Seriously looking to improve speech quality and patterns...
Category Everything Else
I find that lately I get really bugged by verbal "tics"... Those nasty speech habits that you hear in others and hope that you don't use yourself.
"um", "uh", "um OK", "OK", "so" (at the end of every sentence), "and" (*connecting* everything into one long sentence), "I'm like", "and I'm going", "you know", "it's kinda like", "basically" (starting off far too many sentences).
And there's the speaker that has every sentence go up at the end? Like a question? Like everything they say is a question?
I must be getting old...
Anyway, I understand the importance of being able to speak well both one-on-one and in groups. I've never been thrilled with the tone and sound of my voice, but I can at least work on eliminating those tics that are annoying to others. To that end, I bought an Olympus WS-300M 256 MB Digital Voice Recorder so that I could start understanding how I sound to others. Today was the first time I've used it, and it's really helpful (once you get past the fact that no one likes listening to recordings of themselves).
I let it run while I gave someone a phone demo of an application that they are looking to use as a template for a web site. It's a one-sided conversation, but I'm able to listen to myself and start noticing trouble spots. The good thing is that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought. A few ums and uhs I'd like to get rid of, but my demo wasn't one long "and" run-on sentence. I still sound like I'm about 12, but one thing at a time...
I doubt I'll use this every day, but I can see it becoming a solid aid in improving my communication skills...
I find that lately I get really bugged by verbal "tics"... Those nasty speech habits that you hear in others and hope that you don't use yourself.
"um", "uh", "um OK", "OK", "so" (at the end of every sentence), "and" (*connecting* everything into one long sentence), "I'm like", "and I'm going", "you know", "it's kinda like", "basically" (starting off far too many sentences).
And there's the speaker that has every sentence go up at the end? Like a question? Like everything they say is a question?
I must be getting old...
Anyway, I understand the importance of being able to speak well both one-on-one and in groups. I've never been thrilled with the tone and sound of my voice, but I can at least work on eliminating those tics that are annoying to others. To that end, I bought an Olympus WS-300M 256 MB Digital Voice Recorder so that I could start understanding how I sound to others. Today was the first time I've used it, and it's really helpful (once you get past the fact that no one likes listening to recordings of themselves).
I let it run while I gave someone a phone demo of an application that they are looking to use as a template for a web site. It's a one-sided conversation, but I'm able to listen to myself and start noticing trouble spots. The good thing is that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought. A few ums and uhs I'd like to get rid of, but my demo wasn't one long "and" run-on sentence. I still sound like I'm about 12, but one thing at a time...
I doubt I'll use this every day, but I can see it becoming a solid aid in improving my communication skills...
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Comments
Posted by Duffbert At 16:21:21 On 30/11/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Duffbert At 04:29:04 On 30/11/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Joe Litton At 10:30:39 On 30/11/2006 | - Website - |
And if you sound like you're 12 at 40-something, then maybe you'll sound like you're in your 20s at 80-something. This could be a good thing.
Posted by ChangeWarrior At 21:29:33 On 29/11/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Duffbert At 10:44:00 On 30/11/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Rob McDonagh At 11:39:54 On 30/11/2006 | - Website - |
Thanks for sharing Tom
Posted by Bruce Elgort At 11:40:38 On 29/11/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Gregg Eldred At 18:43:24 On 29/11/2006 | - Website - |