Have you ever been to a keynote address or seminar where the speaker sounded like he was trying to get through 2 hours of material in 15 minutes? He left you exhausted, didn’t he?
Or maybe you’ve been to one of those endless conferences where the speaker slowly speaks and speaks each word in big, round syllables? Hey, after the first speaker, the dream probably did you good, right?
What you have experienced is a case of public speaking at a putrid pace.
Okay, enough with the alliteration and the silliness. The problem, however, is a case of poor pacing. (Wow, sorry.) In this article, I’m going to explain why rhythm is so important when delivering a speech. Or at least I’m going to give you five reasons why you should take your pace into account when speaking in public.
one. Varying your pace helps keep your audience engaged. One of the reasons monotonous teachers create such boring lectures is that their pace is constant. It doesn’t matter if it’s too fast or too slow. But keeping a steady beat is a sure way to send your audience into a screaming fit. Your voice is your instrument. For the sake of interests, sometimes you need to play the beat fast, and sometimes you need to play it slow.
two. Your pacing affects your audience’s ability to follow what you’re saying. If you talk too fast for too long, your audience will have trouble following what you’re saying. Basically, your ability to speak wears them out quickly and they wander off in search of some stimulus that’s a little easier to follow. If you speak too slowly, your audience will get bored and wander off in search of more stimulation.
3. Your rhythm shows your passion for the subject. When we experience a strong emotion, we naturally begin to speak faster. When we get thoughtful, our speech slows down. You can use your rhythm to show your emotions to your audience. Your emotions make you more human. And they make your topic more obviously important. If you release your emotions, your audience will accept you better and your rhythm will vary naturally.
Four. Your rhythm affects your nervousness. Strong emotions affect the pace of your speech. And that includes the emotion of fear. But it is a two-way street. When you’re afraid, like public speaking, you naturally start speaking quickly. If you speak too fast you will reinforce your fear. It becomes a reinforcing circle.
5. Amateurs finish early or late. One of the things you always want to do as a professional speaker is to finish exactly on time. Of course, no one is perfect, but the more your pacing flexes, the harder it becomes to predict how long your speech will be. You need to predict how long the actual speech will last. And to do that you need to be able to identify where you’re going to be emotional and where you’re going to be reflective.