Tool No 11: Full-stop Pauses
HOW? Pause for three seconds after you say something meaningful. Either count to three or say to yourself, in your head, “Are you with me so far?” Just a couple of seconds is all it takes to give the impression of dialogue with an audience.
Human beings think faster than they speak. Often, we just keep talking in an attempt to keep up with our brain. While we blabber on, we think about the next thing we want to say – and so on.
So pause when you reach a full stop! Speak at your usual tempo and in your usual way throughout the sentence, but pause for two or three seconds after it. This will double the value of what you have just said.
Dropping these pauses into the flow of your speech is a clear signal that what you have to say is important. For you, keeping quiet for three seconds may feel like an eternity; for the audience, it feels like a split second, because the pauses allow them to catch up with their own train of thought.
