My wife, JoAnn, is a teacher and an avid reader. She says great books flow effortlessly, without speed bumps that pull your attention away from the story.
A speed bump might be an awkward sentence, an unnecessary word, a confusing transition, or a detail that makes you stop and reread a passage to figure out what the author means. When the writing flows, you forget you’re reading and become immersed in the story. The words disappear, and the experience takes over.
A speed bump on radio shows and podcasts is also anything that makes the listener’s attention drop, even for a beat. They’re small, habitual, and invisible to the person making them, so the fix starts with awareness.
WHY SPEED BUMPS HAPPEN
- Thinking out loud. That’s when you are still figuring out the point while you talk, so the audience gets a draft instead of the finished thought.
- Padding for safety. Filler words, throat-clearing, buying time, and restating the point can feel confident, but they shift the audience’s attention.
- Habit. Phrases like “so, anyway,” “as I was saying,” and “you know what’s funny” become verbal attention drops.
- No clear destination. If talent can’t state the point in one sentence, the break will wander.
LIVE TOPIC DISCUSSIONS
- Land the point before you speak. Take a half-second to know where the sentence ends. A silent pause sounds confident, while “um” sounds lost.
- Replace fillers with pauses. The goal isn’t eliminating “uhs” and “you knows” through willpower. Practice comfortable pausing instead.
- Say it once. Restating and repeating points is the mind’s way of buying time. State the point cleanly and move on.
- Don’t narrate your own process. “Let me think about that” and “what I’m trying to say is” tell the audience you are unsure about your point.
- Why did it run long? In multi-cast shows, speed bumps often come from everyone feeling obligated to weigh in. Short reactions often beat full contributions. Save and tease a full point for the next segment.
PREPARED CONTENT
- Find the conflict point (in your topic or story). That’s where you get the hook headline open to the segment. Your first sentence shouldn’t be a warm-up; make it your best sentence.
- Make every line earn its place. Does it set up, advance, or pay off? If it doesn’t, it’s a speed bump.
- Get out on the high point. Stretching a segment past its peak is the most common bump. The best segments feel slightly short.
Good editing isn’t about saying less. It’s about making every word count. It’s not about making talent sound polished or scripted. It’s about making them sound natural, focused, and effortless.
