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Communication Tip: Pace Yourself
By Marion Grobb
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Nerves affect the way we speak. So can anger, happiness, sadness or any emotion.
When we’re nervous, the adrenaline rush we get tempts us to pick up the pace in everything we do, including speaking. Admittedly, doing so adds energy to what we’re saying and may heighten the interest of our listener – for a short time. However, it’s too hard for a listener to maintain that degree of energy being doused over them, and if your pace is fast for too long, you’ll lose them.
People who speak very quickly for long periods of time are sometimes perceived as anxious, hyper, or panicky. In its most extreme form, talking excessively fast may be interpreted as “talking a lot, saying very little”. It may reduce the speaker to being perceived as a lightweight communicator having little impact, and in some instances, having little substance.
If this speaking pace describes you, that’s great – you noticed! Now, take a breath and slow it down. In fact, stop it completely. One of the easiest ways to build excitement in your verbal messages and attention from your audiences is to introduce well-placed pauses just before you provide a salient point or a punch line. Pausing after gives your listener a chance to absorb what you’ve just said ... or better yet, to laugh. Think about all those familiar awards shows, “and the winner is (PAUSE) ...”. Do you think the audience is listening for the next few words? You bet they are.
Changing pace when you’re talking is actually a good thing. As much as monotone lulls people into lala land, variety adds interest and keeps your listeners on their toes. Think of monotone as a long road with no curves, twists, or surprises, just cruise-control-driving. Compare that with the dips and plateaus of a rollercoaster. Which do you think grabs people’s attention better?
Regardless of what emotion you may be experiencing, by sprinkling your speech with different paces and injecting timely pauses, you’ll keep the interest of your listener with your confi dent, competent and in-control communication.
Marion Grobb is a professional speaker and published author. Through this column, she shares with her NPF colleagues some copyrighted articles she has written for various media and clients.
