Pacing: Is It Better to Speak Faster or Slower?
Set your pace based on your subject matter, audience, and intent
Are you the tortoise or the hare? Or the Goldilocks of pacing?
When it comes to public speaking – or talking to the camera, which is a form of public speaking – how do you know what the right speed should be?
Do you take it nice and slow so that everyone can follow?
Or do you raise the energy by speaking quickly?
Or maybe you prefer the middle ground, whatever that means to you.
Well, to state the obvious, avoid the extremes.
Too slow, and you’ll put your viewers to sleep. Or more likely, they’ll become impatient and switch you off.
Too fast, and they may not understand your words clearly or process quickly enough what you’re saying. A fast pace can be appropriate, but keep the words short and simple so that they can be understood easily enough.
What’s your purpose? Who’s your audience? These are two of the best guidelines for choosing your pace.
Slow and Steady Keeps Your Audience on Track
Generally speaking, a slow pace is ideal for giving step-by-step instructions and sharing detailed or technical information. The last thing you want is your audience scrambling to keep up, focusing more on note-taking than on understanding and retentioin, or missing out altogether on important information. A recorded message can be replayed, but that becomes tiresome after a while.
When you record to the camera, you probably will not have a live audience to gauge reception. If you’re not sure of those parts in which you’d naturally slow down, based on an audience’s reactions, imagine hearing your presentation for the first time yourself. What would you want emphasized? Or, do a dry run or two of your presentation and note where your trial audience would prefer a slower pace. Chances are, they’d be happy to give you feedback.
When else does a slow pace make sense? Meditations and telling ghost stories around a campfire! One leads the listener to a slower, more relaxed state of being. The other adds tension, as the campers are in suspense as to what happens next (usually told with a very loud bang). As a voice actor, I’ve recorded both types and the slow pace, combined with music, is incredibly effective.
Any parent, grandparent, or caretaker will also tell you that we instinctively talk to young children to make sure of their understanding and to give them time to respond. The same with speaking to or recording a video for the elderly, who may be hard of hearing. Enunciation certainly is important here! It also helps greatly for the hearing-impaired who may be reading lips. Thank goodness for the proliferation of captioning – just make sure to use them so that your videos are easily accessible by all audiences.
Will you be recording or speaking live in a room that could double as an echo chamber? Besides giving everyone headaches, the reverberating sound can greatly undermine the understandability of your speech. If you can, treat the room with carpets, wall hangings, and soft curved or upholstered surfaces to dampen the bounce of sound waves off bare floors, wooden furniture, high ceilings, and empty walls. At the very least, use a head or lavalier mic to bring your voice as closely to the mic as possible. If all else fails, speak slowly and allow time for your voice to bounce off surfaces before continuing.
Speedy Gonzales, at Your Service
I loved that little cartoon mouse. Perhaps because I’m naturally a bit of a fast-walker/fast-talker (which came in handy when I was a debater back in school). Just like there’s a place for a slow, steady tone, there are also many calls for a quicker pace.
A faster pace comes in handy when you’re trying to energize the room, such as for a sales meeting or motivational conference. You want everyone in rah-rah land? Get up and away from the podium. Move around a lot. Use humor and entertaining graphics, video clips, and stories to keep your audience interested and totally engaged. Add an interactive component to your presentation, but by all means, use a happy, quick, and even a clipped pace to keep them on their feet. Your energy will be contagious, which is what these event organizers are hoping for.
Looking for a step or three below rah-rah? Most of us would rather be there, too. Keep a quick pace, perhaps less energetically delivered, and you’ll convey happiness, optimism, and encouragement. The upbeat tone you set will be enough. If you authentically feel good and excited by your material, you’ll deliver it from the heart, and that too is a great way to raise the personal energy of everyone in the room.
If talking quickly is just not in your comfort zone, don’t push it. If you tried, it could just come across as forced, and people would be much less likely to accept the truth of what you’re saying. You also don’t want to trip over your words by speaking too fast or rely on verbal fillers like “um,” “you know,“ and “well…” when you can’t think quickly enough of the next point.
Know your comfortable pace and stick with it. There are great speakers who are naturally fast or slow and it’s just part of their signature style. Besides, you’re probably already at … (drumroll, please) the Goldilocks pace.
The Goldilocks Pace
That in-between place is the Goldilocks pace, and that’s where most of us aim to live. Easy to understand and follow, energetic enough to keep us engaged.
How do you know if you’ve nailed it? Many of us think we’re there, only to be told later that either we need to pick up the pace (people are falling asleep or walking out) or that we’re racing through our presentation and need to take a deep breath and relax into it. That’s when a dry run in front of a live audience pays off. Or just record yourself in video fashion with your smart phone and see how you come across. Show the video to others and see what they say. Chances are you’re just fine. If not, see where you need to adjust your pace and practice until you find your sweet spot.
The Goldilocks pace is your own natural, comfortable way of speaking. It’s also varied speech. You instinctively slow down when you’re explaining an important or complex point, and speed up when you’re bridging from one topic to the next. Most of us don’t speak in a measured, monotone pace, so you shouldn’t either.
Where do I go from here?
Pace is part of what I call dynamic delivery. Other components include volume, tone, and strategic use of the pause and I'll highlight all of these in a future newsletter. All of these together contribute to a speaking style that is interesting to listen to, engaging, and relatable to your audience.
Looking to discover how you can can be more effective on camera? Book a free call with me and we'll talk about how and where I think you can elevate your speaking style.
In the meantime, if you're in the Atlanta area, I'd love to see you at my next event!
MC and Moderator for the Women in Business Expo & Symposium
Saturday, March 29
11am - 4pm
I'm Laura Doman, a voice & TV/film actor and video communications coach. As an actor, I create memorable characters that tell my client's stories well, from the friendly CEO to your sassy best gal pal dispensing real-world advice. As a coach, I help you become more comfortable and charismatic on camera in videos, presentations, and online appearances.
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