Shut up and win. The power of silence.
3 minute read
It took Jon Stewart 8 minutes and 45 seconds to convince The United States Senate to pass a bill making the compensation fund for victims of the 9/11 attacks effectively permanent, after weeks of seemingly intractable battles and gridlock on Capitol Hill.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the House-passed bill would result in about $10.2bn (£8.2bn) in additional compensation payments over 10 years.
So in this case, you could argue his speech was ‘worth’ around a billion dollars a minute.
Stewart is a highly-seasoned media personality and is clearly no stranger to public speaking. He uses a range of techniques in his address, all of which contribute the effectiveness of his plea, but I wonder if you can pick out the rather subtle technique that is perhaps the least obvious and yet most powerful?
It’s silence.
Go back and watch the clip again and count the number of seconds he pauses after making a point.
In fact, you don’t have to because I’ve already done it. Stewart pauses for a total of one whole minute in a speech which only runs a little under nine. For over ten percent of his time in front of Congress, he was silent.
There are three occasions on which he pauses for a seemingly interminable amount of time, during which you could cut the air in that chamber with a knife:
At the 2:18 mark in the clip, he pauses for thirteen seconds after tapping his pocket to illustrate how the now deceased campaigner, Ray Pfeifer, would carry the prayer cards of dead firefighters around with him.
At 5:02 he pauses for almost eight seconds after telling Congress that their indifference is “costing these men and women their most valuable asset — time”.
Most powerfully, at 7:15 he pauses again for a full eight seconds after admonishing the committee for “ignoring them” (the sick first responders).
He’s clearly emotional, but he also knows that pauses allow the audience time to think about and feel the impact of his words. He hasn’t slowed down his entire speech to create this reaction (which would drain away all the passion, energy and vitality) but instead he uses silence to devastating effect.
Now, I want you to imagine pausing for that long after making a point in your next presentation or meeting. Just try counting slowly to thirteen in your head. Perhaps you think someone in your audience would call an ambulance. What Stewart understands is that pausing in this way, is to use one of the core dynamics of effective communication.
You may only pause for 2–3 seconds in a less emotionally-charged presentation, but crucially it gives your audience time to think and form an image in their mind based on what you’re saying. Without these pauses it’s incredibly hard for any listener to think about your messages, let alone remember them.
You may not be in front of a congressional committee and the stakes may not be the lives of people who are desperately sick, but I think this speech highlights just how powerful an effective set of communications tools can be when presenting your ideas.
