The Power of Pausing

We hope that you’ve read our articles on posture and natural gestures. Let’s talk today about pausing, and how using silence can build anticipation and give you time to think.  

Do you find that you’re rushing and that you’re reluctant to be silent when speaking?  

If so, you’re not alone. Many speakers rush when they speak, either talking too fast or never pausing. This is true whether in person or on the phone. What’s the downside? Your listeners miss some of what you’re saying, and they have no time to absorb what they do catch.

Tip #1: Pause! 

Pause between sentences.  Pause when looking at your slides.  Pause when looking at your notes. In fact, look at your notes or your slides as frequently as you want, but don’t speak while reading.  Instead, take your time and actually absorb what you’re looking at.

The benefits

Pausing gives you time to see how your presentation is being taken by your audience, to think and to breathe.  Most importantly, pausing gives your audience time to think, too. Pausing also builds anticipation. You’ll have your listeners hanging on your every word, eager to hear what comes next.  

True story

Years ago, one of Copie’s very experienced financial clients--someone who traveled all over the U.S. speaking--said, “People process in the pauses.”  We think that’s a brilliant statement that we all need to remember: people process in the pauses. You want your audience to process what you’re saying.  You want them to think and become involved so that they can absorb what you’ve said. This is more likely to encourage listener questions, which leads us to our next tip.

Tip #2 

When you ask for questions from your audience, make sure to wait long enough for your listeners to respond.  Generally, we recommend waiting for a count of five. This means literally saying silently to yourself, “One one thousand, two one thousand,” etc.  Yes, this seems like a lifetime! But most of us don’t wait long enough for our audience to a) think of a question and b) work up the courage to actually ask that question.  Remember that speaking before a group is the number one top of mind fear in our society.  

If after you count to five there are no answers, Carla likes to say something like this: “while we wait for some questions to come up, I would like to share a question I have gotten in the past when presenting this topic….” This may give your audience ideas or extra information that has been valuable to others that was not covered in the presentation. It also gives people time to think of questions they may have.

Tip #3

When you are presenting over the phone, pausing also allows time for your colleagues and your listeners to add to your comments, and to ask questions. Many people speak without pausing for long periods of time, determined to get all their points out in one monologue. We believe that it’s best to convert most phone presentations (and in fact, most presentations) into dialogues. If you feel you need to make specific points during your allotted time, make sure to tell your listeners that at the beginning of your talk. It’s still important to pause often to engage your audience!  When your listeners add comments, pause again and reflect (play back verbally) what they’ve said. Your presentation will most likely become a winner! We’ll discuss and will demonstrate active listening in a future podcast or webcast.  

Summary

Pause when speaking and remember to keep silent when you look at your notes, your deck or your screen.  You’ll breathe better, you’ll think more clearly, and your audience will absorb what you’ve said.

What better way to create that Magicticity?

Fun Fact

Pausing is connected to what you do with your eyes.  We’ll talk more about where and for how long to look in our next podcast.

If you’d like to work with us to enhance your Magicticity, or to reach out to us and give us your feedback, please email us at [email protected] or through our social media accounts

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