TEDxDuluth speaker Dayna Del Val has spent much of her life in front of people – as an actor, nonprofit CEO, and now as a coach helping others show up with confidence. Her TEDxDuluth talk, though, isn’t about speaking at all; it is about the quiet, disruptive power of silence in a world that never stops buzzing.​

A Life on Stage, A Message About Quiet

Dayna’s background spans more than 45 years of acting, 30 years as a professional actor, and a long tenure leading a nonprofit before launching her coaching work, Audaciously Visible. She helps people who already have something to say learn how to say it better and command the spaces they walk into.​

She is quick to point out that content alone is not enough. Most of us have sat through talks where the material was good, but the delivery lost us, while someone with “moderate” content but a strong presence lingered in our minds. For Dayna, that kind of presence is closely tied to the deeper inner clarity that can only come from making space for quiet.​

Living Through a Crisis of Noise

Dayna believes we are living in a “crisis of noise.” Between podcasts, music, streaming, social media, and constant notifications, almost every gap in the day risks being filled by sound or scrolling.​

That saturation, she says, drowns out the inner voice “trying to give us direction, trying to help us uncover what’s next.” Even simple moments like going for a walk are often framed as chances to “be productive” by consuming more content, rather than opportunities to hear nature or our own thoughts. Silence becomes uncomfortable, in part, because it is where our “deepest, truest, and most honest” thoughts tend to surface.​

Breaking the Productivity Habit

One of Dayna’s main points is that silence rarely happens by accident. The moment someone sits down to write, think, or simply be still, everything around them suddenly seems urgent – the dirty refrigerator becomes a crisis, or the inbox starts calling. She names this for what it often is: resistance to doing the harder inner work.​

TEDxDuluth speaker Dayna Del Val has spent much of her life in front of people – as an actor, nonprofit CEO, and now as a coach helping others show up with confidence. Her TEDxDuluth talk, though, isn’t about speaking at all; it is about the quiet, disruptive power of silence in a world that never stops buzzing.​

A Life on Stage, A Message About Quiet

Dayna’s background spans more than 45 years of acting, 30 years as a professional actor, and a long tenure leading a nonprofit before launching her coaching work, Audaciously Visible. She helps people who already have something to say learn how to say it better and command the spaces they walk into.​

She is quick to point out that content alone is not enough. Most of us have sat through talks where the material was good, but the delivery lost us, while someone with “moderate” content but a strong presence lingered in our minds. For Dayna, that kind of presence is closely tied to the deeper inner clarity that can only come from making space for quiet.​

Living Through a Crisis of Noise

Dayna believes we are living in a “crisis of noise.” Between podcasts, music, streaming, social media, and constant notifications, almost every gap in the day risks being filled by sound or scrolling.​

That saturation, she says, drowns out the inner voice “trying to give us direction, trying to help us uncover what’s next.” Even simple moments like going for a walk are often framed as chances to “be productive” by consuming more content, rather than opportunities to hear nature or our own thoughts. Silence becomes uncomfortable, in part, because it is where our “deepest, truest, and most honest” thoughts tend to surface.​

Breaking the Productivity Habit

One of Dayna’s main points is that silence rarely happens by accident. The moment someone sits down to write, think, or simply be still, everything around them suddenly seems urgent – the dirty refrigerator becomes a crisis, or the inbox starts calling. She names this for what it often is: resistance to doing the harder inner work.​