You can't find your words in English

Every time I do any of my communication trainings such as Powerful Presentations or Confident Conference Calls, the main worry that the participants have is not being able to find their words when they're speaking to a group of people.

Do you have this worry too?

No one wants to be silent in front of an audience desperately looking for vocabulary - you know you know the word but you just can't find it in your head!

I've made you a video with some tips to make sure you don't find yourself in this situation.

Don't forget to check out our Powerful Presentations training if you'd like to feel more confident.

Transcript

Hi, there. Today, I'm going to talk to you about the biggest fear that most people I speak to about online meetings or presentations have. Now, think about, what is your biggest worry? If you have to present to your team or to the big bosses, what is your biggest worry?

Most people I work with tell me that their biggest worry is not being able to find their words. Imagine you're in a meeting, you're presenting, and suddenly you're looking for a word, and you're searching. You know you know it. It's somewhere in the back of your head. And you feel like you look like a fool in front of everybody. Nobody wants that to happen. Am I right? I'm going to give you two tips to help you with this. And to be honest, neither of these tips are a big secret.

The first tip, preparation. Whenever you have to present or whenever you have to persuade somebody of something, prepare. And prepare your key message. What is the one thing you want somebody to remember? When you have decided that, write down your key message and then write it, the same message, in two other ways using different vocabulary. Then prepare a list of all the vocabulary that you might need. Keep this in front of you if you can. If you're online, you can. And when you are in that situation, you have everything in front of you that you need. If you're just attending a meeting, you can also prepare. Just take one or two minutes to think about, "What questions do I need to ask in this meeting?" and write them down, "And what questions might other people ask me in the meeting?" And of course, write those down as well. The more time you have to prepare, the easier it will be. And remember, one minute preparation is better than zero minutes preparation.

Tip number two is slow down. If you speak slowly, not only does it reduce your stress, which makes it easier for your brain to find the information it needs that's locked away in the back of your head, but it will also mean you have more time to find the words you need. And in fact, you will say, "Er, er, er," much less than you would otherwise. Pause between phrases. And you can pause for a little bit longer than you think is comfortable because, in fact, what's comfortable for you will be very comfortable for your audience. And what feels a little uncomfortable for you will still be comfortable for your audience.

Now, I'm going to give you a bonus tip, which is you need to work on your vocabulary. Have a system, whether you write down new words or whether you use one of the apps. There are loads of good apps available, like Quizlet, Memrise, where you can put your vocabulary and you can revise it. The more your brain gets used to finding those words that are stuck back there in the back of your head, the easier it will be to get those words out when you need them.

So I hope this has helped you, and I hope you won't be stuck for words next time.