How to stop saying um: a 2-week drill for meetings and presentations

Why we say um in the first place

Most filler words are a signal that says "I'm still talking, don't interrupt". Your brain is looking for the next word, and rather than leave a silence, your mouth fills it. That's why they cluster in three places:

• At the start of an answer, while you decide what to say first.
• Between ideas, when you've finished one point and haven't chosen the next.
• Before a hard word or number, while you search for the ticket name or the date.

In other words, filler words are mostly a symptom of thinking and speaking at the same time. Pressure makes them worse, because it makes the thinking harder. That's why someone who chats easily over lunch can sound hesitant in a sprint review.

Not all fillers sound the same. "Um" and "uh" are the obvious ones. "So", "like", "basically", "actually", "you know", "kind of" and "right?" at the end of sentences are quieter, and many people swap "um" for "so" without noticing. When you work on this, count all of them.

Step 1: find out how many you actually say

You can't fix what you can't hear, and almost nobody can hear their own filler words while they're speaking. So start by measuring. Record yourself giving a one-minute answer to a simple question, such as "What did you work on this week?". Then listen back, or paste the transcript into our free filler word counter, which counts each filler for you.

Write down two numbers: your total fillers, and your most common one. That's your baseline. Most people are surprised by the second number more than the first: one word usually does most of the damage.

Step 2: replace the filler with a pause

The single most useful idea in this article: a pause is the replacement for um. Trying to simply stop saying a word rarely works, because the gap it filled is still there. Instead, learn to leave the gap empty.

A one-second pause sounds deliberate to listeners. It feels much longer to you than it does to them. When you feel an "um" coming, close your mouth and let the silence sit for a beat. Then carry on.

Notice the second version is shorter as well as cleaner. Pauses give you time to choose a precise word, and precise words need fewer fillers around them.

Step 3: know your first sentence and your last

Fillers pile up at the start and the end of an answer, so those are the two places worth preparing. Before a meeting or a presentation, decide how you'll open and how you'll stop.

• Open with the point. "The migration is done and the old tables are gone." Starting with the answer removes the warm-up where most "so, um" lives.
• Stop on purpose. Finish with a clear closing line, like "That's it from me" or "Next up is the rollback plan", and then stop talking. Answers that trail off ("so, yeah, that's kind of it, I guess") are where fillers multiply.

How to stop saying um when presenting

Presentations add one specific trap: slide transitions. Every time you click to the next slide, there's a moment where you don't know exactly what's on it, and the filler arrives. Two fixes help:

• Say the bridge before you click. "Next, the numbers from the load test." Then click. You already know what's coming, so there's no gap to fill.
• Rehearse out loud, all the way through, at least twice. Reading slides in your head doesn't count. Fillers live in the joins between ideas, and you only find the joins by speaking.

Slowing down helps too. Speaking a little more slowly gives your brain time to find the next word, so it doesn't need a filler to hold the floor.

The 2-week drill

Ten minutes a day, fourteen days. You need a phone or laptop that can record, and a way to count fillers: listening back works, and so does the filler word counter.

Week 1: awareness and pauses

1. Day 1. Baseline. Record a one-minute answer to "What did you work on this week?". Count every filler. Write down the total and your most common one.
2. Day 2. Listen for one word. Record another minute on a different work topic. This time, only count your most common filler. Just notice it.
3. Day 3. Slow minute. Answer a question at a deliberately slow pace. Fillers usually drop on their own. Notice how the slower version sounds when you play it back.
4. Day 4. Pause on purpose. Every time you feel a filler coming, stop for one full second instead. It will feel awkward. Count the pauses as wins.
5. Day 5. First and last sentence. Prepare only your opening and closing lines for a one-minute update. Record it. Check whether the start and end are cleaner.
6. Day 6. Explain something technical. Explain a decision you made recently (why you chose one library, why the schema looks the way it does) in ninety seconds. Technical explanations bring out fillers, so this is your stretch day.
7. Day 7. Re-measure. Repeat the Day 1 question and compare your count.

Week 2: pressure and real meetings

1. Day 8. Unseen questions. Ask someone to send you three work questions you haven't seen, or write them on folded paper. Answer each out loud for up to one minute.
2. Day 9. Interrupted. Have someone cut in halfway through your answer with "What's the short version?". Give the short version without a filler on the restart.
3. Day 10. Pushback. Answer a challenge to one of your technical decisions, such as "Why didn't we just use a queue?". Pushback is where fillers come back, because you're thinking hard.
4. Day 11. In a real meeting. In one real standup or update, focus only on the pause. Afterwards, write down how it went.
5. Day 12. Mix it up. Combine everything: an unseen question, a follow-up and a time limit.
6. Day 13. Presentation run. Run through a short presentation or demo out loud, using the say-the-bridge-before-you-click trick.
7. Day 14. Final measure. Repeat the Day 1 question one last time and compare it with your baseline.

Don't aim for zero. A natural amount of filler sounds human. Aim for a clear drop in your most common one, and for pauses that feel comfortable rather than frightening.

Week 2 is the hard part to set up on your own, because it needs someone to ask unexpected questions and interrupt you. It's also what Staging Mind does: three AI colleagues question you about your real work, out loud and on the clock, cut in when you ramble, and count your filler words in the debrief.

How to speak without filler words, long term

After the drill, keep two habits. Measure yourself every week or two, because fillers creep back when you stop paying attention. And keep practising under pressure, not just in calm conditions, because that's where they come from in the first place.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I say um so much?

Filler words usually appear while your brain searches for the next thing to say. They signal that you haven't finished speaking. Pressure, unfamiliar questions and complex topics make that search harder, so fillers increase.

What can I say instead of um?

Nothing. The best replacement for um is a short pause. A one-second silence sounds deliberate to listeners and gives you time to choose your next word.

How long does it take to stop saying um?

It varies from person to person. Many people hear a difference within a couple of weeks of short daily practice, especially once they start pausing instead of filling the gap.

Is it bad to use filler words at all?

No. A few fillers sound natural. They become a problem when there are so many that listeners lose your point or you sound less sure than you are.