Uh, erm, ah - how do you stop yourself from saying them?

[Quinn]

I say 'uh', 'erm', and 'ah' embarrassingly often. I've been trying to cut back on this, especially when giving presentations, because I think it gives the impression of being hesitant and not confident. I have to constantly and consciously think about not saying 'uh' for it to work, but more often than not, I end up forgetting and I end up sprinkling 'uh', 'erm', and 'ah' every other sentence.

Has anyone successfully trained/conditioned/brainwashed themselves to stop saying filler words? How do you do it?

[Kris]

I say 'uh', 'erm', and 'ah' embarrassingly often. I've been trying to cut back on this, especially when giving presentations, because I think it gives the impression of being hesitant and not confident. I have to constantly and consciously think about not saying 'uh' for it to work, but more often than not, I end up forgetting and I end up sprinkling 'uh', 'erm', and 'ah' every other sentence.

Has anyone successfully trained/conditioned/brainwashed themselves to stop saying filler words? How do you do it?

Yes,

In a couple of words: slow down.

I force myself to speak very slowly and deliberately. To clarify, my normal speed of speech is fairly fast, so if I am speaking about something complicated and I am nervous, I will say uh, um, if I am speaking enough that I am not giving myself enough time to compose my thoughts. If I force myself to slow way down, and be deliberate and thoughtful in what I say, I do not feel the need for those speech fillers.

Hope that helps for you, but it may not be your specific problem.

[GuitarStv]

I agree with Kris.  Use of those filler words are often a symptom of not thinking before you talk.  Many people seem conditioned to fear quiet, or lulls in a conversation.  If you collect your thoughts before you spew them forth, you'll usually select better words.

[enigmaT120]

And the audience doesn't mind pauses.  As a speaker you think they do, but pay attention when you have to listen to a presentation and see if it bugs you then. 

Just don't do like my boss and stand with your back to the audience reading verbatim what is on the projector screen.  Ugh. 

[ender]

I say 'uh', 'erm', and 'ah' embarrassingly often. I've been trying to cut back on this, especially when giving presentations, because I think it gives the impression of being hesitant and not confident. I have to constantly and consciously think about not saying 'uh' for it to work, but more often than not, I end up forgetting and I end up sprinkling 'uh', 'erm', and 'ah' every other sentence.

Has anyone successfully trained/conditioned/brainwashed themselves to stop saying filler words? How do you do it?

Yes,

In a couple of words: slow down.

I force myself to speak very slowly and deliberately. To clarify, my normal speed of speech is fairly fast, so if I am speaking about something complicated and I am nervous, I will say uh, um, if I am speaking enough that I am not giving myself enough time to compose my thoughts. If I force myself to slow way down, and be deliberate and thoughtful in what I say, I do not feel the need for those speech fillers.

Hope that helps for you, but it may not be your specific problem.

+1

[sol]

It takes a while to learn how to be comfortable with silences.  The audience actually prefers to have little breaks in there to give them time to process what you're saying, and a speaker who just rambles continuously and fills those pauses with ums is usually more tiring to listen to.

My college speaking class would video record everyone and then make you count the number of filler words you used on video tape.  Usually just one or two rounds of that was enough to significantly cure most people, when you realize how dumb you sound trying to fill pauses that don't need to be filled.  Plus it helped you focus on things like posture and gestures.

[bobechs]

A lot of people develop that habit as kids in order to signal that they are not yet finished; to keep someone else from butting in while they are still talking.

Linguists say that the rising ending of a sentence or phrase, which conventionally signals a question -or doubt-, has come to have much the same intention, especially on the west coast and among female speakers.

When you are on in front of a group you have the floor.  Remind yourself not only that listeners are entitled to have you move at their comprehension level i.e., slow down, but that they will naturally accord you the privilege of speaking without interruption. It's a matter of mutual respect.  I hope internalizing that will help you calm down.  You can program yourself through practice to control your own pace.  You are not a child anymore, and the wind is at your back.

If they don't it's not a presentation, it's an interrogation.  That's a whole other kind of cat.

[yakamashii]

Like baseball? Listen to a lilting, lyrical broadcaster like Vin Scully and emulate the style. There's plenty out there on youtube and the like.

It can also be helpful to record yourself and listen to it later. I worked on my native- and foreign-language pronunciation by doing that with my radio recordings.

My ums and ahs were beaten and ridiculed out of me by my father. I wouldn't recommend that route, but it was effective.