Learning the Art of Pacing Your Presentations

Do you have trouble pacing your presentations?

Does it always seem to take longer than you anticipated or do you find you finish early and have nothing left to say?

What about your audience?

Do THEY feel like you are going too fast or too slow?

How do you know?

This blog discusses managing the pacing of your presentations so your class feels like it moves at the perfect speed.

 What is your definition of pace?

How would you define it?

Let’s try an experiment….

Take a moment right now and spend a few minutes writing down a definition of pace (as it applies to presentations) in your own words.

Then come back and see how it compares with that of most presenters and instructors.

Most of us define pace as how fast an instructor talks and gets through the material.

Be honest here…is that similar to your definition?

If that is your definition, you’re in for a real discovery in this blog because appropriate pace is best defined by the comfort level of your audience.

This blog will help you to discover how your audience actually feels.

I have talked to hundreds of people in audiences all across the spectrum…

…from professionals listening to presentations…

…to students in middle and high school classrooms…

…to trainees being trained by professional trainers…

…and also to college students on various campuses.

Here are the top three reasons they give representing why they feel the pace is ‘off’ when they are listening to or learning from presenters and instructors:

• Reason #1: The instructor talks too fast or too slow for them.
• Reason #2: They can’t follow along with the instructor (for whatever reason).
• Reason #3: They don’t understand what the instructor is doing.

I want you to think about that question very seriously.

If you are struggling with pace in your room, your first step is to determine WHY this is happening.

Take some time to determine which of these reasons may cause your audience to feel like your pace needs improvement and place a check mark next to any that apply to you.

Find the Pace Interventions that Work for You

OK, now that you’ve determined WHY your audience feels your pace is off, what can you do about it?

I need you to start by answering some yes or no questions about your management of pace:

• Do you have trouble managing the pace for the MAJORITY of your audience? (Yes/No)
• Do you have trouble managing the pace for a MINORITY of your audience? (Yes/No)

If you answered YES to either one of these questions, then you are about to DISCOVER SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF and how your pace affects the people in the room in which you present.

 For each “YES” answer, determine the reason why.

Look at the reason(s) you checked off in the first half of this blog.

If you don’t recall the reasons, here they are for your review:

• Reason #1: The instructor talks too fast or too slow for them.
• Reason #2: They can’t follow along with the instructor (for whatever reason).
• Reason #3: They don’t understand what the instructor is doing.

IF you know the answers to the questions, AND you have the reasons for them figured out, you can skip the next sentence.

IF you are NOT sure whether your pace is off for the majority or a minority of your class or audience, and you DON’T know the reasons why, you need to…

Send out a paper evaluation form at the end of your next presentation and ask them using the reasons noted above.

Then, have them circle one or more of the three reasons.

Trust me…if they aren’t comfortable with your pace, they’ll tell you.

I have given you an analytical recipe to determine EXACTLY WHY YOUR PACE IS NOT IDEAL DURING YOUR PRESENTATIONS.

Regardless of whether your pace is inappropriate for the majority or a minority of your audience, you will have discovered the reason(s) why.

You can use that information to adjust and improve.

Let’s take an example…

Suppose you discovered you have trouble managing the pace for the majority of the audience.

You found the reason for this is the audience can’t follow along with you.

This is VERY POWERFUL for you to know

Once you know this, you can TARGET SPECIFIC INTERVENTION STRATEGIES TO MANAGE PACE.

To learn these intervention strategies so you can effectively deliver presentations with ideal pace every time, you should check out this blog written by Alaina.

I will personally model for you the ways to set a pace that’s just right for your audience or classroom.

This will include:

• How to talk at just the right speed…
• Top ways to get everyone to follow along and understand what you are saying…
• How to “Wow” your audience…
• And much, much more…