How to Harness the Power of Pausing in Public Speaking

The often unspoken rule when it comes to public speaking is silence. Using silence in speech can be one of the most powerful techniques to grab your audience’s attention and make your speech more impactful.

Mark Twain said,

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause”

And he’s right. While content is king, nothing will elevate your speech’s effectiveness as much as a rightly timed pause.

Silence can sometimes be perceived as a sort of “weakness” when it comes to public speaking, but pauses at the right time for the right amount of time can surprise you with it’s heightened impact.

Pauses during a speech allow the audience to stay engaged and make it easier for them to follow your speech. However, don’t overdo the pauses. Too much of pausing can work negatively for you. But inserting tactical pauses will help take your speech to the next level! 

So, what is the importance of pausing and why should you learn more about it? Read on…

The Importance of Pausing

Pacing

This is something I’ve always been guilty of! Whether I may be excited or nervous (or both!), I tend to pace when I speak…a lot! Even though I consciously try to slow my pace down, it somewhere picks up again without me realizing it.

What I’ve found is that by pausing, even if my overall pace does not reduce, it really helps me sound clearer and be conscious of my pace. If you face the same issue of pacing, think about pausing once in a while. It will help you sound clearer and smoother.

Loss of breath

This is related to pacing. When we talk quickly, we tend to lose our breath quickly as well. This makes us eat up our words without us even realizing it and just makes our speech sound fuzzy and rushed.

That’s never good. A pause here and there will you give the required time to catch your breath so you can speak more fluently.

Reduced effectiveness

Think of all the great speeches you have ever heard. Have you wondered why they are so powerful? Although the delivery and content of the speech would be great, it’s a lot to do with how they pause for effect.

The great speaker doesn’t ramble on and on. They pause before a big statement to give the word more emphasis. It’s also a great way to throw more panache in your speech and help you sound more confident in what you are saying.

It also helps the audience realize that the word or phrase you said after/before a pause is important.

Check out this speech by Toastmaster Josephine Lee in the International Speech Contest (where she stood 3rd place in 2016) and watch how she uses the power of pause for effect. It makes her speech SO much more impactful!

Pattern breaking

One very important reason that pauses are so important is that it gives you a way to break your speech’s pattern. Monotony is the enemy. The audience will tune out if you sound monotonous.

Think about it – when you hear a sound that is so repetitive and predictable, do you even notice it after a while? Think about the air conditioner, or your ceiling fan, or even the sound of your own breath! These sounds are tuned out until someone points them out to you.

Pausing and adding moments of silence to your speech helps break the pattern of speaking and keeps your audience from zoning out.

Grab attention

Because pauses help in breaking the pattern of your speech, they help snap the audience’s attention back to you. When you hear a speaker go on and on and then suddenly pause…you seem to notice them again. It’s a simple but effective way to keep the audience engaged.  

Related article: 5 Ways to Grab Your Audience’s Attention When You’re Losing it!

Allows the audience to absorb the message

Many speeches consist of shocking and/or bold statements. After saying such a statement, if you just continue speaking, the audience might not understand the effectiveness of what you just said. Adding a pause after a heavy statement allows the audience to absorb the message and gives them time to ponder upon it briefly.

Example of a shocking statement: “2 weeks ago, my best friend jumped off a 20-storey building and ended her own life.” Saying a sentence like this and just rambling on will reduce the effectiveness and impact of this statement.

So, pause when you say something shocking. Let the audience take it in. Let it sink in. Then, continue with your speech…

Time to recollect thoughts

Sometimes, if you feel like you’re getting lost while speaking, a pause can give you enough time to recollect your thoughts and recall what you had to say. When you forget your line, don’t stare at the audience nervously or use filler words like ums and ahs. Just give a short, thoughtful pause, recall what you had to say and continue.

Related article: 6 Techniques to Stop Saying Filler Words: Eliminate the Ahs & Ums!

When to use pauses?

Commas

In writing, it’s easy for a reader to understand when to pause. Without full-stops and commas, things could mean something entirely different. For instance – ‘let’s eat mom!’ means something else as opposed to ‘let’s eat, mom’.

However, when it comes to speaking, the audience does not have the benefit of commas. So make sure you provide a short pause wherever a comma comes in. It could otherwise, change the meaning of your sentence!

Transitions

If you’re speaking about multiple points, pausing between two points is a great way to transition from one part of your speech to the next. Suppose you’re talking about how to fix a car.

When you are giving different pointers on how to fix your car, say the first point…pause…move on to the second point…pause…and continue so on and so forth. It makes it easier for the audience to follow you.

Add drama

When you want to add some drama into your talk, nothing works better than pausing! For instance, if you say the sentence, “If I find out who did this, I’ll kill him,” without pausing, the effectiveness of the sentence will drop. But if you say “If I find out who did this…(pause)…I’ll kill him,” it’ll add a lot more oomph and drama to your line!

Reflection

If you have just stated something such as “have you ever thought about that?” or “have you ever felt this way?” pausing for a moment allows the audience to actually think about what you have just asked them. So, take a pause when you want the audience to take a moment and think about what you said.

Emphasis and effect

Pausing to lay emphasis on certain words helps breaks the monotony of your speech and also shows the audience that what you stated after or before the pause is of importance. It also adds more effect to your speech.

For example, if you say “The only thing that matters…(pause)…is love,” it adds a lot more effect because you’re emphasizing on such an important statement in your speech.

Practice Your Pauses

If pauses don’t come naturally to you, the best and only way to get good at it, is to practice! When you write a speech, also highlight the parts where you feel a pause will help make your speech sound better and more impactful.

Related article: Surprisingly Simple But Effective Processes to Practicing for a Speech

See if your speech includes lines which call for transitions, drama, reflection, emphasis or effect and see if a pause is fitting over there.

Pauses can work really powerfully when used correctly, so practice using them more in your speeches. It will help elevate your speech and more importantly…(pause)…help you become a stronger communicator beyond the stage!