Why rhythm is important when delivering a speech

Have you ever been to a keynote speech or seminar where the speaker sounded like he was trying to finish 2 hours of material in 15 minutes? He exhausted you, didn’t he?

Or maybe you’ve been to one of those endless conferences where the speaker speaks and slowly 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 silliness. The problem, however, is a case of poor pacing. (Oops, sorry.) In this article I’m going to explain why timing is so important when delivering a speech. Or at least I’m going to give you five reasons why you should keep your pace in mind when speaking in public.

1. Varying your pace helps keep your audience interested. One of the reasons monotonous teachers create such boring lectures is that they are constantly paced. 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 interest, sometimes you need to play the beat fast, and sometimes you need to play it slow.

2. 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 quickly wears them out and they wander off looking for 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 strong emotion, we naturally start 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 be more accepting of you and your pace will vary naturally.

Four. Your pace 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 are afraid, such as 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 finish exactly on time. Of course, no one is perfect, but the more your pace flexes, the harder it is to predict how long your speech will last. You need to predict how long the actual speech will last. And to do that you need to be able to identify where you are going to be emotional and where you are going to be reflective.