How to be confident (even if you’re not) | Montana von Fliss | TEDxBellevueWomen

Transcriber: Cristina Muñoz Reviewer: Raúl Higareda

Picture this,

you’re going on a boat trip,

and you get on board with your family, and you got your bags,

and the captain comes out to greet you and says,

“Hi, Um... My name is Montana... Von Fliss.

Uh, so... I’ll be your captain for this journey...

(Exhales)

So, uh...

(Laughter)

Oh, boy... Let’s just have a great trip. Sorry.”

(Laughter)

Nope. Get me off of this boat.

(Laughter)

What we want in that moment is for the captain to walk out and say,

“Hi, my name is Montana Von Fleiss, I’ll be your captain for this journey.

Let’s have a great trip.”

The point is, when you are the speaker, you are the captain for that journey,

and how you show up really matters.

For the last 17 years,

I’ve coached thousands of speakers all over the world,

from big tech companies to small startups,

and everyone, from new hires to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies,

want to know, how do you show up and look confident?

So I’d like to share my top five tips for how to be confident,

even if you’re not.

So let's break it down.

What was the difference between those two captains?

What did you see? What did you hear?

And not just, “One seemed nervous, one seemed confident.”

But what was I doing differently to make you think that?

Different volume, different words, certainly different body language.

But the truth is, I wasn’t feeling particularly confident.

I was just making certain physical and vocal choices to make you think that.

You can do that too.

Anyone can do this.

So, what are those confident-looking choices?

Number one.

Turn up the energy and speak up.

When you speak up, even just a little bit,