Increase Confidence Using The Power Of The Pause

Successful speakers know about the power of the pause. You can use pauses with your speaking in any situation. It works well for one-on-one situations as well as for public speaking in front of an audience. 

 

We encourage you to master the power of the pause. Knowing when to use the pause and how long to do this will help to increase your confidence as a speaker. Here are some of the main reasons why you need to use the power of the pause:

 

It will give your Confidence a Boost

 

By taking a short pause at the right time when you are speaking this will help you to feel more comfortable and in control of your delivery. There are people that never seem to take a breath when they are speaking and they do not tend to be confident speakers.

 

Rushing what you want to say is not going to have a good impact with your audience. In fact, speaking in a rushed way can really irritate people. By taking appropriate pauses you will come across as much more confident and relaxed.

 

Control your Body with Pauses

 

Nerves can build up when you are speaking and when you take an appropriate pause for breath you will be able to calm these nerves. It is essential that you are in control of your emotions when you speak and that you do not feel anxious or tense. With a pause you can take back control and alleviate negative problems.

 

Being anxious or tense is very likely to deflect your focus. You are going to concentrate more on the pain of the tenseness rather than your delivery. Practice your speaking and record this. Use the recordings to identify the best times to use pauses.

 

Using a Pause can add Energy

 

When you pause at the right time you will be able to take a deep breath which will help to restore energy in your body. This additional energy actually transfers to your speech and can make it a lot more powerful. 

 

You have just made a powerful statement and you want your audience to fully take this on board. What do you do? Take a pause just after delivering the statement. This can add a lot more excitement to your statement for your audience.

 

Use Pauses to Increase Engagement

 

Engaging with your audience is very important and using pauses at the right time can help to increase engagement. Nobody wants to listen to a speaker that just rambles on and never seems to take a pause. This is a surefire way to disengagement with an audience.

 

If you sense disengagement creeping in with your audience then you can use a short pause to address this. Pausing even for a short time will help you to think and make changes to your approach. Audiences will appreciate you doing this and perceive you as a confident speaker.

 

Questions are a good way to increase engagement with your audience. When you ask a question, you need to pause for a short time to enable them to answer. Your audience needs time to reflect on what you tell them and pausing at the right time will help them to do that.