Basically, You’re The Weakest Word

Have you ever watched the game show called ”The Weakest Link”? In case you haven’t I’ll briefly explain. Some participants take part in a quiz where they take turns answering a question with the objective of getting as many correct answers in a row as possible to increase the amount of money they can “bank”. After each round the participants have to vote who they think are the weakest link, typically the one with most incorrect answers, and the one left standing takes home whatever amount of money the participants managed to bank during the show. The host is supposed to be quite snappy and push the participants around. Sometimes it led to some quite funny dialogues as you can see below. 

Being the weakest link is never a desirable situation to be in but at the end of it, the participants typically caused this themselves by not being able to answer the questions. Now, turning to yourself and thinking what could make you a weak link? 

When presenting yourself be sharp and to the point 

This could be a lengthy discussion but I’ll make it simple for you. The way you talk and present yourself. Do you make every word count or are you using countless filler words to stutter your way through your sentences? Words like “Um”, “Uh”, “So”, “Right”, “Basically” etc. all mean absolutely nothing in your sentences so why do you use them? Because you need time to think about what you were supposed to say next. Saying the same filler words, again and again, can kill your presentation in the eyes of your audience as their minds wander off every time you’re standing there saying nothing. Saying nothing at all would be a much better way of getting yourself time to think. Taking time to pause at the right times in a speech or a presentation will not only allow you time to catch up but also your audience. If you don’t believe me then try this. Say a sentence but in the middle of it take a 3 seconds break. 3 seconds is a long time. Certainly enough time for you to catch up to what you’re meant to say next. 

Cleaning up your act makes all the difference in the world 

Last year I wrote about my experiences from a public speaking/presentation seminar in “How To Become A Better Public Speaker” and you can see from the two videos in the post how it’s not what you say but how you say it that can make all the difference in the world. You need to clean up your act by removing filler words and using other techniques as described in the post to not only become a better public speaker but also introduce yourself better at networking events, introductions etc. Just like a weak handshake can destroy people’s perception of you so can all the weak language you use when you speak. I know cleaning this up is very difficult and I unfortunately also do this all the time. “Basically” is one of the worst ones and while I’m thinking ahead on what to say I can just feel the word pressing its way out of my mouth even I don’t want to say it. There’s clearly a difference between knowing what to do and doing it. Think about it. If you gathered ten random people and asked them to speak for ten seconds at a time. How many people would be left after two rounds if you were eliminated when you used weak language? My guess is ZERO. If you can be the one left standing though think about what kind of differentiator it will be for you! I’m sorry “Basically” this is why you have to go. This is why you’re the weakest word. 

How much weak language do you use? Or maybe you don’t know what to do with your hands when speaking. We all have issues with our speaking and presentation skills so you’re not the only one. You do, however, have the chance of clearly differentiating yourself from your peers if you can make improvements to your speaking skills. Why not start today? As always let me know how you like the post by liking, commenting and sharing with your network! I really appreciate it and if you’re open to it let’s start a dialogue about how we can help each other become the best speakers we can be. 

For other posts on speaking, presentation and networking skills you can continue reading below. 

7 Steps To Improve Your Personal Brand

How To Avoid Ending Up Single In Networking

Why I Just Removed 10% Of My Network

Personal Branding Is Like Building A Business

Hi, My Name Is. The Powerful Self-Introduction

Anders Liu-Lindberg is the Senior Finance Partner for Maersk Line North Europe and is working with the transformation of Finance and business on a daily basis. Anders has participated in several transformation processes amongst others helping Maersk Drilling to go Beyond Budgeting and transformed a finance team from Bean-counters to Business Partners. He would love the chance to collaborate with you on your own transformation processes to help you stay out of disruption. If you are looking for more advice on how to get the most of LinkedIn Anders also has a few tips to share as well as if you want help in your job search. Don’t be shy! Let’s get in touch and start helping each other.