My boss says I talk too slow....

[nfl46]

Talk faster?

lmao!

 

[toolbox]

Hmm

I can kind of relate to this, i was put in a similar situation last year. Basically i can not drive period due to eye condition. One day my boss decided to call me into his office and tell me that

"it must inconvience " my parents having to take me to and from work every day and having toe rely on people to get me around.

i was so offended i just let him continue on his rant. I did not know how to respond to anything .

 

[acidfast7]

Speaking quickly gives people the perception that you're trying to "pull a fast one". It sounds deceptive. Con artists talk quickly, and move quickly. The goal is to not give people enough time to think.

When I recommend/don't recommend someone for a positions (PhD students, postdoc or professors), I want someone who can communicate rapidly (like a machine gun) without making a mistake, or using an incorrect word. We don't need pauses for "emphasis", we don't need time to think, if the presentation is done correctly and the audience has an idea of what's going on, there shouldn't be a need for either.

The OP works in a pharma company, most likely in QA/QC, R&D or Production. Everyone at this meeting knows all of the terminology that the OP is using and they just want broad information transfer/dissemination. If (s)he's in sales or in HR that would be a different story, but the OP appears technical, so I don't see the need to be slow and explain every detail with emphasis. The OP is demonstrating whether targets were made/not made and what the bottlenecks are, they're not speaking to patients (which is a bad analogy) or selling equipment doing a product demo (another bad analogy). In these case, "machine gun"-type speaking would look like a "con", but in technical presentations, it's the correct way to present because it displays technical understanding and can be very convincing. Even clinical trials really don't need huge emphasis because it's all about numbers that everyone in the audience will understand.

If a technical presentation is presented too slowly, it would appear clumsy and provide no confidence.

 

[StructAural]

Some context..Im 43, work in pharma. Im not a chatterbox, and to be honest unless I have something to say that I feel is relevant usually keep my mouth shut. Once in awhile I have to give presentations at work, and while I feel I don't take my time while presenting, I try to present at a pace that is comfortable for me.

It was after one of these presentations that my supervisor pulled me aside and said I talk to slow.

At first I was insulted, than after I was over getting insulted I was a little pissed off. Been working here for 13 years and have given many presentations and have never been told this before, in some cases I have had prior bosses compliment me on giving a good presentation.

Suggestions on how to handle this?

Is that Jonathan Ive? Yeah, you could speed up a bit

 

[kolax]

I don't mind people who talk slow as long as they are straight to the point. Can't stand someone who talks slow and just waffles on and on..

But then, someone who talks fast and gets straight to the point can be bad - they don't give people enough time to digest what they just heard and boom, right onto another point.

It's important to keep the presentation going at a pace to keep people alert, but it's a fine line going too slow and too fast.

Probably the pace Steve Jobs spoke at during his keynotes is a good speed to go for. He was at a steady pace and got straight to the point.

 

[firestarter]

Some context..Im 43, work in pharma. Im not a chatterbox, and to be honest unless I have something to say that I feel is relevant usually keep my mouth shut. Once in awhile I have to give presentations at work, and while I feel I don't take my time while presenting, I try to present at a pace that is comfortable for me.

It was after one of these presentations that my supervisor pulled me aside and said I talk to slow.

At first I was insulted, than after I was over getting insulted I was a little pissed off. Been working here for 13 years and have given many presentations and have never been told this before, in some cases I have had prior bosses compliment me on giving a good presentation.

Suggestions on how to handle this?

Many people speak too quickly in presentations as a fear/adrenalin response. To a certain extent it's good that you're controlled and well paced in your public speaking.

Do you think the problem here is that you speak too slowly, or is there a problem with your content... could it be that you're not saying enough in the time you have, or you're talking in a longwinded manner? Talking slowly isn't a great problem if the speech is high in information-content - and that's usually what politicians try to do.

If you're serious about improving your public speaking then join your local branch of Toastmasters. I've been a member on-and-off for years, and I think it's a very effective way for anyone to boost their public speaking ability.