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Just One Tip from Your Podcast Performance Coach

 

Each episode, Tim Wohlberg, broadcasting and radio veteran, offers one simple tip that a podcaster can use to gain mic confidence, grow their audience and sound more like a pro. Make your next episode better than your last by subscribing to this 5-minute podcast and get just the tip you need to create great sounding podcasts! If you need a podcast coach, connect with me at http://podcastperformancecoach.com

 

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  2. 074 How to Stop saying Um and Ah in Your Podcast

Mar 5, 2019

Do you have a verbal crutch? You know that word or sound you lean on when you’re struggling to find the next real word in your sentence. Um, ah, like, you know, I mean… it’s natural. Now, stop doing it.

Disclaimer. This is not a podcast about how to edit out every um and ah from your podcast (I don’t believe in it). And, it’s not a podcast about how to never say um or ah again. Ums, ahs, and other speech disfluencies (yes, I looked that fancy word up) are PART of how we talk. Even veteran broadcasters use them occasionally.

But. Buuuut.

If you do it too often, you will turn your listeners off. It will literally become the only thing they hear. And, for some, it will be the reason they turn your show off. Don’t believe me? Search the word ‘ums’ in iTunes and you’ll see how many comments/reviews are a version of, “great show but I just couldn’t stand the ums and ahs and I couldn’t listen anymore.”

Shocking, right? People would stop listening to your show because you use a verbal crutch too often. Let that sink in. And then ask yourself. How easy would it be to just, not say those things?

In this episode (#74) of Just the Tip from Your Podcast Performance Coach, I share a list of some of the most common filler words or sounds that can become verbal crutches. Some you might not even realize you’re saying them.

We’ll talk a little bit about why this might be happening - although I’m no psychologist so I’ll leave the deeper reasons to your therapist.

And then, I’ll give you some super simple and highly executable tricks to help you stop saying um, ah, you know, I mean, etc.

The first step is to become aware of your problem. And then you have to talk to all of the people who you hurt with your problem. Oops. Nope, that’s a different program. This issue only takes two steps: acknowledge you have a problem and then shut the hell up. You’ll learn how to do both in this episode.

And that might be just the tip you need to sound more like a pro and gain more podcast fans.

Are your ums and ahs just the tip of the iceberg in your performance issues? Or, are you excited to keep going down this ‘more professional sounding podcast’ path? I’ve got just the thing. It’s my 30 Days to a Better Podcast.


It all starts with a free 15 minute coaching call. Sign up on my website -- podcastperformancecoach.com