Cast your mind back to a time when you’ve been in an important conversation, or leading a meeting at work.
Everything has been going well, you’ve been giving off and receiving great vibes from everyone when suddenly you stumble and it goes a bit awry.
You don’t quite know what to say, you fluster, and eventually… silence.
Dun Dun Duuuun!!!
Let it be known from this day forth that I fell silent during a meeting and must therefore be ostracised from all living company.
Perhaps something like this has happened to you at some point in your life? Certainly, from my experience as an actor, I can tell you absolute horror stories of forgetting lines on stage and wishing the whole world would swallow me up! (Yes it still pops up in my mind out of nowhere from time to time…)
Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but the point still stands that we, people, are generally terrified of silence.
Now, what if I were to tell you that Silence could actually be one of your best friends?
But Charlie, you’ve just pointed out one of my worst recurring nightmare daydreams, and you’re telling me that I should look for more of this?
Yes.
Silence is used by people all over the world to get what they want and sell their message, all the time, and as soon as you get over your fear of using it, the better.
Let me give you another example, this time a famous speaker so you can go and have a look yourself.
Barack Obama, ex-POTUS, is a brilliant public speaker. Whether you agree with his politics is another discussion, but you cannot deny his ability to speak to the people of the world.
The man has charisma for days and uses every trick in the book (and a lot that aren’t) to make people believe in him, and what he is saying, when he talks.
One of his tools is his use of Silence. His pace will gradually build over the course of a speech before reaching it’s climax, and when he gets to the point he needs to be heard, he stops speaking.
Now this might seem counter-intuitive, why would he stop speaking when he needs to get his message out? Simply, it’s BECAUSE he NEEDS to get his message out, and this does it for him!
You probably can’t remember a lot of the details of what he was saying, but do you remember that moment when he stopped and gave you the chance to think and come up with your own thoughts?
Did he say anything then?
Did he panic and scramble for words?
No.
Silence was used to lend impact to what he was getting across, to allow you to take on what was being said and to come up with your own decisions. It lent it weight and put that note on a platform above and beyond everything else because it forced it to stand out from the rest of his speech.
I imagine when he was coming up with his script, that main point was underlined, in CAPS, and boldened, if they forget everything else, let them remember this!
Genius!
If you want to know more about Silence and how to utilise it, make sure you subscribe to the blog and post any questions underneath. Till next time!