When you read, you’re getting a lot of information from the way the words are arranged, how they’re punctuated…even
where
they
are
on
the page.
In a typical article, you’ve got a headline, which sums up what you can expect to read about. You have paragraph breaks and italics, bold words and commas and semicolons. Thoughts are broken up with periods. You don’t have a question about when a section of idea begins and ends; it’s laid out for you on the page.
When you’re speaking, you have to provide all of this. Your voice provides the color, the pauses, the emphasis, and the changes in thought or direction. Remember, we can’t listen as fast as you can talk, and we aren’t familiar with your content. Allow the audience time and space to really hear you; don’t be the verbal equivalent of a single-spaced page of text!
Got a presentation coming up? We can help!
