Speaking Rate: the Power Pause

Speaking Rate: The Power Pause

Student Name: ______

A pause in the right place at the right time gives YOU:

·  ______

·  ______

·  ______

A pause in the right place at the right time gives YOUR AUDIENCE:

·  ______

·  ______

·  ______

·  ______

Stand, Stare, and Command Your Audience:

Before you speak:

·  Lock your ______on each of your would-be listeners

·  Force yourself before you begin your presentation to ______in your own ______each word of your ______.

·  Every ______you wait will strengthen the impact of your opening words.

Let Punctuation be your Guide:

·  For a period in your speech, wait ____ seconds before continuing.

·  For a comma, wait _____ second before continuing.

·  For a semi-colon, wait ______second before continuing.

·  For a colon, wait ______seconds before continuing.

·  Between the end of one paragraph and the start of the next, wait _____ seconds before continuing.

Example: Marting Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech:

‘This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.’