Suggestion 156. Build deliberate pauses into your lectures

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Vary the speed and tone of your voice

• Have an interesting style of presentation

Building deliberate and purposeful pauses into your lectures.

A zoology professor stresses the importance of the pause as a rhetorical device. "When I want to emphasize a point, I always pause until the audience is absolutely silent (it makes students uncomfortable). Then when I have their full attention, I proceed to make the point."

Limitations on Use of Suggestion

  Discipline:  None
Course Level:  None
 Course Size:  None
        Mode:  Primarily lecture

Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

Next suggestion