The world is loud. The incessant flood of social media, people talking over each other in meetings, brands flooding every corner of our attention.

My first job was teaching middle school math. When I needed to reclaim the attention of my students, my first instinct was always to shout. But students were used to shouting. What worked much better was the whisper: standing at the front of the room, giving instructions at a decibel just loud enough to hear if the room was pin-drop quiet. Curiosity got the best of my students, and they leaned in to listen.

Now, my job is to capture the attention of large audiences of adults. My instinct as a speaker is still to be big and ebullient; to take up space. But when I see an audience starting to lose energy, I have a trick that never fails: I stop. The quiet seems to surprise people. They look up, lean in. What is she thinking about? Did she forget her next point? Is she feeling emotional? What will happen?

Whispers and quiet are a source of intrigue in a loud world.

Use your voice wisely.