07. Speak With Confidence. Make Your Voice Heard.

Being confident isn’t quite the same as delivering your ideas with confidence

In episode 05, we talked about a few key behaviors of great leaders and how these behaviors translate really well to UX professionals in general. One of the behaviors I discussed was confidence.

And after I had a week or so to think about it, what may have been a better way to describe that skill is less about *being* confident and more about delivering your ideas *with* confidence.

Unfortunately, lots of research studies show that humans tend to care a lot less about what someone says and we focus way more than we probably should on how that message is delivered. 

I recently finished a book by Vanessa Van Edwards called “cues” which I think is a fantastic book that UX designers who care about how they present themselves at work should read.

It’s all about mastering the hidden things we project to everyone around us on a daily basis. Most of the time we have no idea we’re doing it.

This skill of delivering your ideas with confidence is a behavior that you can practice and learn to master over time.

So check this episode out to learn about some of the secret signals you might be giving off that are killing your message.

Topics:
• 01:16 – The behaviors of “confidence” is less about being confident and more about delivering ideas with confidence
• 03:19 – How do we know if we have a problem?
• 04:04 – Benefits of delivering with confidence
• 07:51 – keep in mind confidence cues and warmth cues
• 09:01 – Vocal Power
• 09:30 – Nervous Pitch
• 10:35 – Uptalk or High Rise Terminal
• 11:38 – Vocal Fry
• 13:33 – Volume control
• 14:57 – Filler words
• 17:36 – The Power Pause
• 18:44 – Vocal Likability
• 21:06 – Practice your opener
• 21:45 – Sounding friendly
• 22:34 – Sounding encouraging
• 24:12 – Sounding interesting
• 26:09 – Channel your speaking hero

Helpful Links:
• Science of People
• Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication
• Science of People – YouTube
• Vanessa Van Edwards – Behavioral Investigator – Science of People | LinkedIn
• First impressions count
• The Power of First Impressions | Psychology Today
• 05. On Leadership