If there’s a single thing that will change your speaking life the most, it’s learning to master the pause. It’s technical, but the results are immediate and some of the benefits are far beyond technical expertise. In the last newsletter I showed you some body postures that create a perception in the audience. Hunch your shoulders if you want to appear older, for example. A technical delivery choice on your part. By technically adding pauses to your speech, you also reap the benefit of how that makes you the speaker feel as well. Authentic speakers want to be present both externally as well as internally. Here’s just a partial list of the benefits of the biggest delivery tool in your box… the pause.

External

* Capture Attention
* Auditory Variety
* Sonic breaks mirror the divisions in your outline
* Can create powerful emotion in the audience
* Allows the audience to catch up to you
* Allows the audience to hear things more clearly
* Emphasizes select information (‘Bracket’ core messages)
* Creates stature/Implies confidence
* Underlines opinion
* Strengthens perceived commitment to viewpoint

Internal

As if those weren’t wows enough, some internalbenefits from adding pauses to your speech may include:

• Calming/Settling you before you begin speaking (by using a pause at the top)
• Time to focus on what you’ve just said  OR  what you’re about to say (buying you time to course correct or reaffirm the rightness of your previous or upcoming statements)
• Create a sense of shape to your ideas, making them easier to internalize (not memorize) for yourself
• Possibly creating a sense of delight in the ebb and flow of your own delivery
• Allow a human moment to enter into your prepared thoughts (Allowing the possibility of an unplanned left turn to allow inspiration to interrupt and lift your thoughts in the moment)
• Time to catch up to yourself
• Time to think ahead
• Time to adjust to the audience’s reactions
• Time to think of something funny to add

Beginning pausers add sound to their pauses: the classic ‘um’ or ‘uh’ that fills the terrifying silence between thoughts. (Terror passes, by the way…)

More advanced pausers find the big, important opportunities to pause: at the top, (a must, according to champion speakers) at the end of paragraphs, before the summation.

Expert pausers find those key thoughts and pause before, after, or both before and after them. They pause for the audience’s reaction to be expressed and enjoyed by all. Especially laughter. They pause before repetitions to make the repeated phrases even more emphatic.

And they allow for inspiration when any number of impulses may occur during even the shortest of pauses.

The pause is an act of generosity toward your audience. You’ve budgeted enough time by not overwhelming them with content or length. That leaves you time to add a bouquet of helpful pauses. That gives them the space to connect with your message. It requires confidence to start adding more pauses into your speaking. Start with just one, at the top of your speech, every time you speak. The rest of them will seem easier once you master it.

The great news is: you will come across as a stronger speaker and a more confident leader.

All that from a little thing like  –  the pause.