The Power of the Pause

You can speak faster than your audience can listen. So slow down. If your speaking feels a little slow to you, it is probably just right for your audience. 

Speaker – you need to slow down!

A sure fire way for you to lose your audience’s attention is to speak too quickly.  You know your topic, you have thought about your ideas for days, perhaps weeks.  You are familiar with the logic of your argument and you have felt the passion and enthusiasm for some time.  All this can result in you speeding through your presentation because you are so familiar with it.

It might be familiar to you, but it is brand new to your audience.  They need time to digest what you are saying, and accept each new idea before you build on it with your next point.

So here are two important techniques that speakers often overlook but will dramatically affect your speaking and presenting for the better.

We will start with…. The pause!

Pauses are… powerful.  They can build drama or comedy when used well.

“And then the unimaginable happened... ...”

A pause will emphasis drama or add comic effect: 

“Sorry I’m late there was a problem with my train ... ... the problem was, when it left the station I was still in bed!”

“Her team would follow her anywhere ... ... out of curiosity” 

If you are setting a scene, leave a pause for the audience’s imagination to fill in the gaps. 

“It was a warm a fragrant summer afternoon in the garden ...”

Or equally

“It was a warm a fragrant summer afternoon in the factory kitchen ...” 

If you find yourself saying um or similar ‘thinking’ words while you speak, try turning them into pauses instead. It may feel odd, the pauses may feel long to you – but to the audience it will appear natural and much less distracting than, um, lots of – you know – ums. 

A pause tells your audience to pay attention, it telegraphs that the next thing you are about to say is worth noting.

Pauses are punctuation – so they should only show up where there is a full stop or comma in your script. Don’t put them…. Randomly in the…. Middle of sentences. 

If the adrenaline of the moment tends to make you speed up when speaking, work to deliberately place your pauses as a means to slow back down to a speed that is comfortable for the audience to listen to.  Churchill put stage directions to himself in his scripts – you can do the same to remind yourself to pause.

A Pause can also signal a transition.  A transition is like a key change in a song – it marks the end of one point or idea and declares that you are moving on to something new.

A transition allows the audience to take a breath and helps the audience understand the structure of your talk.

Transitions can be marked with things other than pauses.  You might show a new slide – or have a distinctive slide design for each major transition in your talk.  

Moving from one position on the stage to another can also mark a transition in a visual way – especially if you are not using slides.

Plan your transitions so that the audience can notice and understand the structure of your message.

A speakers job is to inform and educate the audience – not simply broadcast your message and leave it up to the audience whether they will hear, accept and understand it.

The way you deliver your presentation is important because it affects the audience’s ability to hear your message.

Practice your pauses and master your transition techniques in the practical lessons in my online courses.  Find out more and sign up for instant access at www.malmesburyspeakers.com/online

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