The Truth About Speaking Speed Preferences

“Speak slower!” I still hear people repeating this old school mantra without knowing where it comes from (it comes from the ancient world when people spoke on town squares without mics).

With modern audiences, speaking slowly often leads to word starvation as we can think seven times faster than we speak (900 vs 125 words per minute).

The truth is: don’t speak fast or slow. Instead, vary your speaking speed. As my friend Blake Eastman likes to say: “The best communicators have range.”

Blake is a former poker pro turned psychology prof turned founder of the Nonverbal Group (watch our conversation on How to Decode People here).

Here’s a recent article from Blake’s Behaviorlist Newsletter that I just had to share with you:

Speaking Speed Preferences

Yesterday I was at a conference, and one of the speakers was Moran Cerf, a neuroscientist who focuses on consciousness and has done some wild research on projecting people's thoughts and dreams directly from their brain.

Fascinating guy. Fascinating research.

But you know what made me the most excited? How fast he talked.

He opened his presentation by warning the audience about his speaking speed. I've heard that disclaimer a hundred times and am usually disappointed. People say they talk fast, then proceed to speak at a perfectly normal pace.

Not Moran. He delivered at probably 175-195 words per minute with an accent. My brain was thrilled. He was like the speaker version of a Japanese bullet train.

Here's the thing most people don't realize: speaking speed preferences are deeply personal, and it reveals something fundamental about how your brain is wired.

The average conversational speaking rate is about 120-150 words per minute (really depends on culture). But here's the problem, your brain can process language much faster than most people speak. When someone talks too slowly, your brain doesn't just patiently wait. It starts looking for something else to do.

Researchers call this "involuntary attention drift." When speech falls below about 120 words per minute, attention drops by 20-30%. Your brain literally fills the silence with unrelated thoughts because it isn't getting enough stimulation.

Fast speech closes that gap. It forces engagement. There's no room for your mind to wander because you're actively keeping up.

Why Some People Crave Speed (And Others Don't)

There's a personality trait psychologists call "Need for Cognition" which is essentially, how much you enjoy thinking hard. People high in this trait prefer complexity, seek out intellectual challenges, and get bored easily when things move too slowly.

If you're someone who listens to podcasts at 2x speed, you probably score high on this trait. Your brain craves denser information input.

The other piece is working memory capacity. People with higher working memory can juggle more information simultaneously, which means they can handle faster speech without feeling overwhelmed. Research shows these individuals actually perform better with fast-paced information delivery, their cognitive resources aren't maxed out, they're finally being used.

But here's the twist: this isn't about intelligence. Someone with lower working memory capacity isn't "less smart"; their brain just processes information differently.

For them, slower speech isn't boring; it's optimal. It gives their system the time it needs to encode and integrate what they're hearing.

When it comes to how fast someone talks we are often in a sea of opinions.

“You should really slow down when you speak”
“Just get to the damn point already”
“You talk way too fast nobody understands you”

Everyone has a preference. However, the best communicators have range. They adjust speed based on the context of the material they are presenting and dynamically adjust to their audience.

Emotional point? Slow down. Pause. Let it land.
Transitional information the audience doesn't really need? Speed through it.
Complex concept you need them to retain? Slow down and give their working memory room to encode.
Story they've heard before or context-setting? Pick up the pace.

The brain craves variability, and you can craft that through your words per minute.

Most of you have seen me speak. I am pretty fast. According to Wispr Flow, I speak 148 words per minute - that puts me among the top 1% of all users.

-Blake

P.S. If you're curious about your own speaking rate, record yourself for 60 seconds and count the words. Most people are surprised by how slow they actually talk.

ON THE SHOW

Confidence on Command

I do a weekly show to help you become a top 1% communicator. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Youtube.

Last year, I launched a YouTube channel that I haven't talked about a lot. Video is now the language of the internet, but to be honest, it took me a while to figure out the platform and to make it look decent.

In addition to bringing you world-class experts, I'll do more solo episodes from now on, starting today with Confidence on Command.

I know this is a topic that probably concerns you – who doesn't want to have more confidence when the stakes are high? For that:

1/ I'll show you how to overcome what's holding you back like imposter syndrome, bad advice, and limiting beliefs.

2/ I share how to master the BMW Method – learn my Body, Mind, Words system that helps leaders project unshakeable confidence when all eyes are on you.

3/ Finally, I walk you through the four pillars of lasting confidence that allow you to become a truly confident person in business and in life.

Let me know what you think of the episode and the YouTube channel!

Watch and listen to the full episode here:

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

Hacking the Human Mind

I read this book in one session over Christmas because I couldn't put it down. Richard Shotton and MichaelAaron Flicker share behavioral science secrets using examples of 17 of the world's most popular brands, from Apple to Aperol, from Snickers to Starbucks.

My three key takeaways:

Watch what people do, not what they say. If you ask customers, the answers will lead you astray. There's often a huge gap between what people say and what they do.
The messenger effect: We are strongly influenced by who communicates information. I take this point very seriously in leadership communications. There are messages that need to come from the CEO, for instance in a crisis.
People value effort, so telling them how hard you worked on something makes a lot of sense. That's also why we don't value AI output as highly as human efforts. We assume someone only spent a minute on it and therefore it's less valuable.

I very much hope you appreciate the effort I put into this newsletter every week :)

Have an inspired weekend,

Oliver