Coaching a Japanese executive in presentation skills a few weeks ago, the first time I asked him to stand up and speak he began with, “I, er, would, er, like, er, to, er…” It was the worst case of the “ers” that I’d ever heard.
People often claim that they say “er” or “um” too much and they ask me to help them “correct” it. Usually though, it’s not so noticeable. Saying “er” to some extent as we think and speak is natural.
This was an extreme case though. It distracted the listener from the content of the presentation. But I didn’t mention it. If I did, the speaker might have become self-conscious and “er” all the more. Instead, we focused on him becoming more comfortable with gestures and emphasizing the important words with his voice.
I recorded his presentation on video while he practiced. While playing it back, we talked about what worked and found a couple of things to do differently. We repeated this process for an hour. At the end of the session, the executive was much more confident – he told me that, and it showed in his delivery. He was using natural gestures and varying his voice. And the “ers”? They were down to just a few and sounded perfectly human.
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