seconds by some smug pillock in the audience putting his hand up!

No - what this kind of presenter needs is the time and space to get their act together.

Of course, as a trainer, my life is made easier because the cure for both these issues is pretty much the same - know the presentation and it’s material inside out, back to front and sideways, so that there’s no need for hesitation, repetition or deviation.

Prepare: rehearse and practice!