Why did the speaker just stop for a moment before going on to their next
point did you notice that - what's up Explearners today we are talking about the
use of pause in public speaking why we do it and how we do it I'm gonna give
you four strategies so you're gonna want to stay tuned for this one in public
speaking we use a variety of techniques to get a point across the main purpose
of giving a talk is to inform the audience of something is to persuade
them and we want to be able to do that effectively so how do we communicate
effectively well one way is to add pause in our speech so here are the four
reasons why as a speaker you should use pause number one emphasis right after
making a point when you pause the audience is paying attention to what you
just said because they know that that is something worth paying attention to and
hopefully you've communicated it slowly enough and clearly enough that they got
it if they didn't then what you do is you make eye contact with the audience
you figure out if there's a disconnect by looking and seeing if there are blank
stares in the audience or quizzical looks and then you can restate that
point if it is imperative to your overall message in your talk when the
past comes after the point they want the message to click in the audience's mind
and they give them time to ruminate over the point that's just been made so when
the speaker comes to a PCP or a possible completion point as we say in
conversation analysis then you're probably going to hear a pause after
that point second reason it's to say listen up audience if the pause comes
before the main point it's to alert the audience that something important is
going to be said in just a few seconds so make sure you're listening they're
alerting the audience to focus on that hone in on that message we don't
want to get lost in the the different points that are being made
so sometimes paws can guide the focus of the audience so that they know what to
listen for and want to pay attention to now sometimes the speaker will make it
easier on the audience by saying something like alright so what's the big
idea here pause now let me tell you this pause right so here we have the audience
being guided to listen for a specific something now it doesn't always have to
be that way sometimes the pause will just come in
the beginning and then the speaker will dive into something but at least the
pause is a focus shift for the audience and allows them to see that okay
something important is going to be said here number three another great use of
pause is to avoid fillers fillers in public speaking like um like like um
yeah so you know which are one thing in interpersonal interaction social
interaction and if you're having a conversation but another thing entirely
when we're giving a speech because remember we don't have a ton of time up
there onstage and we want to be as clear and concise as possible with our message
so if you use pause instead of a filler you will be able to get your point
across better so that's another reason to use pause in your public speaking and
number four the last reason to use pause is to give the audience processing time
if you're just going through every point one after the other without pausing the
audience is going to have little time to actually process the information that
you've shared maybe it's a statistic that you've shown maybe it's a story
you've shared maybe information that you've given whatever it is it's
knowledge transfer and that requires processing time for the audience just
like you need thinking time they need processing time so give them that
benefit of allowing the information to think in make a mental note of it or an
actual physical note if they're taking notes and allow it to settle the
audience will thank you for it so as you can see the pause in public speaking not
only benefits you as a speaker but also the audience so the audience will thank
you for it and they'll be happy that you were able to walk them through the talk
with clarity and precision keep in mind that it's not always easy to listen to a
talk and soak up all the information right away right as we hear it auditory
learners might have an easier time with that because they are prone to learning
that way that's how they learn but kinesthetic learners for example people
who learn by doing might have a harder time with just sitting there and getting
information thrown their way right so we have to be mindful of that as speaker so
we give them time to process all right Explearners those are my four strategies
for helping you incorporate pause in your public speaking so that you can
become a better communicator use this the next time you are in a meeting or
you're holding the floor and a conversation or you're up on stage
practice it to make it your own and that is how you'll get better so if you like
this video give me a thumbs up it does help me out a lot and share it with a
friend who needs this information and be sure to subscribe so you can get all the
videos about communicating with confidence authenticity and poise I will
see you in my next video right here on Explearning. Happy Explearning!