Delivery
Pause
Definition
A deliberate silence in speech. Used well, the most powerful tool a speaker has.
Most speakers underuse pauses because silence feels longer to the speaker than to the audience. A two-second pause can feel endless at the front of the room and barely register in it.
Pauses do three jobs: they replace filler words, they give the line that just landed some weight, and they give the audience time to think. One of the fastest improvements most beginners can make is replacing every "um" with a one-second pause.
Related terms
Practice it, don't just read about it.
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