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Pausing Tutorial
Pausing is the easiest, yet most underutilized skill for presentations. All that is required of you is to take a breath in between thoughts, or after you ask a question. The rewards are immense. Your listeners enjoy the opportunity to reflect on what you've said. And you have the chance to look at your notes, take a sip of water, or simply look at your audience.
If it's so easy, why don't presenters pause more often? Most presenters are so caught up in delivering the message that they don't consider slowing down and taking a breath. A final benefit of pausing is that it takes the place of "um" and "ah" when you are thinking about what you will say next.
How:
- After you finish a sentence or question, take a breath in and out before speaking again.
- If you find that you are using non-words, pause between thoughts.
Why:
- To focus audience attention.
- To control your rate of speech.
- For dramatic impact.
- To control use of non-words.
Practice Ideas:
- Describe your commute to work. Pause between each sentence.
- Leave a voice mail message. Practice pausing between sentences. Play it back.
- Watch late night TV. Observe how comedians pause.
- Choose any poem. Read it alout with no pauses. Now, read it with many 3–4 second pauses. Note the difference in your ability to comprehend the poem.
Watch Out For:
- When you feel rushed, you may have the tendency to forget to pause.
- Pause whenever you ask a question, to give the audience a chance to think about a response.
- Very short pauses. Experiement with pausing for up to 3 seconds.
- Worrying that your audience will think you don't know the material if you pause. Audiences will not notice a pause, unless it's over 5 seconds long.
- Remember to pause when you are looking at your notes, or walking to change slides. The audience will be distracted and won't be listening if you continue talking.