Whenever I used to talk - be it a conversation, a presentation, etc. - it would be filled with a crazy amount of filler words. I could barely go over ten words without the usual "ummmm"s and "like uhhs", and what I was originally trying to say would get buried away.
Here's a possible reason for why: when people talk (and especially when they're giving some sort of presentation), the worst possible thing that can happen is a lull - dead silence. Therefore, in order to prevent this, in between sentences they would fill up every single second with some sort of noise, hoping to never come across a lull.
This will unfortunately make your point much less clear and harder to understand by others, so minimizing these filler words will greatly improve getting your point across. Here are three and a half tips for getting rid of these filler words when you speak. They definitely helped me :))
1) Close your mouth between sentences
This is probably the most important tip. In the very least, it helped reduce my filler words the most out of all the tips.
If you keep your mouth open, your mind is going to subconsciously force you to say something, and since it'll be hard to always instantaneously know what the correct, on-topic thing to say is, the words that get blurted out are usually filler words like "uh", "um", and "like".
By closing your mouth between sentences and phrases, you're stopping this action. You might be pausing a little bit more than usual in between your words, but pausing between words will come off as much more coherent than populating your speech with filler words. Speaking of pausing, this leads us to our next point...
2) Pause more between phrases
Similar to the previous point, slowing down and pausing between your points can help you minimize your filler words. The reason for this is that now you can think about what you're going to say next during your short pause, so you won't need to stumble around your words and slap your listeners with filler word after filler word.
It should be noted that these pauses ideally aren't too long; having a pause last a second or two is probably best, as any less will not give you enough time to think about your next words, and any more will personify that haunting lull that everyone hates.
3) Don't look away from your listeners
Usually we don't just talk to ourselves! Conversations usually involve at least two peeps :))
By maintaining eye contact with the people you're talking to, you're holding yourself accountable to make sure you're getting your point across clearly. Straying off and looking somewhere else when you talk will lead you on a talking tangent, which could inevitably introduce filler words into the picture. However, looking at your listeners reminds you to be sharp, and it empowers you to minimize the filler words and maximize the important points. Speaking of the main points of what you're saying...
3.5) Know your content
This last tip is sort of a half-tip, because knowing what you're going to say really well is a lot easier said than done. I still have a lot of trouble knowing the content of what I'm going to say in the future will be, and it's something I'm continuously working on.
Simply put, not having a full grasp on the topics you're talking about will cause you to jumble on your words, leading to filler words being part of the picture. However, having a good understanding of what you're explaining, teaching, analyzing, etc., will cause you to be much more confident when speaking about it, greatly minimizing the filler.
