Presenting in front of a camera requires a totally different skill set than the one you use when you present to an audience you can see. And with video being used everywhere as a means of communication, you need to know how to do it well.

The problem is there’s an assumption that if you can speak to a live audience, you can speak convincingly and effectively to a camera lens.

And too often, that assumption is proven false, at the worst possible time.

So why DOES a camera change everything? Watch this video to learn the three main reasons.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

As a news anchor, I would wear an earpiece called an IFB, which allows the producer or the director to talk to you while you’re anchoring the news. So I always felt like I had three voices inside my head - the one coming out of my mouth as I was delivering the news, the one coming into my ear, and the one trying to make sense and interpret the directions I received here.

When you speak via video, you often have two voices inside your head - the one coming out of your mouth and the one that’s always judging you or what I call the insidious inner critic. That’s the highly critical voice inside your head that can derail your performance in big and small ways.

These voices can get distracting when you’re trying to be perfect. Instead of focusing on speaking your message, you start having another conversation between you and your inner critic, who is saying, “Man, that sounded so stupid!”

What do you think happens to your performance when you start dwelling on some perceived mistake?

Your performance tanks which causes you to get flustered and really start to mess up. At best, you start to go on autopilot. Instead of focusing on delivering your message with passion and impact, half of your attention is devoted to what happened minutes ago. And your audience will know it because you will look less connected to what you are saying.

So how do you keep your inner critic from hijacking your performance? Watch this video to learn how to silence your inner critic and deliver an on-camera message that is authentic.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

One of the biggest challenges when speaking via video is that you can’t see your audience. This makes it impossible to determine how your message is being received, or if it’s even being heard at all.

Overcoming that mental barrier is key to your success, and that’s why it’s critical that you understand the proper mental mindset for video success.
The first question you should ask yourself when talking to a camera is, “How many people are you talking to?”

The correct answer is one.

No matter how many people may be watching, they all need to feel like you are talking only to them. The conversation between you and your viewer is very intimate and should be more like talking to someone across the table than from up on stage or even in front of the room. That key mental concept dictates everything you do. You have to respect the closeness of the conversation and its boundaries.

So how do you get past that? Watch this video to get tips for how to visualize your viewer. Once you go through this exercise, your facial expressions and body language will automatically regain that authenticity that is often stripped when we speak via video.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

Is it wrong to be nervous when speaking via video? Not at all -- as long as it’s not a paralyzing fear.

Butterflies can actually up your game. Speaking via video tends to flatten your affect and makes you appear much less animated than normal. You know that “deer in the headlights” look?

So why not channel that nervousness into energy and enthusiasm. If you’re not nervous at all, it could be a sign of a bigger problem -- a lack of passion. And believe me, if you don’t seem to care about what you are saying, your audience won’t either.

Another thing to keep in mind is that brain cramps are more likely to happen when presenting via video. Why?

If you are recording yourself, no matter how hard you are trying to keep your inner critic at bay, it may still feel very high stakes even though you can do as many takes as you need.

Plus, there may be a bunch of distractions - someone knocking on your office door. A dog barking in the distance. An ill-timed horn honking.
It’s very easy to lose your train of thought or experience a brain cramp.

There’s no way to avoid these altogether, but one way to lessen the chances of that happening is by being master of your content. If you know your subject matter well, you won’t be as easily derailed by the distractions that are part and parcel of speaking via video. And it’ll allow you to focus on reaching the real audience, on the other side of that lens, effectively.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

Our brains are hardwired to pick up on a change in our environment and ignore anything repetitive or predictable. So, imagine how difficult it would be for an audience to listen to someone who speaks in monotone for any length of time. That steady tone becomes white noise, and the audience will tune out. That’s why vocal variety is critical.

How do you inject vocal variety into your delivery?

We create vocal variety naturally when we focus more on what we’re saying and less on how we’re saying it.

When we’re in casual conversation that’s not being recorded, we all vary our speech based upon what we’re conveying. Our delivery might become faster if we’re excited, or we might slow down if we want to put extra emphasis on something.

The problem is, when we’re reading a script, we tend to lose that natural variation in cadence because we are overly focused on pronouncing each word perfectly.

By keeping yourself connected to what you are saying, you are much more likely to have that natural variation in your inflection.

When we are speaking on camera, we can often appear less animated than we are in person, but it also can suck all of the energy out of our delivery. Karin Reed explains the importance of vocal variety when communicating via video.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

It’s only natural to be a little nervous when performing on camera. Sometimes those nerves can even lead to picking up the pace of your delivery, especially if you want to get through it as quickly as possible.

Unless your audience has the option to rewind, they only have one chance to hear and comprehend what you say. If you are flying through your presentation, the chances of them remembering anything are pretty slim.

To make sure your audience hears your message, you need to slow down. So how do you do that when you’re so nervous? Unleash the power of the pause -- for you and your viewer.

Let’s begin with you.

If you don’t make time to take a breath and fill your lungs with air and give yourself a chance to gather your thoughts and deliver your content with meaning, you’ll likely end up feeling a tightness in your throat. Eventually your vocal tone will become thinner and thinner and thinner until you have to stop.

Pause for you -- it’ll improve your vocal tone and allow your voice to be full.
Taking a breath is also one of the best ways to control your anxiety.

But there’s a huge cognitive benefit too. It gives you time to gather your thoughts. Most of us skip the pause and say, “Uhhhh” or “umm.” I call these verbal placeholders. They have no meaning, but they let our audience know we have more to say, we don’t have the words fully formulated yet.

But those filler words undercut our credibility and can be downright annoying when used too much.

The next time you are about to say uh, um or so, substitute silence instead. It’ll make you sound much more authoritative.

But pause for your audience too. They need to let your words sink in, and if you barrel through, they won’t have time to do so.

Watch Karin Reed explain how silence can command attention from your audience.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

Many people step in front of a camera and become frozen in place. It’s like the lens is holding them hostage. With your body language speaking volumes on video, it’s clearly saying, “I’m very uncomfortable with this.”

What’s the solution?

Give yourself the freedom to gesture as you would in normal conversation, but keep in mind how you are being framed.

Frame size refers to how much of you can be seen on camera or what we call “in the shot.” When you are recording yourself on your webcam, you will likely be seen either from the waist up or maybe even from mid-chest up. The tighter the shot, the closer the conversation feels to your audience.

If you are seen from the waist up, that will feel like you are several feet away from your conversation partner. If you are seen from the shoulders up, it will feel like a very intimate conversation with a friend.

Karin Reed shows us how to calibrate our gestures when we speak on camera.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

When I worked as a news anchor or even as a professional on-camera spokesperson, I had a whole crew of people who made sure I looked and sounded great. They took care of the lighting, checked for top-notch audio quality, and designed the perfect set.

But when you record yourself on webcam, you are your own crew -- but without the professional expertise.

It can be really intimidating to try to troubleshoot all of this, so allow me to give you some of my top tips for elevating what I call your personal production value.

#1 - Control the Lighting

When you’re on video, you want to make sure you are well lit from the front. Your viewer needs to see your face so you can create that connection. The most flattering light of all is natural light, so if you can position yourself, facing toward a window, you may find that to be the best bet. But there are some exceptions - you don’t want sunlight streaming in. It’ll be too harsh, and you will likely appear washed out.

Speaking of windows - never, ever sit in front of a window unless you want to appear like you’re in the witness protection program. You will appear in silhouette.

If the weather is not cooperating or if you don’t have a window that’ll work, make sure you put a lamp behind the camera that will illuminate your face.
Overhead lighting will also do you no favors. It’ll cast unwanted shadows that will make you appear tired with dark circles under your eyes.

And never rely upon the light cast by your computer screen. That bluish cast will do a number on your complexion and simply not provide enough wattage to light your face appropriately.

#2 - Consider your Background

If you’re working from home, do you really want them to see the dishes piled up in the sink or the piled-up laundry, waiting to be folded?

Your background needs to be clean and uncluttered.

However, you don’t want to go to the other extreme and sit with your back against a blank wall. You’ll look like you’re sitting in a prison cell.

Instead, sit at least four feet away from the wall to give some depth to the shot.

#3 - Keep the Lens at Eye Level

If you are shooting your video on your laptop, you may be very tempted to simply keep it on your desk and look down. But this causes a variety of issues. First of all, there’s a really good chance that the lens will be looking right up your nose. Yuck. But it also can cause you to create more chins than you actually have. Plus, looking down on your viewer can feel really condescending.

By contrast, it’s also important that you not look up into the lens. You’ll look like a little kid looking up at a parent - not a position of authority.

Your lens needs to be at eye level in order to mimic an interaction in real life. If you have a separate webcam, put it on a tripod and adjust it accordingly. But if you are using your laptop camera, put it on a stack of books or anything else that will raise it up. Or if you would rather stand, place it on top of a bookshelf so you can still look straight ahead - right into the lens.

The team at Speaker Dynamics can offer even more expertise, including one-on-one coaching to help you elevate your personal production value. Contact us at info@speakerdynamics.com to learn how.

The advent of the smartphone has created the democratization of video production. Practically everyone has access to a camera in the palms of their hands. But knowing how to use it well, especially in a professional setting, is not always a given.

For those who have grown up in the age of the smartphone, speaking to a screen may seem totally natural. After all, these digital natives have been using FaceTime and the like for the bulk of their lives. But chatting with a friend about weekend plans requires a different approach than shooting a video to send to a sales prospect.

Before you point and shoot, watch these three tips from Karin Reed to make sure the video shot on your smartphone is both polished and professional.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

Video is everywhere, and the cameras used to create it are too, which makes it incredibly easy to practice these techniques. Performance jitters decrease with familiarity. In other words, the more you do it, the easier it’ll become.

So here are a few ways you can flex your on-camera muscles:

Suggest turning your next teleconference meeting into a video conference. Your teammates may not be thrilled at first, but the video collaboration wave will crash over them at some point. And meetings with the webcam on are often more productive and shorter, which is a pretty good incentive.

Do you have a blog? Instead of writing it, record it. People are four times more likely to watch than read. You’ll be able to practice all of the techniques you learned about speaking on video and communicate with them in a way they prefer.

The goal shouldn’t be to do it in one take. The goal should be to do a take that you are proud of, whether it’s take two or 200.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/

We’ve all heard how important it is to make eye contact with your audience during a presentation to an audience in the same room. But if you are recording yourself and can see yourself on your screen, it can be incredibly tempting to stare at yourself. Unfortunately, when you do that, it looks to the viewer like you are staring at his or her chest. Force yourself to look at the lens - strong eye contact allows you to build trust and create a connection with your viewer.

But a word of caution, if you maintain constant eye contact with the camera and never waver, it can make the viewer feel really uncomfortable. Viewers need a break. In normal conversation, we all look away periodically. It’s natural and can be very effective on camera too.

If you’re using the teleprompter, it can be even more difficult to look away. For example, what if the words disappear? Still try to cheat your way back to looking at the lens as much as possible. Simply staring at the words will also look unnatural.

Watch this video as Karin Reed shows you how to master making good eye contact on camera.

For more personal on-camera coaching, contact our team today: https://speakerdynamics.com/