Talking fast can lead to a lack of clear enunciation, articulation and an engaging tone, preventing your message from taking hold in the listener's mind. Tempo warns you while that happens, in real-time, so you can make adjustment.
Hey there 👋🐱,
Today I am launching Tempo, a super simple MacOS app that gently pings you when you are talking too fast during presentations.
story time 👇
I lived it myself, presenting to Craig Federighi one of my features during my time at Apple and after the presentation one of my manager's feedback was that I was going a little too fast. I see it when my wife presents her work, often in times there are bursts of speeches that make the presentation difficult to absorb. And I see it often when my colleagues present their work on a weekly basis.
Post presenting feedback is great but it doesn't really prevent this from happening next time you present your work. And of course practice helps a tons but even better, practice while it's happening: get notified in real time when you are speeding a little during your presentation and just adjust your tempo.
end of story time ☝️
Feature lists. While Tempo is super simple to use, it's packed with features:
1️⃣ Personalized notifications: you can choose to be notified either via sound, notification, or both, and adjust the sound if you want to
2️⃣ Burst Detection & Overall Flow: whether you tend to speed up for a short period of time or your overall flow is too fast, with not enough breaks or emphasis on the right words, we have your back. Tempo detects both of the issues and send different notifications for each, for you to adjust accordingly.
3️⃣ Speech Profiles: some tends to talk slow and some tends to talk naturally fast. in Tempo you can choose your speech profile and we adjust the algorithm to take that into account. If you generally tend to speak slow Tempo will be a little more rigid and warns you sooner, but if you are a fast speaker the algorithm will be a little more relaxed. Tempo adjusts to you.
4️⃣ Multi language support: Tempo supports over 30 languages and 60 locales
5️⃣ Multi platform: whether you use Zoom, Slack, or Google meet, or any other video conference software, Tempo just works out of the box.
Tempo is free to try, so let me know what you think!
Cheers
@sentry_co Yes, I've seen this (speech tempo) in at least 4 different body language/perception books. I've also tested it and found it to be true anecdotally.
> From an Amazon review of Presence by Amy Cuddy--
"Ultimately, participants’ speaking rate had an inverse relationship with how powerful they felt. That is, the more slowly they read the sentences, the more powerful, confident, and effective they felt afterward." Speak slowly to feel powerful!
--
> The one I use most if from the Chris Voss book, Never Split the Difference.
Screenshot from the tool I use to find quotes lol: https://shot.screenden.com/DFLYMMNR
Or here, you can see an example of his technique in real time (12:30) https://youtu.be/q8CHXefn7B4
I use this intentionally for myself, and for tense conversations. I noticed when I used to have to do work meetings, I could slow myself down and think clearly with this voice/tempo.
Sorry to go on a tangent, but thought it applied here. As for actual science/studies, I think this is an intersection of social science and psychology that would be incredibly hard to measure in an RCT haha. There's still plenty of studies out there - just results are all over the place from what I've seen.
@esus Its an interesting topic for sure. Personally I do enjoy really fast convos over the phone for instance. The faster we can ping pong the more I feel we can figure things out.
Hey Luca! It's so interesting cause everybody tend to look for more and more speed but it's also true that it can be counterproductive at the end. Hope all the makers here can find it out as useful at it is. All the best!
Tempo: Public Speaking Coach