The Power of The Pause

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Coaching CEOs on giving compelling presentations, I am reminded of the Power of the Pause.  Using the pause when speaking is incredibly powerful.  Think of it as the same as white space in graphic design; what you leave blank is as important as what you fill in on a page.  In public speaking pauses are important because they indicate to your audience the significance of what you are saying.  Pauses also give your audience time to assimilate information you just shared.  I recommend pausing for five seconds when a new slide is shown so that the audience gets a chance to read the headline and glance at the visual on the slide prior to hearing words.  I also recommend a two-second pause after a key point is made.  For example, when a start-up CEO says, “Revenues have doubled every year for the past three years,” an immediate pause lets the audience grasp the importance of that information. Great speakers use pauses intentionally.

Pause is not only powerful for speaking, but it is also powerful for listening.  In the American culture, we tend to talk right after one another.  We could debate the reason (I believe it has to do with how we value individual over collective), but just understanding the norm is what is important.  Pausing while speaking in a one-to-one interaction lets the other person speak.  Pausing when the other person has finished speaking lets them know you were truly listening and also that you are carefully considering your words of reply.  I am not talking minutes of silence here, just 2-3 seconds of quiet. Breaking the cultural norm, in this case, is a powerful communication technique.

Gregory Kramer wrote Insight Dialogue about interacting mindfully.  While practicing his technique is intricate, he has six basic instructions I think everyone could use for communication.

  1. Pause
  2. Relax
  3. Open
  4. Trust Emergence
  5. Listen Deeply
  6. Speak the Truth

Of course, it starts with The Pause.  As soon as we pause in speaking with others, the possibility of a different type of interaction arises.  When we relax and open to the experience, we learn to trust what emerges.  Listening deeply and speaking the truth (subjective truth of experience) creates a dialogue that respectful and facilitates mutual understanding.

Whether speaking or listening, the pause is a powerful communication tool.

Use The Power of the Pause.

Presentation Skill Reminders from Around the Web

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Periodically seeking advice from other experts on the web constantly expands my perspective on creating excellent presentations.  Here is a sampling of worthwhile advice.

Take Tips from Comedians

John Greathouse, Rincon Ventures

  1. Got for the strong start
  2. Get physical
  3. Manage the hecklers
  4. Develop a repartee
  5. Rehearse spontaneity
  6. Stop for a breath
  7. Don’t fear humor
  8. Bring it home

 

Emulate Top TED Presentations

Margaret Heffernan, entrepreneur and author

  1. Stories always work
  2. Images are meaningless—with one exception
  3. Enthusiasm isn’t everything

 

Know Your Audience

Laura Stack, productivity expert and author

  1. Know their national, professional, and organizational culture
  2. Know their level of knowledge
  3. Know their needs and why they are listening to you
  4. Know their time expectations

 

Facilitate Seeing with Excellent Data Visuals

Edward Tufte, data scientist and author

“It’s all about the relationship between the viewer and the information on the screen, and the viewer’s cognitive tasks in looking at that information,” Edward Tufte

Feynman diagrams and Nate Silver’s data tables are good examples.

It starts with being able to see clearly Edward Tuft explained in a recent NPR Science Friday interview.

Use Humor

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Using Humor

Watching video of the recent Obama White House Correspondents’ Dinner, I was reminded how humor can be used in communication.  The president uses self-deprecating humor to remind us that he is human and jokes to lighten the perspective of heavy political issues.  His joke, “I’m not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be,” does both.

I often have clients and students ask if they should open a speech with a joke to grab the audience’s attention.  My usual response is to do so only if the audience will laugh and then listen.  Humor can be very effective in public speaking, but it can also fall flat and be detrimental to the speaker’s credibility if the audience doesn’t find it funny.

Humor should be used primarily in a speech to entertain, though it can be an effective inflection point in a speech to inform or persuade.  If you do use humor in a speech, never make it racist or sexist or any other  ‘ist’.  Not offending the audience is more important than amusing the audience.  Flipping through one of my many textbooks on public speaking, I found a few sound pieces of speech humor advice.

  • Play to the Audience – humor is in the ear of the listener, so know your audience
  • Keep it Simple – complicated stories or jokes rarely work
  • Know it Well – there is nothing worse than poor timing or a forgotten punch line
  • Use Verbal Humor – play on words, hyperboles, wit, and irony all work well
  • Use Funny Gestures – exaggerated facial and body expressions draw attention

It is not only in public speaking that humor is an effective tool in communication.  Humor can lighten a tense situation in interpersonal communication and shift attitudes within group communication.  The use of humor can facilitate transfer of information that is sensitive or difficult.  For example, it is often easier to hear criticism when it is phrased as sarcasm. Humor can also relieve frustration of the group members and encourage participation. If a group has been working long and hard on a task and the leaders yells, “Only 55 more hours and we’re done,”  the group will likely laugh and get that the leader appreciates how hard they are working.

Humor also has a role in changing societal perspectives, often by drawing attention to stereotypes.  Television shows like Family Guy poke fun at so many stereotypes that the humor becomes eye opening.  The New York Times Preoccupations column this week was on Henry Holden, who uses crutches and humor.  He has used crutches since the polio epidemic of 1952 and helped form the Performers with Disabilities Committee of the Screen Actors Guild.  Holden has fought to change people’s perspectives in every job he has held, including as a stand up comic.  In the article he is quoted as saying, “There is nothing like humor to relieve people’s awkwardness about seeming disabilities or disadvantages.”

Whether giving a speech, interacting one-on-one or in a group, or working to change the world, humor can help.  So, spread some laughter with a funny story or a witty pun.