When people come to me for public speaking coaching, they often say something along the lines of: “I want to sound more confident and charismatic when I speak.”

There’s a high demand for charisma out there, which is why you see so much clickbait about the sort of ‘hints & tips’ that will help you be more charismatic.

I'm always reminding the people I work with that in order to achieve effective communication we should think about pausing as something we do for the listener: a pause creates space in which to process information, so your thoughts are more digestible. Then listeners can pick up on their value.