I recently listened to a podcast by a scientist. She was talking about Life in the Universe. Heavy topic, but interesting. However, I was distracted by her overuse of the word “actually.”

Phrases like: “NASA is actually looking for organic material on Mars, or “Our rovers are actually digging into the surface of Mars to look for carbon based minerals.”

I ended up getting focused on how many times she said actually. My mind wandered off the topic. I counted 17. As a bonus, she also used “reoccured” instead of “recurred.” Yet another distraction.

These may be picky, but try to keep your talks tight, without these kind of mental crutches. “Actually” is like uh, uh or Ummm. The brain needs time to pull up the next thought and it’s easier to throw in a crutch.

READ: Another tip for speakers.

Rehearsal and having a third party listen to you before you go on stage helps. Try recording your talk. Just audio is fine.

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