Have you ever seen a horror movie?

What happens just before the ugly monster comes on screen?

What happens before we get to see the horrible looking dismembered corpse ?

What happens before the ghosts appear?

Yes.

Nothing happens.

We have to wait!

Suspense!

Quiet music.

The suspense holds our attention.

You want to lose your audience?

Speak non stop.

You want the audience to pay attention?

Pause before you give them the all important truth.

The trick is, we always think we are pausing longer than we really are! So what may happen, is that as you are speaking, in that split second, you’re thinking ‘Shit. this is taking a really long time. It’s too much. It’s gonna be weird.’

After she finished, I said, ‘can you pause longer?’

She went, ‘I did!’

That just goes to show: when we speak, time feels twice as long. So – be ready for this: the trick is, when you want to speak again, tell yourself, ‘let me keep quiet for double the time, because the only one that feels weird, is me. The others are still processing what I’m saying!’