Technique of the week · Mastering delivery
The Pause
Silence is part of the speech
A two-second pause reads as confidence; an 'um' reads as doubt.
The idea
Pauses give the audience time to absorb a point, and give you time to breathe and think. Nervous speakers fill silence because it feels endless from the inside. From the outside, it feels like authority.
How to do it
- Mark the three most important sentences in your talk. Pause after each one.
- Before you start, stand, look at the room, and count two in silence.
- When you feel a filler word coming, close your mouth instead.
In the session
The drill
The um-buzzer: one-minute talks where the group taps the table for every filler. Then repeat the same talk, replacing each one with a pause.
This week
Your homework
In one conversation today, let a silence sit for two seconds before you answer.
When you give feedback, ask
Where did a pause make a point land? Where did they rush?
Source: Delivery (actio/pronuntiatio) in Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria XI.3.