In this episode of the Revenue Accelerator Podcast, we have invited Johanna Walker, a public speaking coach, and trainer. Johanna helps entrepreneurs, leaders, and movers & shakers inside organizations craft talks and presentations around stories that matter. She also recalibrates sales teams to learn how to better connect with their potential customers. Today, Johanna shares her insights on how powerful storytelling and how speaking can generate leads into your business.
Speaking as passion and mission
[01:31]
As a young person, Johanna was terrified of speaking. She would go for days sometimes without speaking. Poetry, theatre, and dance got her on stage and called her over her fire of existing in the world. She had spent a lot of time on stage as a theatre artist, but she was clueless as a speaker. She hung her shingle as a public speaking coach, reached out to a friend who had been through this similar theater training.
Overcome stage fright
[06:21]
The most important thing is presence. When Johanna started performing as a solo theater artist, she was utterly terrified every time before she would get on stage. Johanna feels like what she learned in doing that was how to be present with that discomfort. There's some wisdom in the discomfort. There's your body telling you something it needs to know. When you can show up for it with compassion and presence, your heart brings you more of your humanity into the room.
Stay Present
[09:00]
Many practices are how you get your talk in your bones, heart, and breath. And when the slides don't work, or the lights are off for some audience, make some strange noise.
Preparedness
[11:17]
It's not about you delivering your talk. It's about you showing up in the room and meeting the audience. There's a different exchange happening, and the more you can be open to that, the more fluid your thinking is. To be able to have that kind of flexibility is crucial.
[12:42]
What happens for people is they get into a kind of urgency at that moment. Johanna had them leaning forward in their bodies by the end of that time and had them on their feet making sounds. There's some urgency that people get into.
Presence
[14:41]
When you catch yourself in your head trying to figure out what to do and buzzing up here and feeling your body, it's uncomfortable because you’re not sure what's happening. But when you can be present in that moment, then the next breath, you're going to take another breath, something's going to shift.
Audience Engagement when Talking
[18:04]
Johanna likes to think of the talk itself as a story. Something happens; there's a transformation at the end. And so you're taking the audience on a journey. They're at a particular place when they enter the room, and you want them to be transformed. You become the guide in their journey.
Inspire your audience
[20:53]
The goal is for your audience to take action; whether you're selling something, you're always selling an idea. And Johanna believes that when they're inspired, if you can tap into the thing they want, in the vision of what's possible and convey that to them, that's an inspiration. And they see the possibility. They see more clearly what they want.
How to be impactful
[22:27]
Many of us are afraid of being in our bodies and showing up fully in our bodies, breath, and voice. That's where so much power lies. If you're going to show up in your body, then you have to feel all that discomfort. It's scary. And it's so powerful when you do it.
How to sell
[27:46]
When you're not allowed to sell, it's about making a connection. The main goal is to create a connection in building a relationship. Where do you want these people to be three months down the road or a year?
Speaking as a revenue platform
[29:42]
When you're building a relationship with somebody in your audience and how much how deep does it go? If you have a five-minute talk versus a 20-minute talk. Or a 90-minute workshop versus a half-day workshop; it's thinking about how much trust can you build in that time? And what can you ask for in that amount of time?
Monetize when it comes to speaking
[31:20]
Speaking is one touchpoint of many. It's not the end of the relationship. It's one touchpoint of many. So it's having that pipeline in that plan for nurturing that relationship.
[32:06]
Many people fear speaking, and they put it off for a year or two because it's scary and uncomfortable. Because Johanna kept that connection, there was some seed planted.
[33:09]
One of Johanna's highest converting talks was a TED-style talk. This wasn't her TEDx talk. She told the story of not having children. And it was a very personal story, a very personal journey, and she knew that was a story she had to tell.
Discover how Johanna Walker runs through creating processes in her business and clients by visiting: johannawalker.com
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