How to Stop Saying "Um" and "Like" in Presentations

Everyone Says "Um" — But You Can Say It Less

Filler words are a natural part of speech. Even world leaders use them occasionally. The problem isn't the occasional "um" — it's when filler words become so frequent that they undermine your credibility and make you sound uncertain.

A 2024 study found that speakers who used filler words more than once per minute were rated as 24% less credible and 31% less competent by listeners — even when the content was identical.

Why Do We Use Filler Words?

Understanding the cause helps you fix it:

1. Thinking time — your brain needs a moment to find the next word, so it fills the gap with "um"
2. Fear of silence — we've been conditioned to think pauses are awkward
3. Nervousness — anxiety accelerates your speech and reduces your vocabulary access
4. Habit — you've been doing it for years and don't notice anymore

The Replacement: Strategic Pauses

Here's the fundamental shift: replace filler words with silence.

A 2-second pause feels like an eternity to you. To the audience, it feels:

• Confident
• Thoughtful
• Dramatic

Watch any great speaker — they pause constantly. Obama, Brené Brown, Steve Jobs — their power was in the spaces between words, not the words themselves.

5 Exercises That Actually Work

1. The Recording Exercise (10 minutes)

Record yourself speaking for 2 minutes on any topic. Play it back and count every filler word. Most people are shocked — you probably use 5–10x more than you think. Awareness is the first step.

2. The Pause Game (5 minutes)

Speak for 1 minute on a topic. Every time you feel an "um" coming, stop completely. Silence. Then continue. It feels painful at first, but within a week your brain rewires to pause instead of fill.

3. The Sentence Completion Exercise (5 minutes)

Practice completing every sentence fully before starting the next one. Most filler words happen between sentences — "So, um, the next thing is, like..." becomes "The next thing is [statement]."

4. The Speed Reduction (ongoing)

Speak 20% slower than feels natural. Fast speech = more filler words (your mouth outruns your brain). Slower speech gives your brain time to find the right word without needing a filler.

5. The Practice Partner (best with AI)

Have someone (or an AI) listen to you speak and gently flag every filler word. Real-time awareness during conversation is much more effective than post-hoc recording review.

EloquentPro's speech analytics automatically tracks your filler words, pacing, and pauses — giving you a precise count and trend over time.

The 3-Week Challenge

• Week 1: Record and count. Build awareness. Don't try to fix anything — just notice.
• Week 2: Practice the pause game daily for 5 minutes. Focus on replacing "um" with silence.
• Week 3: Practice speaking in conversations. Try to reduce your filler word count by 50%.

Most people see dramatic improvement in 2–3 weeks of conscious practice.

It's Not About Perfection

Zero filler words sounds robotic. The goal isn't to eliminate them entirely — it's to reduce them to a level where they don't distract from your message. One "um" per minute? Nobody notices. One per sentence? That's a problem.

Track your filler words, pacing, and pauses with AI-powered speech analytics. Start practicing →