Giving a speech is scary. Most people hate giving a speech. So they race through whatever speech they have hastily prepared. This means that however good their speechwriting was they usually squander it all by speaking too fast and pausing – not at all!
Pauses are scary. They are a gap. A void. A big black hole that begs to be filled. They are powerful because you might fall in the hole. Because of the fear. The suspense. The wait. The silence. The damned silence.
And this painful, exciting silence makes us yearn for the sound to follow. Like breaking a fast. And the sound that preceded the pause is is the echo in our ears.
And time stands still. Our senses strain.
…and finally, release. And whatever comes is framed, underlined and etched by the silence – the pause – that precedes.
Watch this clip. Feel the power of the pause. The “not in a very balanced state of mind” phrase is set up nonchalantly, casually almost. Either Rupert Murdoch’s planning and his delivery or stagecraft was brilliant. Or he is naturally brilliant.
This clip. The tightness of his words. The use of the pause. The power of the pause. The total lack of fear in the middle of the pause. The control over how long the pause will last. The slow and unhurried delivery. The dummy pass. The pause. The set up of the quote.
This is one of my favourite clips – a master showing how its done!