Forgettable With Friends. Unforgettable On Camera.

Um. You Know. Uh. Filler words are a thinking habit that signal your thought arrived before it was ready. In a room with friends, filler words are forgettable. In front of a camera with a producer, podcast host, or reporter watching, they are unforgettable. Play a quick movie in your mind of the people you consider excellent speakers in your life, history, or entertainment. Their thoughts were formed before an answer, which reduced or eliminated their need to fill silence without adding information. 

Sitting inside of CNN's international newsroom and control room for a decade, I watched the guests who learned what to do with the silence. They walked in prepared and used silence as a tool. They knew what they were saying and what they were about to say. Silence combined with preparation was the strategy. The guests who mastered that strategy were the ones invited back.