In short: Put a pause before each main point, after the point, at every transition between sections and before and after you move on stage. Count two in your head at each one. Practise with a recording: if the silence feels long on playback, it is probably about right for a room.
A pause tells the room which point matters. Speakers who never stop sound as if they are reading a list, even when the content is good. Put pauses where the listener needs time to take something in, and the talk starts to sound like a person thinking aloud rather than a script being read.
Where to pause
- Before a main point. The short silence before a point makes people look up.
- After a main point. Let the point land before you explain it.
- At transitions. Pause between sections, when you change slides and when you move from one idea to the next.
- Around stage moves. Pause before you move and after you arrive, so the move carries meaning rather than looking like fidgeting.
How long to hold it
Count two in your head. In a small room, a shorter pause is enough. In a large room, a pause before a big point can run a little longer, because the people at the back need the signal too. Test it. A pause that feels too long while you are speaking is often the right length for the listener.
How to practise the pause
- Mark the pause points on your script with a slash. Use one symbol for short pauses and two for longer ones, so you can see the rhythm on the page.
- Record the first two minutes of the talk, live, to the camera or a person.
- Play the audio back without the video. Listen for the places where you rush past a point. Present Yourself suggests playing back audio alone is a good way to hear the voice without the distraction of your own image.
- Trim any pause that drags and add any that you rushed past. Record again.
Common mistakes
- Filling every silence with "um". A pause that you cover with filler sounds less confident than a silent one. Our page on cutting fillers covers how to replace them.
- Pausing in the middle of a sentence. Stopping mid-thought breaks the sentence for the listener. Pause at the end of a thought.
- Pausing so long the room thinks you have frozen. Check the length on a recording with the sound up.
- Adding pauses only on the page. A pause in the script does nothing until you practise it out loud.
Pauses sit alongside pace and tone. The next step is pace, and why you are still too fast, and then projecting your voice without shouting.
Related guides
- Pace: why you are still too fast when you speak
- Vocal variety: the rollercoaster
- Projecting 10% more without shouting
- Cutting fillers: um, ah, like
- Smiling voice
- All guides and tools
The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.
Questions we get asked
How long should a pause be when speaking?
Count two in your head at a main point, and longer before a big moment in a large room. Check the length on a recording, because silence feels longer from the inside than it sounds to the listener.
Where should I pause in a presentation?
Before and after main points, at transitions between sections, when you change slides and before and after you move on stage.
Does a pause make a talk seem slower?
Not when it is placed. Pauses at the right points help the listener take in the point, and most listeners do not notice the silence as slowness.
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