So many presentations are boring because their pace is exactly the same throughout. Whether the speaker reads a script, follows a PowerPoint or just works from an outline, the word flow is coming out at roughly the same speed and same volume. The result?
Boredom. The audience falls asleep.
Practically anything you can do to alter or change the pace of your speech is a good thing because it will make you stand out from all of the other speakers who never change their pace. This is why when a speaker makes a seemingly spontaneous remark, the audience responds favorably. When uttering a spontaneous remark, whether louder than usual or under the breath as an aside, the speed and volume change. This variety makes the speaker more interesting.
Since most speakers are nervous, they don’t pause long enough when tossing out rhetorical questions to the audience to allow the audience to think of an answer. Great speakers pause longer and that results in a favorable change of pace.
Telling funny stories, even telling jokes can change the pace (but I’m not recommending that you try to be a joke teller). When you get your audience to laugh, you are, in effect, changing the pace of the presentation. Because now you are pausing and you are giving your audience a chance to communicate back to you in the form of laughter.
Occasionally getting excited and speaking quickly is OK, as long as you balance that with longer pauses and moments where you speak slower than normal. Walking around in front of your audience and moving at a different pace can also create more variety in your presentation.
When it comes to a presenter’s speaking pace, consistency isn’t just the hobgoblin of little minds, it is the bane of bored audiences everywhere.
