Pause After Asking a Question

Did you ever wish you could make yourself invisible?

Did you ever wish you could just fly away?

Did you ever wonder why speakers ask so many rhetorical questions?

Opening a speech with questions is a powerful way to engage your audience, but think of each one as part of a conversation

That means we need to give our audience time to think about how they would answer each question, even if they won’t answer out loud.

 

Did you ever wish you could make yourself invisible?

Did you ever wish you could just fly away?

Did you ever wonder why speakers ask so many rhetorical questions?

If you ask a question, your audience will jump into processing mode. But if you immediately ask another one, they’ll jump back into listening mode.

After a few rounds of this, they’ll get tired of having their brains torqued, and they may tune you out altogether.

Give your audience time to reflect after you ask a question. They’ll appreciate a speaker who gives them space to listen AND to think.