Recently, I have been attending a series of lectures on the business nature of my company. Until the latest lecture, I had learnt most of the materials before. As the lectures were delivered by different speakers, I focused on their presentation skills instead of listening to the content.
All the lectures were delivered in English, no matter whether the audience and the speaker were locals. It’s okay as the speakers may want to practise English speaking or it was restricted by the faculty. But all of them have different bad habits. This caught my attention.
One of the speakers constantly added “Yeah” at the end or in the middle of the speech. “The next topic we’re going to talk about is yeah,” he paused a couple of seconds, “Yeah, supply management.” Another speaker, worse still, said more than 5 “okay” in one sentence – sometimes she said 2 “okay” in a row.
A presentation requires rhythm to be attractive and energetic. But flooding the presentation with filler words distracts the audience a lot. They might get lost. Continuously using filler words annoys the audience. At last, the audience could recall the filler words from the presentation.
I also have this habit. When I wanted to change the tone of the speech or present an example, I often uttered “Eek”. I intended to ask for the audience’s attention. But it shocked them as “eek” was loud and high-pitched. I keep reminding myself to use pauses instead of filler words. This can effectively capture the audience’s attention and drive the rhythm of the presentation.
The lecture series continues until late June. I have more chances to observe how the other speakers deliver their lectures. At the same time, I am involved in the Agile Coach training programme as a speaker. Throughout my observations, I hope to address some other habits, review whether I also have the same and find ways to improve myself.
Recalling the day I was preparing for a presentation to my company a few years ago