“This is um my idea. Um … I believe that it is uh probably going to work because I believe that it will hopefully target our audience.” Convinced? Me neither… Here is how to avoid this kind of introduction.

This wasn’t uploaded to poke fun of or to mock her. The point here is that even if you are intelligent or confident, you might still come off as not so using all of the “Crutch words.”

One of the main reasons people use these words is simple, they are a part of their vocabulary already.  How does one fix that? Fix it in your everyday vocabulary. easy right?! Not as easy as you think… but worth it. We also use it to “fill the gaps” in conversation and presentations. We hate silence don’t we?

A fun way to unlearn this habit is create a reminder in everyday life, get friends to help. If you use it in your normal speech it will only be amplified in presentation.  One thing me and a few friends do is we have a secret gestures.  When we hear the other person use those crutch words you simple touch your shoulder or have some sort of gesture that doesn’t seem too obvious.  What this does is makes it less obvious to others you are fixing something. It isn’t very disruptive to others, so you can do it all the time without distracting from conversation. Just a disclaimer: get ready to start talking funny after this one because you will start thinking about fixing your sentences and this takes more brain power than one might realize.

Here are two general rules to remember so you can pace yourself. Crutch words attack most during silence, so don’t be afraid of it. allow yourself one pause for commas and two for period. This will also help you not to rush you ideas and allow people to follow along with your presentation.

You can present a flawlessly, have great posture and even put on a winning smile. Yet you can still make a lousy impression if you present poorly.

Here are the words that get you in trouble:

Make up your mind!

“Somewhat”
Be bold, be confident! do not be somewhat bold and somewhat confident.

“To some extent”

“To a certain extent”

“More or less”
which is it? make up your mind!

“Perhaps”
Confident is key

“Sort of”

“Kind of”

“Maybe”
To be… or not to be….

“Fairly”

“A bit”
A drill bit?

“Reasonably”
Well I hope so…

“Hopefully”
unless its BIlly waiting hopefully for his long lost dog…

“Pretty”

It’s all about you isn’t it? I hope not…

“It seems to me…”
Well I hope so… since you’re presenting it.

“I believe…”
Hope so, you’re presenting it.

“I think…”

Am I looking for feedback or unsure of my presentation?

“You know?” You wouldn’t be presenting if everyone knew.

“You know what I mean?” same as above.

“You see?” vague…see what?

“Really” not fatal yet can be distracting

The fillers

“So” (so what)

“Like”

“Um” and Uh”

Awkward laughter is also sometimes present as a filler.

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