Help! My Mouth Cannot Keep Up With My Brain!

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As a speaker and performer, I know only too well how true that statement is.?

I watched back a video of me speaking to an audience in July, and realised how few pauses I took, and how I did not give the audience a chance to digest what I was saying. I was too concerned with the ten-minute timeslot I had been given and wanted to adhere to it. ?I tried to pack in too much information. What I should have done was to practice more beforehand, including pauses, and pausettes. (Mini pauses). ?

Often when we speak publicly to an audience, we can get carried away with delivering our message.?However, the point of public speaking is to get the audience to take something on board or take some sort of action.?

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When making a speech, you know what your message is, and you want to get the right result, but your audience does not know the message until you have finished.?

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Your Brain Ahead Of Your Mouth?

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As you know what you are going to say, it can be that your brain is ahead of your mouth, and you start to speak more quickly. That can lead to problems, because your audience misses words or is not able to keep up mentally with the message.?

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This is why, when public speaking, slowing down makes all the difference. Making a point and then pausing can mean that your audience then has the time to digest what it is that you are saying. The brief silence can feel awkward, and?like an eternity in our minds, but I call this giving your audience a gift, everyone in the room has a chance to pause, breathe, and digest what they are seeing and hearing. As I always say, make your audience wait, anticipate, they are not going anywhere!?

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Equally important, you as the speaker, have the opportunity to enable your brain to catch up with your mouth. Making a key point and then pausing, and perhaps having a sip from your glass of water, can help to let the effect sink in.??

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Furthermore, there is a limit to how fast anyone can speak, and when it gets to almost gabbling – as some speakers do – the words trip over the tongue and the audience misses them.??

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Ultimately by pausing and slowing down you will come across as an incredibly composed and confident speaker, who knows how to hold and command a room full of people. ??

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The old pearl of wisdom “Kindly engage brain before putting mouth in gear!”. ?

Make your key points and then pause for a moment. Let them sink in before moving on to your next point. This way, your audience will absorb your message, which is precisely what you want it to do.??

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