STP 133 Johnny
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johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: on average, over 60% are leaving before the end of a webinar, which is typically. When we make our invitation work with us. So they don't even see what you're selling. But you have a far better chance of more people staying, more people telling other people and more people buying. 'cause even if it's simple conversion on numbers, your conversion rate's 10% and more people see your offer. You're gonna make more sales. there's a whole number of business cases, direct profit and some just sheer respect that make this worth doing.
And as I say, the software is free. Hello and welcome to the Scaling Therapy Practice. This is your host, James Marlin. This is the show where we empower mission-driven leaders [00:01:00] to launch life-changing online courses. Today I'm here with my special guest, Johnny Byrne. He's the webinar wizard, and I met him in a networking group where he showed how he can improve engagement for.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Anything that you record, any presentation, your courses, your sales presentation, your webinars on your, on your webpage, and I just thought this would be a great guest to bring in because recording, video and engaging content is difficult, uh, if you haven't done it before. So Johnny is the guide. So Johnny, welcome to the show.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Thank you, James. It's great to be here.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: and I wanna know, Johnny, how, how did you start becoming the tech person or the webinar wizard that people came to for having engaging videos in their presentations?
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Sure. Yeah. Thank you James. Over a decade ago, I had been training. In online marketing and [00:02:00] social media, offline traveling around Ireland and beyond giving, offline courses. Remember those
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yeah.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: being in rooms with people? And, I, it started to become, even though I enjoyed it, kind of repetitive and thankfully it was that busy.
But I, I would share anecdotes during my training and for kind of forget. Did I say this to this group already or was that the group I said it to yesterday and so on. And I went to a conference in London and all the speakers were creating online courses and digital products and ticket offers and weekends and all this great great material online.
And I thought, this is the life for me. so I came back from London all excited, and I started to create online courses. On online marketing and social media and so on. But I was beginning to lose my love for media and [00:03:00] online marketing as a trainer, even though I continued to use best practice in all of that. And I learned so much about online course creation. I wanted to now become somebody who shows people how to create online courses. so I was doing that for a couple years and I was learning all sorts of techniques that we're going to go through, and people were asking, particularly during pandemic can you use these techniques? just for making courses, you use these techniques when you're presenting live? Because we've all been thrown into Zoom and we look like we're in a witness protection program or a hostage situation when we come on camera. do we make what we used to do on stage and at the front of a room feel the same amount of energy engagement and presentation Transformation was a program that I started to develop around that. [00:04:00] And show people how to do it and developed the personal brand, the webinar wizard, because a few people said, wow, is kind of magical what you're doing. You're pressing buttons and stuff is appearing and it doesn't even look like you're breaking eye contact, which I try not to. So they thought it was some sort of wizardry or magic. I like my alliteration, so I kept the, that personal brand that I'm developing called a webinar wizard.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yeah. That's amazing. And you're right about zoom meetings and like just presentations. Because there, there can be some, it's really hard to pay attention when it's one OneNote, one, one slide, one one, one monotone voice. You, I've seen your presentations. I've been to one of your webinars and they're just different.
They're just special. People might think that. That type of presentation isn't for them. Like it's too much tech or it's too [00:05:00] complicated. What would you say to somebody who's like, well, somebody else might be able to make these awesome presentations that have some moving graphics and the screen changes size and like there's just some pattern interrupt, but that's not for me 'cause I'm not techie or I don't know how to do it.
What would you say to somebody who says that.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Yeah, so if it improves their conversion. Yeah, then they'll get over the little bit of tech involved. I mean, we've all had to overcome and continue to about new technology. So people can think back about their first computer, sending their first email, getting a smartphone for the first time, they probably found it technically challenging or not. And if they did. Then they go, well, I, I need to use email. I cannot operate my business without it. I need a smartphone. I need to learn how to drive. Let's say I need to learn how to swim, [00:06:00] whatever. So when the benefit is greater than the consequence of not doing it, people will overcome the little bit of technology.
And I'm not being flippant with what's involved, but every one of my clients without fail. Are always pleasantly surprised with how relatively easy it is compared to how complicated they think it is
They see me do it first.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yeah.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: I teach people how, as James, to use a little switch called a stream deck and some free software called OBS allows 'em to press a button and their slides appear and they can press another button and go to slides only. And when I say slides appear, slides appearing. With them, a large part of the screen with their slides they can continue to present and come back to full camera they don't have to say, hold on till I share my screen, or can you see my slides? And wait for [00:07:00] on average up to five seconds for the slides to load. if we stop talking for five seconds, that's a lot of time when you're presenting live, people are like. Is he okay? Did she fall off the chair? Where are they gone? Why is this take? Because we live in a very instant world, so a couple of seconds in a live environment, unless it's orchestrated or a pregnant pause or whatever, or you're giving people time to think, but if it happens in the middle of whole Onal, I share my. So that's essentially the starting point. The software is free for Windows and Mac. It works anywhere you turn on your camera. We're not on Zoom right now as we record this, and yet I can press a button and go to, bring in my slides and I can go to slides only and I can continue to present. And at any point I can check back in with my audience and that's starting point.
And from [00:08:00] there, as you mentioned, we can do all sorts of other things. I mean, we can, for example, address the elephant in the room, which people love to do because it brings a 3D element to your presentation over and above depth by PowerPoint. And if we take Zoom as an example, and a lot of platforms are the same. When we do share our slides, we look at it like a guest at our own event. Right? And I just pressed one button to make this orchestrated scene happen. 'cause I'm not using traditional Zoom here or sharing my slides that way, I'm actually just pressing a button. So the software is free? Yes. It involves a little bit of learning, like any software, but as I said, a lot easier than people think.
And I thankfully get complimented simple that I've made it all.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yeah. And, uh, for the audio listeners you, Johnny just went through a mini [00:09:00] presentation just by pushing buttons and carrying on the conversation. You probably didn't even notice because there was no hesitation. It was just a smooth. Push a button, keep talking, type of presentation.
It was pretty it and it was dynamic. So the, there is technology involved, but guess what, you've overcome that problem in the past and Johnny makes it easy. So I was wondering, what are three ways for the topic of the show, and you've been doing presentations for a while, but what are three ways that people can make their presentations dynamic or what are three ways they can engage their audience with with their presenting skills?
Do you have some advice or tips on that?
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Yeah, absolutely. So the first one, before we even get into the pattern interrupt with the free software, the first one is showing up in a way that does you justice. A lot of people are still showing up in a way that doesn't align with how good they are. [00:10:00] And if it's the first time people have, quote unquote, met you and experienced you on camera and they look better than you do, and you are the host, then there's a misalignment. A perception there that some people it, like, is this as good as they can show up? And they're looking to. Grab and keep my attention, expect me to sit for an hour and then want my money. And yet they haven't got put in a little bit of effort to look and sound as good as they could. And it doesn't cost a lot, like literally in the low hundreds of dollars to improve how you show up. You wouldn't show up, with your zipper down at a TED Talk unless it was part of the. Presentation. I don't know what the topic would be, or you wouldn't show up with half your lunch on your face when you go to a meeting, but yet we think it's okay virtually.
It's like, oh, my content does the [00:11:00] selling and I've. doing this for years, and I'm a bestselling author, so I can show up in my underwear and I could still make a million dollars, and good for you if you can, but most of us don't have that luxury. So first and foremost, we need to show up in a way that does this justice and aligns with how good we are at what we do. A therapist, a coach, a trainer, an expert in any area, show up in a way that matches with your expertise. And then from there. to avoid death by PowerPoint. And I'm not knocking PowerPoint. I love it, but it's become a term even before we started, long before webinars, where people would stand on the stage and it just would be slide after slide.
So when you start to into using OBS, which you can try for free, and it's open source, so it's free for Windows and Mac and you can use your keyboard or indeed your. Arrow keys on your keyboard to set up a little scene where instead of disappearing, just press a [00:12:00] button and you appear beside the slides press another one, and you go back to camera. And if you do that, you'll be so much better than you were a lot better than most. I mean, more people are doing it. I think I might have something to do with that, but a lot more people are. Beginning to realize the importance of that. So look and sound crystal clear, aligned with how good you are, what you do. It brings trust and rapport and respect. And from there you can start to do these pattern interrupt techniques. And what is a pattern interrupt technique? Well, essentially, Tony Robbins has popularized it, it's state change, but pattern interrupt is a proven. Psychological and psychology technique. So if your listeners think back and your viewers, they fell off their swing or off their bicycle as a child, their caregiver, parent, older brother guardian. [00:13:00] Would try and interrupt what the tears essentially with, Hey, a lollipop, have an ice cream. Oh, look at the cute doggy. Anything to interrupt the pattern of the tears. So the go-to pattern when we're presenting is people zoning out, tuning out, distracted by the phone, another browser, window, whatever. We want to interrupt that pattern by doing something unexpected. And when you bring in the slides without breaking eye contact, it's usually unexpected. And then if you bring in an elephant as we just did people on my course get overlays if they're using Zoom, they can press a button when they ask people to turn on the camera and it gives them this visual nudge.
And that's a pattern interrupt. The one that's really popular for pattern interrupt, which is the third way is to use a pen and paper or an iPad and get like a hundred dollars webcam mount it over your desk. I put it on my mic stand, [00:14:00] so I'm getting two for one. It's holding my mic and my overhead camera so I can essentially press a button and bring in my iPad live and start to draw out, a picture of James
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Oh, that.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Or your if you're taking people through I'm doing later today. the belief bridge when it comes to webinars and you can start to draw out circles and squares and a bridge, and people are here and they want to go to here and you're gonna take them through this belief bridge. And there's three beliefs that typically people have and all that.
And you can press the button effortlessly. And come back and check in with your audience and say, Hey, is this making sense? And if you don't have an iPad or you reach for it and it's not charged, then just have your your paper and your thick marker to hand and start to draw out your framework. And it's super engaging. You can use it for making videos as well as doing it [00:15:00] live it just draws people in and you see. The best of experts in their field doing that technique live doing it for making engaging courses and videos. And the great thing about this setup, James, is that the, again, the software is free. You can use it anywhere you turn on your camera live, and you can use it for recording you can pretty much record and edit at the same time. How does that.
work? Well, if you're bringing in a slide you're recording, you don't have to. that in the edit, actually recording a video the way you want it to look when it's finished you're recording the video.
So typically all you gotta do is top and tail.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yeah, there's no post or very little post.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: a little, a lot, about 80% less post-production, which is time consuming if we do it ourselves or [00:16:00] if we have to sub it out. There's a cost there as well. if we can reduce that cost by 80% in terms of webinar stats, 50% the number in terms of how many people are not showing up versus last year. That's a roundabout say, is saying half the people who showed up last year, or half. Half the people are showing up this year as last year and that's across the board. On average, if you had a hundred people on average coming to your webinars last year, it could be not for everybody, but on average it's down to 50 people and over 60% on average, around 63%.
Not for everybody, but on average, over 60% are leaving before the end of a webinar, which is typically. When we make our invitation work with us. So if over half are showing up and over half of them are still leaving, a lot of [00:17:00] people. So the industry average is about 60 people across the sort of industries you and I work in James 60 people.
57 are not buying. And the reason for that is over 25 of them have left. So they don't even see what you're selling. They don't even see the offer, the invitation to buy. So if you can grab and hold your audience's attention from the minute you start, then you're, they're more likely to stay.
They're going to be thinking things like, wow, at least they show up pretty good. And they look and sound good. They're being respectful for my time, this looks and feels different. Than most webinars I've attended in the past. That's what you want them thinking. your content needs to be value adding and respectful of their time and all that good stuff. But you have a far better chance of more people staying, more people telling other people [00:18:00] and more people buying. 'cause even if it's simple conversion on numbers, your conversion rate's 10% and more people see your offer. You're gonna make more sales. there's a whole number of business cases, direct profit and some just sheer respect that make this worth doing.
And as I say, the software is free.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yeah that's great. And I'm gonna clip some of that and put it at the front of the episode. 'cause that is exactly the reason why somebody needs to work on their presentation. Engagements attendance down. People leave before they come. And if they don't hear your, if they don't hear your offer.
Then your sales are down and your revenue's down, and so it all kind of flows together.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: And sometimes, with as a therapist and a lot of coaches as well, sometimes it's not a sale. Sometimes it's an invitation to do a one-on-one [00:19:00] or an invitation to do an online assessment or fill out a questionnaire. But again, if that's at the end, and typically it is. over half the people don't even see that they can do an assessment with you or get a free complimentary value session. it's, leads to sales. So might think, I don't sell on my webinars. You do. You sell the free assessment, you sell the one-to-one you sell, whatever it is you sell the next step. But if they don't see that invitation to take that next step, how can they possibly take it? And it's super enjoyable.
I mean, you can bring in a timer if you go on a break, you can, it makes doing longer. Let's say you have a three hour workshop with your high ticket clients, as we call them, your high value clients. [00:20:00] A lot of people go, oh, we're going on a break now, or, or we're doing an exercise and you turn off the audio on the camera and you have to reignite them and all that after the break.
So it makes delivery effortless and enjoyable, which translates down the lens so that it's kind of a symbiotic. Energy transfer, so to speak. a lot of people who attend my three hours even do take some breaks for exercises and breathe their breaks water or coffee or standing up after. At the end, the most people say, I can't believe we've been here for three hours. 'cause we do have fun. But that effortless engagement and timers and a little bit of music that is so easy to manage on your own with a little $150 switch and some free software. all leads to the experience. I keep banging the drum, so to speak, with that'll listen. We need to deliver an experience and not just an event. [00:21:00] experience that they walk away inspire to take action, take the action, and inspire to tell other people as well. And if we do that, our business will improve dramatically.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: you're, you make all these great points that will help people with their presentations and help your audience get to your the benefit that you have, the value that you have.
How help them take the next step. Where do you have any, any final message and where can people find you online?
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Sure they can go to my website, johnny by.com and we will be including a link, I believe, James, in the notes where they can get a free of their setup. So I'm happy to meet people Yes. In the conversation. If they ask can we work together, then. We will have that conversation whoever books the review brings it up. But the review is all [00:22:00] about how you can use what you have improve, how you show up so that you ultimately get better results time you present. And even when you network in online networks, you're going to look and sound better in breakout rooms and all that. So we simply look at how to get the most of. The setup that you have, and a couple of pointers as to what you might need to do to make that even better. And if people have a great setup, they're just not familiar with OBS, the free software, I spend a few minutes showing them how relatively easy it is to use. then if the conversation arises where, 'cause usually people are inspired to say. I want to be able to do this myself. do I learn this fast? I'm like, well, we have a course. We have a community where [00:23:00] we show up live and practice with each
After people have taken the course. So if that comes up, it comes up. But that's what's on offer. I'm trying to help as many people as possible.
And yes, I have a business to run. I have things that I sell but I'm trying to help as many people as possible. Improve how they show up so they can improve their business.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Great. So we'll include that, links the link and the assessment link in the show notes so that you. You can get some tips on just, sometimes it's like one or two tips that makes the big difference. And Johnny can help you find that and how to make the most of your system and give you some next steps for awesome presentations.
Well, Johnny?
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: And recording courses and videos as well, which, is a big part
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Yep.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Your community and what they, are planning to achieve. As I say, you can use it for recording and then you can use it to deliver live webinars, to sell those great course recordings.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Wonderful. Well, Johnny, thank you so much for being on the show. I [00:24:00] really enjoyed the conversation and I love what you do.
johnny-b_1_07-31-2025_141455: Thank you, James. It's been an honor.
james_1_07-31-2025_091455: Well audience, it's, uh, you've heard from Johnny and, uh, there are ways to make your presentation look and sound better. So if you're struggling with that and you need some extra eyes on it, go check out Johnny's website and the link will be in the show note. It's now time to go put your mission in motion
