So, you look great and have some exciting messages while you’re making a speech or presentation. But about half-way through your talk, you realize the audience seems bored and disinterested. Why? Well, you may be talking too fast, or sounding monotonous, or not emphasizing key phrases. In short, you have no vocal variety.
What is vocal variety? It’s changing your tempo, modulating inflections, punching key phrases, and it’s using what we call The Power of the Pause to help your audience assimilate key messages.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire used these vocal devices very effectively in his 2026 State of the City speech. While talking about the city budget, Whitmire often paused for effect. At other times, he sped up his delivery in a very conversational tone. As a result, the mayor made it easy for the audience to absorb his key messages of balancing the budget without raising taxes, as you will see in the clip below.
As you heard, Whitmire resorted to The Power of the Pause multiple times, giving his audience plenty of space to keep up with him. By pausing before and after key phrases and words, he sent signals to the audience that he wanted them to understand and remember his messages.
Twice Whitmire sped up his speech to add variety to his cadence. It made his speech more interesting and conversational. Most of us do the very same thing in normal conversation without even realizing it.
Vocal variety comes natural to some speakers. But if it doesn’t to you, practice it before making your presentation. Mark up your script if necessary to remind you to pause and to emphasize key phrases.
You can learn this. And when you do, you will become a more polished communicator, one who connects to an audience in ways you might not have thought possible.