Public Speaking Tips Archives - JOHANNA WALKERJOHANNA WALKER

How to be authentically YOU on stage AND grow as a speaker

December 6th, 2018

“But it doesn’t feel natural! It doesn’t feel like me. It feels awkward, inauthentic, yucky. NOT ME!!” I hear that all the time from my clients. When I ask them to do something that they haven’t done before, or try something different with their arms, or their focus, or their body language, or their voice….

You ARE being judged

August 20th, 2018

One of the most common concerns I hear from people who are on the path to speaking is “I’m afraid I’m being judged!” I hear it all the time. The same fear comes in all shapes and sizes. They’ll say I’m not an expert. They’ll roll their eyes. They’ll ridicule me. They’ll be bored. If…

What to do when you go [BLANK] on stage

July 20th, 2018

A few weeks ago I wrote about different ways to use a pause when speaking. One of the best pauses to get friendly with is the “I’ve gone totally blank and can’t remember what the heck I was gonna say next” pause. In Tuesday’s Speaker’s Playground, that got us talking about that exact moment… The “I can’t remember what…

What should I do with my freakin hands?!?!

July 5th, 2018

When I got rolling on my newsletter habit this spring, I made a list of questions people often ask me. One question on the list was “What should I do with my hands?” So I sat down to write the newsletter and wrote this whole intro about how people ask me that question all the…

Pause… and let everyone know you’re in charge

June 22nd, 2018

A couple of weeks ago I talked about how to lose the dreaded (or beloved, as the case may be) filler words. (Um, and, so, uh, y’know, really…etc). Here’s that post if you missed it. One of the key ways to get rid of filler words is to PAUSE, so that’s what I’m gonna talk about today……

How to stop saying UM once and for all!

June 21st, 2018

Are you an ummer? Or is ah and uh more your style? How bout so and and? Wanna stop saying um once and for all? When I was in middle school, I remember being at a church youth group meeting listening to one of the older girls gave a talk to the younger girls. She…

Your story matters!

June 14th, 2018

I know, I know, it’s been a while. Which reminds me of a story. Which I’m gonna tell you… If you’ve been around these parts for a while, you probably know I was a quiet kid. It wasn’t like I had stuff to say that I was keeping to myself–I was mostly just in a state…

Let’s talk about breath, baby!

February 5th, 2018

I want to talk about breath. Breath is what it’s all about. Breath is the foundation. Breath is where it all begins and where it all ends. If you’re out there speaking, or even if you’re in here speaking, you’re not going to get very far without breath. If you’re telling a hilarious story, you…

Public speaking lessons from a 6-year-old

November 5th, 2017

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had the privilege of supporting my 6-year-old friend Raya in LEARNING HOW TO RIDE A BIKE! We’ve been pals for a while, so we trust each other. When we hang out, we laugh a lot and we have fun. We teach each other new things all the time. Raya’s been…