World Champion Speaker Craig Valentine suggests several different reasons for pausing in your speech:
- Before you begin your speech - take a little time before you talk to allow both you and the audience to "get set"
- When you ask a question - pause long enough to answer the question in your mind
- After you say something you want the audience to think deeply about (pause longer with larger audiences)
- After the audience laughs - wait for the laughter to finish before continuing
- When you are showing a dramatic point in your story - suddenly stop the story and let the audience think about that dramatic point
On pause,
Tim
