If you know your audience, you can use your rate of speech to
your advantage. The speed of your speech plays a part in how your message is
received. Speaking at a comfortable pace with deliberate pauses gives your
audience time to digest what they’ve heard. If they like what they hear, that works
in your favor. But if the audience is neutral speaking too slowly can lose
their attention. Worse, if the audience disagrees with you, speaking slowly gives
them time to spot flaws in your argument and to form counterpoints. This must be
why Harold Hill in The Music Man talks
a mile a minute: “Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too
late! Watch for the telltale signs of corruption! The minute your son leaves
the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Are certain
words creeping into his conversation? Words like ‘swell’ and ‘so's your old man?’
Well, you got trouble!”
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