The Art of Speaking is the Art of Pausing.

Every verbal attempt has a rhythm and a tempo, very much like music does.

Context and Premise: Beyond presence and talent, good speaking is viewed as a verbal art form. Elocution, diction, projection and modulation, to only name a few elements, are believed to be the obvious and essential ingredients to a good presentation or performance. So much more goes into good speaking, but it is important to try to pierce the myth of verbal life.

With verbal power comes the undeniable importance of skills in the arenas of intentions, staging, presence, experience and message. All these aspects have two dynamics in common: space and time. On a practical level, time is punctuated by silence or pauses. Firing content at an audience or in a one-on-one conversation spells disaster and can be very annoying.

Every verbal attempt has a rhythm and a tempo, very much like music does. A happy balance between sound and silence creates harmony in music. That is what creates the mood of a musical piece and that of all verbal communications.

Spoken language is organized and governed by time (rhythm, phrasing, and pauses) and by melody (pitch, intonation, and inflection.)