How to Effectively Use Pacing for Your Next Public Speaking Competition
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In this article, you’ll learn about effective and ineffective pacing, and how to use it in your own speeches.
What is pacing? This means how fast or slow you speak. Most English speakers speak at a rate between 120 and 150 words per minute, but there is no “correct” rate that you should aim for. In fact, former US president, Franklin Roosevelt, spoke at 110 words per minute in his speech at the start of World War Two. On the other hand, John F. Kennedy spoke up to 180 words per minute in his speech on space exploration. And the African American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., varied his pacing significantly. He opened his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at 92 words per minute and finished at 145.
Pace can be determined by many things. What is a comfortable speed for you? What is a comfortable speed for your listeners? You might think that speaking fast makes you sound smarter or more passionate. While this strategy can be useful for specific parts of your speech, your primary goal is to speak in a way that your audience can understand without effort. This is especially important, for example, if you’re speaking in a big room and your audience might have trouble hearing you, or if English isn’t their native language.
Once you’ve considered this, you’ll want to think about when to vary pacing to match your content. You should speak at a slower pace to show sadness, confusion, the importance of something, or when introducing new ideas. In contrast, you’ll often hear a faster pace when a speaker’s trying to show urgency or excitement. Other emotions like anger can be shown through either a fast or a slow pace. For example. “I was so angry I wanted to explode!” or “I was so angry I wanted to explode!” See how important it is to allow your words to shine through to your voice?
The next time you hear a speaker demonstrate emotions in their voice, try to understand what emotion it is and notice how their speed changes. Then keep those in your mind, for the next time you’re practicing your own speech.
