PUBLIC SPEAKING TIP YOU CAN WORK UPON: How to Make an Immediate Impact on Your Audience Using the Power of Pause

 

Public Speaking: Do You Want to
 Impact Your Audience?

 

[Allow Your Audience to Stay Engaged with Your Content.]

 

Those who desire to stand in front of the public to give a speech or a presentation, often want to know - 

* ‘What are some techniques in public speaking?’

* 'How can I impact my listeners?'

Public Speaking: Once in a while, everybody has to do it. But how many of us actually leave a Lasting Impression on our Audience?

The ultimate purpose of talking to an audience or addressing them is to influence them with our ideas and thoughts. 

 

If it’s a seminar that you are conducting then you want your audience to understand your message perfectly and with clarity so that they can use them in the form of actionable for self-transformation.

 

Having said that,

 

Have you ever been an audience in a seminar where the speaker tries to fit in so much content in a minute that as you are trying to figure out his first sentence he has already completed ten sentences?

 

How do you feel?

Are you as excited as the speaker himself?

If you are like me, you will find yourself lost in the ocean of content.

The speaker is the only person who is excited about the content.

 

He has lost me as an audience. 

 

If you are going to be in front of an audience as a speaker in near future, the chances are you might also commit the same mistake.

 

You might not do it deliberately but in order to impress the audience with your vast knowledge, you start firing content after content towards them. They are not able to catch up with you. As a result, they hear a lot but don’t take home anything.

 

The method to create an impact on your audience is never to give them an ocean full of content in a short duration.

 

If you talk more, you will be the only person who will be enjoying the talk.  Your Audience will be mentally switched off. Their mind will wander away and they will give up on the very purpose of attending your seminar.

 

So, how do you avoid getting into this trap?

 

The answer is – give your audience time to digest what you have just said.

 

 This is one effective Public Speaking Technique.

Now, the question is: How do we give our audience time to digest our content?

 

Here is where I would like to discuss the power of the pause.

PUBLIC SPEAKING TIP YOU CAN WORK UPON: How to Make an Immediate Impact on Your Audience Using the Power of Pause 

 What is a Pause in Public Speaking?

Pause is the interval of silence that a good speaker maintains after speaking a certain amount of content.

 

If you are addressing an audience, and even though you are the only person who is speaking, speaking on a platform to an audience is not a monologue. The audience is als0 talking and this they might be doing the talking in their mind. They might be having an inner dialogue based on what they are listening to.

 

So, if you want to make an impact when speaking, give your audience an opportunity in the form of pauses to have a conversation in their mind.

 

It is worth repeating here that -

 

“In Public Speaking, your message is not only conveyed by the words that you verbalize, but also by the pauses that you take in between your speech.”

 

Just as we give time to digest food after every meal that we eat, we need to give time to digest the food that is fed to our mind in the form of a speech.

 Let us look at another important aspect of using silence in Public Speaking.

While we are writing, and need to highlight a sentence, what do we do?

 

We underline that sentence or we write the sentence in Capital Letters or write just that part with a different color pen.

 

While speaking in a seminar, can we do the same with our important sentences?

How do we highlight a word or a sentence that we want our audience to focus on?

 

This can again be achieved by utilizing the power of the pause in our favor.

 

Let’s take one example.

 

Say, you are taking a seminar on ‘The Ultimate Seminar to Great Blog Writing’.

 

You start your seminar by highlighting 4 things that your audience will take home from your seminar.

 

Let’s say your speech content is somewhat like this –

 

“How do you persuade your readers to take action using written words in your blog?

 

What does effective blog writing look like?

 

If you are looking for an answer, My seminar has all the answers.

 

By the time you leave this seminar hall, you will learn:

 

• The skills to write better blogs with amazing speed.

 

• 3 brand new techniques to grab your reader’s attention, and trust instantly.

 

• The blogging rules you must follow and the blogging unproductive habits that you must throw out.

 

• How to design your blog to make it eye-pleasing.”

 You can have your own content to do this exercise.

Now, stand up. You can either face empty chairs or even the open space in front of you. Deliver the above content or your own content, as though you are addressing a real crowd. 

For the first exercise, The condition is that you will not take any kind of deliberate pause to create any sort of impact. Your speech should be a continuous flow of words. As you speak, try to fit the entire content in as little time as possible.

 

Of course, you can stop to take a breath.

 

If you can try this in front of a friend, you can watch the reaction on his face and he will be able to give you some constructive feedback on your delivery of the content.

After you have done this exercise, my question to you is – Did you enjoy taking the session?

 

If you are passionate about blogging then I bet you did! You must be feeling excited to have done a great job.

 

Now ask your friend, who has just listened to your speech, what was he going to learn from your seminar?

 

See how clearly he is able to state what he is going to learn in the seminar.

 

He may not be able to state everything with clarity. 

 

Even if he is able to say it, he may forget it soon.

 

The reason is, you spoke with such excitement and passion that you increased your speed of delivery.

 

You did not take enough pause for your audience’s mind to digest what you wanted to deliver.

 

Now, let’s do the same exercise once again by repeating the same speech.

 

This time deliver your message with proper, deliberate, and effective pauses after each sentence.

 

 Chew on the keywords. Stretch key sentences. Observe your friend’s facial expression as you take a pause. See his response and then move to the next sentence.

 

This way you will be underlining each key sentence. With every pause you take, you will be giving time to your audience to digest whatever you have just said.

 

In the previous example, you were talking for yourself. In the second example, you are talking for your audience.

 

Can you see the difference?

 

Let’s find out.

 

Ask your friend which style of delivery of yours created a better impact?

 

I am sure he will agree with your second style of delivery.

 

In Conclusion

Even though Effective Public Speaking has many aspects to it, in this blog I have touched on the importance of pauses in a speech to create a long-lasting effect on your audience.

 

Whether it's a presentation that you are giving or you are addressing an audience on a subject, use the power of the pause in your speech. This gives your audience an opportunity to reflect on what they have just heard from you.

 

The audience will thank you for delivering such a wonderful session and enlightening them on the topic.

They will also become your fan wanting to attend more and more sessions of yours.

 

Before I end, let us say one more time:

 Never undervalue the power of silence in your speech.

 

ALL THE BEST!

 

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