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storytelling with data podcast: #76 deliver with confidence

·49 min·3 clips

At Google, Cole recorded herself and watched it back to catch 'really awful, irritating things' immediately.

1. Storytelling with Data podcast #76 centers on delivering presentations with confidence, with Randy framing it around being better storytellers and presenters. 2. Randy hosts the episode, and Cole Neusbomber-Naflik is the CEO and founder of Storytelling with Data whose books and speaking work shape the discussion. 3. The episode asks how introverts and analytical people can speak in front of groups without freezing up. 4. Randy says Cole was not always a strong presenter and points to hundreds of workshops and speaking opportunities as the path to improvement. 5. Cole says her comfort zone was 'behind my computer in a room by myself,' but that the stage became comfortable through 'work and trial and error.' 6. She reframes nerves as 'productive discomfort' when a speaker can name a goal and a reason for crossing the gap. 7. Cole says passion for a subject can carry a speaker through early 'really bad presentations' because contagious enthusiasm helps other people stay engaged. 8. She argues that if a speaker cannot find the interesting 'nugget,' the audience will not become interested either. 9. Cole says people feel the speaker's discomfort through shaky voice, shaking hands, and body language that looks uncomfortable. 10. Randy notes that becoming less terrified at speaking can make someone highly valuable on a data team and across a broader career. 11. Cole says speaking skill is especially useful for people in quantitative roles because few people combine numbers, statistics, and clear explanation. 12. She says that on teams, being 'the least terrified person on your team' can already be a strong advantage. 13. Cole gives a specific tactic for forgetting names or key points: write prompts on a Post-it note or place them in speaker notes. 14. She also recommends planning clothing carefully, including sleeveless tops under blazers and testing glasses, earrings, shoes, and hair before a presentation. 15. Cole describes recording herself at Google, then watching one pass for content, one with audio only, and one with video only to inspect body language. 16. She says that review exposed habits like swaying on her heels and helped her stop doing them immediately. 17. Cole says confidence can be practiced physically by putting shoulders back, smiling, breathing deeply, and slowing hand movements. 18. She also says pauses are not awkward filler but a service to the audience because they need time to absorb what was said. 19. Cole recommends using the exercise from chapter 11 of 'Storytelling with You' to decide whether to dial traits like giggliness up or down for a specific audience. 20. Anyone who presents data, leads meetings, or wants to sound more composed will find concrete tactics here, while listeners seeking a purely technical data-viz discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical, unflashy look at confidence that treats speaking nerves as something you can actually work on.

Randy and Cole spend the episode on a simple point: sounding confident is less about having it figured out and more about doing the work before you speak.

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Why you'd press play

Need a steadier voice when the slides start to feel like a test?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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