How Being a Zumba Instructor Makes Me a Better UX Researcher

People might not expect to make a connection between group exercise and digital professions, but I often look back at my career and my beloved hobby and see parallels.

Observation

As a Zumba Instructor, I need to watch my students individually to ensure they are all both challenged and feeling successful. I may ask them "how are you doing?" throughout classes, but this is primarily to ensure their breathing properly. What they say isn't nearly as important as the emotion on their face and their body language. I make adjustments to intensity, amount of one-on-one attention, and whether I'm instructing with my back to them or facing them based on what I see.

In a live moderated end user study, the participant's behavior matters more than one's words. We observe their mouse movements so see where they want to click and if they do so with confidence or hesitation. We adjust our engagement level in response to their level of extraversion or confidence.

Participants don't always say what they mean, so hearing the sentiment in their voice allows us to gauge how intensely positive or negative a reaction was, which may be presented in the friction meter on a journey map.

Non-Verbal Communication

When designing visible interfaces, we employ Gestalt Principals -- like proximity -- to tell users that content is related or use white space and text size to direct users where to click and drive their eyes down the correct path to consume information in most effective way. We consider color choice can impede confident engagement.

In parallel, the Zumba Instructor may be the only group fitness instructor at your gym that is not required to wear a microphone. This is because Zumba Education Specialists encourage instructors to employ gestures and facial movements rather than their voice to tell students what motion to do and in which direction. We also have to do this two beats of music before the user needs to initiate the action so that their brains have time to see and process the commands.

What's surprising is that when this is done well, students may come away feeling like they "just knew what to do." I had this realization as a student and it drove me to really analyze the why behind my experience. Then when I paid attention to my favorite instructors, I realized they were pros at non-verbal cues. Now I practice my cues with the same care that I choose icons for a website.

Empathy

Every class has a different personality. Some groups are shy, and some boisterous. Some respond to one-on-one eye contact with playful challenge, consuming and reflecting my energy back to me. But, I've also had students mouth "I can't" or turn their back to me. It's all lessons learned in how to adjust to the participants' needs.

As moderators or facilitators we need to build rapport, reduce anxiety, discourage people-pleasing behavior and encourage the participant to think outload their honest perceptions.

Clarity

One of the funniest and most frustrating discoveries I still work through today in my teaching, is how confusing directional cues can be. Zumba Instructors are supposed to teach facing the students as much as possible; this means we are often switching our orientation to the room. Facing my students meant that my right was their left; so trying to rotate the class to face different walls led to double-takes and blank stares.

The exact same thing happens in product design. When an interface does not align with a user’s mental model, the experience becomes awkward and confusing. It can feel as wrong as putting forward your right foot, when you normally start with your left. In both cases, success comes from reducing cognitive load—making the next step feel natural, obvious, and easy.

Fostering Buy-In Through Early Engagement

I start each class with what I call "Breaking the Sound Barrier." It goes a little something like this:

During class I will ask you questions, the correct answer is always 'Whoo!' I ask you this because I want to make sure you are breathing. So answer me this What time is it? [Whoo!] What's your favorite color [Whoo!] Are you breathing? [Whoo!]

This ensures that during the class the students will make noise, thus building a sense of community and pushing them to engage more and more out of comfort and safety.

The goal of Zumba is to create a party atmosphere, and science has proven that this results in people getting a more intense full-body workout than they expect or perceive is actually happening.

Conclusion

In the end, Zumba and UX have the same goal: to drive end-user success and delight.

Both have taught me to observe people’s reactions, to adjust in real time, to communicate more clearly, and to create environments where people feel safe to show up fully.