| I'm not a very good speaker. I say "um" a lot. Sometimes I have to pause when I lose my train of thought. I'm not shining on you when I say this [1]: you are a good public speaker [2]. Perhaps not the best, but you're clearly better than a majority of guys who get up and try it. Luckily, the 'um' thing is easily licked. When you catch your self saying 'um', don't. Don't say anything. Insert a pause, and carry on. You _feel_ like you're taking forever, that we're out in the audience wondering why you're staring with a vacant look on your face like a slack-jawed yokel. You're not. The audience doesn't even _notice_. And you don't even have to sacrifice any thinking mojo to do this. [1] No reason to. I'll never submit a pitch to ycombinator [3]. [2] Never seen you in person - but I've watched some videos. [3] Unless the rules are drastically changed. |