The year was 2,000. Ed Tate walked out on stage to the sound of several thousand speakers clapping. Was he nervous and fearful? Probably. He was competing against nine other contestants for the World Champion of Public Speaking.

The Power Pause

He planted his feet and looked at the audience. Five seconds went by. Ed said nothing and continued to look at the audience. Another five seconds slipped. The audience was dead silent and with every second the tension started to build. After a few seconds, Ed Said his opening line and launched into the speech.

This 10-15 second pause has been called the "Ed Tate Scan." It is a powerful speech technique not only for influencing the audience but also for reducing public speaking fear and nervousness.

Pausing and looking at various members of the audience has the following benefits:

* It calms you down and gives you a chance to breathe.
* It usually quiets the audience and builds anticipation in the room for what you have to say.
* It makes you look confident and in control.

Start applying this and you will find it will reduce your public speaking fear. Of course there are exceptions. Sometimes, the audience is milling around and you have to grab their attention.

You can say, "May I have your Attention!" Then pause
There are times when you don't have time to pause for this long. If you stand up in a meeting to voice your opinion, you probably want to just pause for a couple seconds.

How to Power Pause

Pausing for this long can seem like eternity. That's why I used to spend time counting in my head mentally. One and two and three… Soon it will become second nature.

Did this pause reduce any nervousness that Ed Tate had? I don't know what he was thinking or feeling during the speech, but I do know that later on that evening he was crowned the 2000 World Champion of Public Speaking.

Speak with Power and reduce public speaking fear with the Power Pause.