When we dive into public speaking, one of the first issues that a newbie speaker develops is the umm and ahh. They are not sins per se, merely an idiosyncrasy that is best resolved early in the development process. The idea is to speak fluently, rhythmically, and coherently as soon as possible, and the umm and ahh stifles that. Umms and ahhs usually come at the beginning or end of a sentence. The good news is that this issue can be resolved with a bit of thought and hard work. If you're not aware of your idiosyncrasies (and we all have them), then you won't be looking for a fix.
The Speaker's Mantra - quite simply is to pause, breathe, change eye contact and you will eliminate umms and ahs, right, y'know, kinda, sort of, and all that, bla bla bla, etc etc.
At first, you have to consciously apply this technique, but once you have embodied it you will look and feel much more fluent now that your speech has been de-cluttered.
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