Umming and ahing - a love story

I did a presentation last week.

Now, this shouldn't be very newsworthy for a presenting and public speaking coach, but the truth of the matter is that whilst I do a lot of training and facilitating - sometimes to very large audiences - I don't do that much of what you might call 'pure' presenting and public speaking.

Don't tell anyone.

It was part of a 45 minute online taster session on the subject of 'How to stop umming and ahing' - an excellent topic for a presentation skills session, but very much in the 'Don't think of Donald Trump naked' category of reverse psychology.

Anyway, despite the usual nerves (they are annoying, aren't they?) I think it went pretty well.

Here's what I learnt from the experience:

1. I've been right all along.

The only point where I started to struggle a bit/run out of saliva was towards the end of my very short slide deck. 

It can feel very lonely online when it’s just you and your slides and the only other sign of life is the ‘+50’ in the audience box, so it was a relief to stop sharing my screen and return to the lovely faces of my audience.

Now, I know for a lot of you, the lovely faces of your audience are exactly what you’re trying to avoid. It can feel a bit like turning to face the pack of marauding zombies that have been chasing you (no offence, audiences).

But I’ve seen it too many times over the years: as soon as people give themselves permission just to be with their audience, just to talk with them, they invariably start to look and feel more at ease, more in control, and more confident.

That’s why I always encourage people to try and make ‘you speaking to your audience’ the default position, online and off, rather than ‘you speaking to your slides in the general vicinity of your audience’.

I'm not saying don’t use slides. Just be careful about how and when you use them. Just because it’s a presentation, doesn’t mean we need their constant, glowing presence.

2. Umming and ahing’s great!

Whoda thunk it? By the end of our session, we'd moved from 'Don't um and ah' to the 'Umming and Ahing Appreciation Society'.

It's a vital part of the way we speak - a way of vocalising that we're thinking about something or haven't finished speaking, or to indicate we're about to speak.

Yes, you can have too many of them, but there's also a real risk of too few.

A complete lack of umming and ahing can sound inauthentic and AI-like (ahem, some public speaking coaches I've seen online, ahem).

So, learn to love your ums and your ahs. Consider them an important part of your authentic presenting and public speaking repertoire. 

And the antidote to doing too much of it?

Pausing more. The answer's always pausing more. The cowbell of the public speaking world.