Why you need silence as a public speaker

Speaking
Written By Liam Sandford

The world is full of noise. Information flying at you left, right, and center. Rarely are you alone with your thoughts, or just being still without some form of stimulation for your brain.

Social media, email, text — you are always accessible by people around the world. Any time you are looking for something to do you reach for your phone to fill the void. You are no longer bored — ever.

This makes it hard to be present if something isn’t very engaging. It means you cannot be silent and just sit there with your thoughts.

And that is the critical life skill you are ignoring — silence.

Being comfortable with silence is a next level skill. You have heard about meditation and the benefits to the brain, and focus is an important part of this. The more stimulus flying at you the more your brain has to process, and the more it switches between contexts.

But you are wondering how this relates to public speaking.

Landing your message

Silence is a key skill for any public speaker who wants to land a message. Just as you have information flying at you, so does your audience. Rarely do people stop and think about what they have just consumed, and it turns into another fleeting thought that has been and gone. Silence is a great way to land your message.

Deliver your main point, then pause. Give them a lengthy pause, let it sink in, and maybe repeat if appropriate. Doing this keeps your audience in the moment for a second, and provides them with an opportunity to process what you have just said. It might be the only time the audience member stops to really think in a day — you should capitalize on that.

Slowing down your delivery (time to think)

It is common when presenting to rush through with the aim of finishing as quickly as possible just so you can get to the end. Especially if you have a fear of public speaking. This causes you to fill every silence so nobody can interject. Filling every silence means lots of filler words while you think. The odd filler word is not a problem, but every other sentence makes for a poor speaking performance.

Imagine a world where you are comfortable with silence — no need to come up with something to fill it, no awkward feeling if nothing is being said. It changes the game. You have more time to think when you are speaking in public. You are able to slow down your delivery, intentionally, and that helps make the audience feel like you are present.

Calming your mind

When you are presenting, if you feel like your mind is racing at 1 million miles an hour, stop, pause, collect your thoughts and begin again. A racing mind creates an erratic delivery. Being able to embrace silence during your presentation, and breathe as a calming mechanism is important.

How you get to this point is embracing silence on a day to day basis. Introduce pauses throughout your day to just be still, silent and present in the moment. Creating space for your mind will enable you to focus better when you have a presentation to deliver. It will give you more control over the thoughts that come and go. Silence is the critical life skill you have been ignoring, but it will make all the difference for public speaking, and for various areas of your life.

Actionable takeaways

  • Pause just after delivering your key message. It will give your audience time to think about what you just said.

  • Slow down your public speaking delivery by pausing, instead of filling every silence throughout. This will help you remove filler words.

  • Use breathing to manage your racing mind when delivering a presentation.

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Liam Sandford
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