The invaluable handbook for acing your on-camera appearance
On-Camera Coach is your personal coach for becoming great on camera. From Skype interviews and virtual conferences to shareholder presentations and television appearances, this book shows you how to master the art of on-camera presentation to deliver your message clearly, effectively, and with confidence. Fear of public speaking is common, but even the most seasoned speakers freeze in front of a single lens—being on camera demands an entirely new set of skills above and beyond the usual presentation to an audience you can actually see. It requires special attention to the way you move, the way you speak, and even the way you dress. This book provides the guidance and tools you need to ace it every time.
Video is powerful, and it is everywhere; corporate YouTube channels, webinars, virtual meetings, TedTalks, and more are increasingly turning the lens on those who typically remain behind the scenes. This relatively recent trend will continue to expand as media plays a larger role in business, and the ability to appear confident, authoritative, and polished is becoming a necessary job skill. This book shows you everything you need to know about being on camera, from preparation through presentation and beyond.
Learn how to prepare for an on-camera appearance
Tailor your presentation to on-camera demands
Discover how the camera interprets wardrobe and body language
Appear dynamic, confident, and engaged when the lens points your way
The lens captures everything—the awkward pauses, the nervous fidgets, poor posture, and every false start and mistake is captured for posterity. Is that the image you want to present? You want to get your message across and be heard; to do that, you must portray authority, energy, and confidence—even when you don't feel it. On-Camera Coach provides the expert instruction and insider secrets that help you make your message sing.
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SECTION SIX The Most Common On-Camera Performance Scenarios
Today, we communicate through cameras all the time in both our personal and professional lives. The expectation that we can watch overwhelms our willingness to read or even just listen. Those who are camera-phobic can lament this cultural change or embrace it and learn to leverage it.
Not all on-camera performance scenarios are created equal. Some are easier to navigate than others and each comes with its own challenges. In this section, I take a deep dive into some specific on-camera scenarios that you are likely to encounter. The section is divided into the following chapters:
Chapter 12: Presenting Directly to the Camera in a Studio Setting
Chapter 13: Videoconferencing and Interviews via Video Chat
Chapter 14: Webcasts—Best Practices for Panelists and Moderators
Chapter 15: Broadcast Interview Basics
CHAPTER 12 Presenting Directly to the Camera in a Studio Setting
Here's the situation: You've been approached by someone in your communications department to appear on camera. Maybe it's for the company web site. Maybe it's for a marketing video for a product launch. Maybe it's an employee profile for the corporate YouTube channel.
Your first reaction is that you're flattered to be asked. But perhaps the more overwhelming second reaction is this: you're pretty nervous about it—possibly even terrified. Or perhaps you are on the other side of the spectrum and embrace the opportunity to engage in the exploding media landscape. After all, it offers unprecedented opportunity for you to get your message out there.
Regardless of your gut-level response, appearing on-camera is no longer reserved for communication professionals, actors, and any other brand of what is called “on-camera talent.” No matter where you are on the corporate food chain, you may be asked at some point to serve as a de facto spokesperson.
I began my training in response to this shift. I developed my curriculum with the goal of demystifying communicating through the camera with the MVPs of Performance Success as the centerpiece.
This chapter will help you solidify the techniques covered so far by walking you through the corporate video process from a talent perspective, breaking it down into four main segments:
Preparing for the Shoot
Orienting Yourself to the Studio
Performing at Your Best
Reviewing Your Performance
NOTE
Here's a quick vocabulary lesson for those who are new to “the biz”: “talent” means the person appearing on camera, and “shoot” means when the video is shot.
I will reinforce some of what you've already learned and offer some new concepts in a lifelike framework. But first, I'll give you a bit of perspective, in a broad sense, on how best to use video across the corporate landscape.
Considerations for Corporate Video
Video is not intended to serve as a visual version of a white paper. Video as a medium is best for eliciting emotion and inspiring a viewer to go elsewhere to find out more. It is not the proper vehicle for relaying vast amounts of information.
When people read the written word, they have the luxury of going back and rereading parts that perhaps confused them the first time through or were of greater interest. They can take notes or highlight key takeaways, processing the information a second time by either putting it into their own words or visually culling out the critical words.
When someone watches a video, they will perhaps pick up a fact or two, but video as a means of transferring dense information falls short. However, that doesn't mean it isn't powerful.
A Lesson from TV News
As a TV news reporter, I was often given an assignment on a broad topic but forced to boil it down to fit into a 90-second slot on the nightly news. This held true no matter how complex or multifaceted the subject matter was. My favorite approach to this challenge was to take that expansive topic and make it real by focusing on one person who illustrated the issue at hand.
Let's say I was asked to do a story about the homeless problem in the area. I could have put together a piece laden with graphics, citing statistics and sources. It would be fact-filled and informative . . . and utterly forgettable.
Recognizing these limitations, I would opt for a different approach. Instead, I would choose to profile a single mother living out of her car with her two young children because she couldn't find affordable housing. She would speak of her journey with raw emotion that was nowhere to be found in the numbers tallied by social service agencies.
That second approach made people care. It would prompt viewers to call the station to find out what they could do to help. Any time our audience was shown a story about a person truly in need, they responded with unimaginable compassion in tangible ways. Sometimes it translated into donations of thousands of fans for those who didn't have air conditioning during a heat wave. Sometimes it meant mounds of donated winter coats, ready to be given out to those who would've suffered through the winter chill.
Humanizing a story inspires action; numbers do not. The power of video is in the emotions it can stir.
A common mistake made when creating corporate video is trying to convey too much information. This results in either a video that is way too long or a shorter one that is way too dense.
Consider what you are hoping to inspire your viewer to do, and then use your video to inspire them to take that action.
Does Length Matter?
A corporate video may not have the same strict time parameters as a story produced to wedge into a network newscast. However, understanding audience attention span is vital.
How long should a video be? There are a plethora of answers to that question, but allow me to offer some insight from Wistia, one of the largest online video hosting platforms. In 2016, Wistia analyzed how much of a video a viewer would watch relative to the total length of the video, and they had an enormous data set to analyze for the research: 564,710 videos and more than 1.3 billion plays. What they found was the shorter the video, the more of it the viewer was willing to consume, as shown in Figure 12.1.
Figure 12.1 Wistia Video Analytics Graph
Source:Ezra Fishman, Wistia.com, “How Long Should Your Next Video Be?,” July 5, 2016, https://wistia.com/blog/optimal-video-length
The sweet spot for video length appears to be two minutes, according to this research with a significant drop off in viewership between two and six minutes. That being said, while erring on the side of brevity is a good choice, a video that is compelling and crafted beautifully will likely still keep its audience engaged even if it's a little on the longer side.
However, this should not keep you from front-loading your key takeaways. All videos in the study showed a drop in viewership, even those less than one minute long.
If you are organizing for the ear, make sure they hear the core message, loud and clear, early on.
How Much Face Time Is Too Much?
A stellar-quality video may earn its extra length, but beware the dangers of extending your own face time on camera without interruption. You can easily overstay your welcome.
If you are speaking directly to the camera without any graphics or video interwoven, do not attempt to speak beyond two minutes. TV time can be measured in dog years. Even one minute can feel like seven, and our attention spans are shortening.
Remember, we are wired to seek out change in our environment. If your viewer's only option is to stare at your mug for any longer than two minutes, you run the risk of them turning you off or tuning you out. That holds true for even the most animated among us.
Plus, think about the focus required to pull off a great performance. The longer you are on camera without a break, the harder it will be to sustain the high level of concentration and energy it requires.
If you feel like you have too much to say and two minutes is simply no...
Table of contents
Cover
Series
Title page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
Section One The Inescapable Reality—We All Have to Communicate through a Camera
Section Two The MVPs of Performance Success
Section Three Ready to Wear . . . or Not
Section Four Best Practices for Creating Your On-Camera Message
Section Five How to Read without Sounding Like You Are
Section Six The Most Common On-Camera Performance Scenarios
Conclusion: Embrace Communicating through the Camera
