They are mostly women.

I have now spent 20 years in the speech trade, and most of the people I run into who speak too fast are women.  I have no idea why.  I can only speculate.

1. they are more ambivalent than men about being the center of attention,
2. meaning they simultaneously want to be present and disappear
3. so they speak fast in the hope of being heard and ignored at the same time
4. or they have turned the old saying, “children are to be seen and not heard” on themselves and think that “women are to be seen and not heard.”
5. or because they are more verbally skilled than us men, and have bigger verbal centers in their brains, they are bored chunking through the analog process of speech and instead zip through the verbiage on their way to other thoughts.

I have explored these issues in a more responsible and scientific manner in a new High Stakes Presentation newsletter called The Price of Speaking too Fast.

I hope you will visit the site and read it or download it.  It’s available as a PDF or as HTML.

Speaking above the speed limit is a very common problem, and a dumb thing to do, because it can get your career arrested.