The Art of Pausing: What Silence Teaches Us About Powerful Speaking

In a world obsessed with noise—constant updates, nonstop chatter, rapid-fire replies—it’s easy to forget that some of the most powerful moments in communication happen in silence.

As a public speaker and storytelling coach, I’ve come to treasure the moments between words just as much as the words themselves. A pause isn’t emptiness. It’s space. And when used with purpose, it can move hearts, shift perspectives, and anchor a message in memory.

This is a lesson I dive deep into in my book Stage Whisper: Lessons from the Silent Moments. The idea was born from years of speaking in multicultural environments—from bustling youth forums in Dubai to reflective poetry nights in London. Regardless of where I was, one thing remained true: the most captivating speakers knew how to pause.

Why? Because silence commands presence. It allows your audience to breathe, reflect, absorb. It tells them, this matters.

I remember one particular workshop I led at Eloquence Academy, the speaking institute I founded in London. A young woman from Bahrain was practicing her TED-style talk. Her words were strong, but she rushed them—afraid that silence might feel like weakness. I asked her to pause after each key sentence. At first, it felt uncomfortable. But then something shifted. Her presence expanded. Her message deepened. The room listened—not just to her words, but to her conviction.

This is the magic of the pause. It shows confidence. It makes people lean in. And in a multicultural setting, where accents, rhythms, and pacing vary widely, silence becomes a universal tool of clarity.

In my lectures at the University of Birmingham and Zayed University, I often teach students that the power of a pause goes beyond technique. It’s rooted in emotional intelligence. It allows us to read the room, to respect the weight of a topic, to offer space for others to engage. It humanizes us as speakers.

In Arabic storytelling tradition, a moment of silence is often used before delivering a deep or poetic line—it gives reverence to the message. In Persian classical performance, the deliberate pause is a way of holding sacred space. And in British parliamentary speech, pauses are strategically used for dramatic effect or rhetorical emphasis. Across cultures, silence has always held power.

As Mohammad Tabrizian, a speaker shaped by both Middle Eastern warmth and Western structure, I’ve learned that the greatest speeches aren’t remembered because of how fast or how loud they were. They’re remembered because they resonated. And resonance often lives in the stillness between syllables.

So, the next time you speak—pause. Not out of fear, but out of respect. For the audience. For the message. And for the silence that makes your voice even louder.

About the Author:

Mohammad Tabrizian is a public speaker, writer, and founder of Eloquence Academy. With dual residency in the UAE and the UK, he brings a cross-cultural lens to communication, blending Eastern storytelling depth with Western rhetorical structure. Through his books, lectures, and podcast Voices Beyond Borders, Mohammad continues to explore how voice and silence can both shape powerful human connection.