Sunday, October 25, 2015

Uh...What Can You Learn From Listening to Yourself?


When was the last time you heard an extended recording of yourself sharing information with another person?

Recently Jared Johnson of Ultera Digital asked if I’d do a podcast on a concoction of topics I’ve recently blogged about. For almost 36 minutes, Jared and I talked about the recent cutover to ICD-10, my search for functionally rich, mobile ICD-10 diagnosis coding tools; and how healthcare social media and mobile health continue their rapid takeover of healthcare.

About a week after our session, I listened to the podcast. Most people would agree that when you’re being recorded, you’re likely more self-conscious and perhaps a bit more nervous than you'd otherwise be. Listening to yourself via a recording vs. “hearing” what you speak as you say it is something everyone needs to do. You’ll learn a few things.

Here’s What I Learned 


Exec summary: Be judicious with your use of 'disfluency.' Be clear and concise. Slow down a bit. Keep it short. 

Note: If you're good with the above exec summary, you can jump to the bottom of this post and get some info on mobile marketing with a healthcare focus from Jared Johnson and his company Ultera Digital. Or you can read on.

'Uh, I’m just managing our conversation'

One thing for sure is that, uh, my ‘uh’s per minute (UPM’s) are higher than I expected. Maybe I should better manage the use of this ‘disfluency” in my, uh, speech. I read that “Psychologists Say 'Um' and 'Uh' Have Meaning” and can be used as conversation managers that help us pay attention to the content of what we're delivering and to keep track of the interaction of two people talking. I did about two UPM’s throughout the near 36 minute session.

Slow the delivery, you know?

Since it's easy for me to get excited about my healthcare, IT and project interests, I tend to overshare, you know? And sometimes I can’t get all I want to say out fast enough. So as I speak, I will insert a ‘you know’ here and there to add more to what I’m trying to convey. Basically altering my thoughts in my sentence as it's, uh, being spoken, you know?. Sometimes I mix together a bunch of thoughts with a quick breath (dang breathing gets in the way of my talking all the time!) and a few ‘you knows' and all of a sudden I’ve thrown up 3-4 minutes of audio. But the goal is to get that information conveyed as intended and absorbed.


In case you’re interested, my you-know’s per minute (YPM) are on par with my UPM’s.

Oh, please cut your spiel a bit too
 

Shorter responses are easier to absorb. I think 30-45 seconds of speech delivered at a moderate pace is probably best for me on podcasts. I've started using a simple sand filled hourglass to help me remember when my time is up. I'm thinking some sort of app for my smartphone that shocks me when I talk too long?

So as noted earlier: Be judicious with your frequency of 'disfluency.'  Be clear and concise. Slow down a bit. Keep it short. 

Thanks again Jared! 


Recording the podcast with Jared was a pleasure. Everything went very smoothly and was quite enjoyable. Now I just need to apply these lessons I've learned on another session with Jared. If anyone has topic ideas they’d like to maybe hear a podcast about, go ahead and submit them to Jared.

Ultera Digital


Contact: http://ulteradigital.com/wp/about-ultera/contact-us/
Web: http://ulteradigital.com
Twitter: @jaredpiano or @ulteradigital


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