Reply To: Tough time listening to myself

[Patte Rosebank]

Have you tried recording yourself, and listening to it?

I know it’s really hard for most people to do, but it’s the absolute best way to really observe yourself from the outside, to see yourself as others do.  Whenever I perform, I always try to get video footage of my performance, so I can see what I’m doing right and what needs work.

When you listen to a recording of yourself, you’ll notice your speed, tone, expression, and whether there are certain words or phrases that you keep using over & over…especially the filler-sounds (um, uh, eh?, you know, like, basically, well, know what I’m sayin’)  You’ll start counting how many of them you say, and how often.

You’ll notice them so much, that you’ll stop using them, AND you’ll notice when someone else uses them a lot.  I once saw a really bad stand-up comic who used the F-word (or variations of it) approximately every 6 words.  Long before the end of his set, the word had ceased to have any meaning.  As had his set.

Instead of using filler-words, I learned to slow down (admittedly, sometimes only slightly) and pause (ditto), to collect my thoughts and find the right words.

The second-most important thing I learned from broadcasting class is that it’s better to pause for a moment, than to use a filler-word.  (And, hey, it might actually give someone else a chance to say something!)

The most important thing I learned from broadcasting class is that the camera is ALWAYS on, and the mic is ALWAYS live, so be careful what you say or do when you’re near one of them.  (Unfortunately, every so often, a person in the public eye forgets this rule.)

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