Have you evey noticed the power of the the pause. You are listening to someone and instead of finishing the sentance they pause. The is so much power in that pause. You are expextent. You feel tension and you want it to be released, but it can't be released untill the speaker finishes the sentance.
You can use the power of the pause in public speaking. If you want the audiance to really listen to a particular word, an important statistic, a action step you want them to take, pause before the inportant word or words.
Pausing also works really well in humor. We actually laugh to release tension. Thats why we laugh at dirty jokes, even when we do not think they are funny. So how do you use pausing to be funny? Your telling a funny story and the listener or listeners are waiting to hear the punch line and you pause before you say it. This increases the tension and the laughter that follows is louder.
