If you like a lot of people you may not like to see or hear yourself on video. Yet, you have important expertise to teach and pass on. How can you overcome your concerns about narrating your Brilliance on video?
Transcript
Hi, I’m Dr. Stephie. Let’s look at how scary is it to narrate your brilliance, what you’re good at, on video?
You may be thinking it’s like public speaking – and I don’t like public speaking. I’m not good at it. Okay. We’ve got this. I hear you.
You might be thinking, this is also weird because if there’s no audience there, I’m just going to talk to my camera. How am I going to do that? You can get used to it, or you could invite a friend to come and be part of a Zoom session. Then you have at least a face to look at. So that is a helpful tip.
How Do You Look and Sound Good On Video?
Well, we are our harshest critics. What you think is horrible, someone else might very well like.
You can get some feedback, and maybe you’ll trust them if they say, “Hey, you know, that was pretty good. Keep it.”
A Few Tips
Vocal variety matters. Avoid speaking just in a monotone voice, but change it. It might be a bit too much if you’re on all the time. If you’re soft-spoken all the time, then it may also be a bit boring or even hard to hear you. So, change it up a bit. Change it up in conjunction with what you say. Sometimes you can pause for effect and let what you just said sink in.
Eye contact. Sometimes that’s a little tricky because the camera may not be at the same level as the video you see of yourself as you’re recording. So remember to look into the camera. You can glance at your bullets quickly, but don’t read, talk. Be conversational. That’s important because otherwise, it’s just not very engaging.
As far as hand gestures are concerned, make sure that your hand gestures are visible on the video. Otherwise, it’s not very effective if you just see a little finger, but you don’t see the whole gesture. It can be distracting. Make your hand gestures visible and make them meaningful. For example, if you’re talking about two tips, make sure they see two fingers. That’s just simple advice right there.
Other helpful things are stories, humor, and analogies.
- Everybody likes a good story. Just make sure it’s short and to the point. Think about what details to share and, more importantly, which details to admit. That comes from someone who struggles with precisely that point; omitting details.
- Then humor. Everyone has a different kind of humor. I would generally stay away from telling jokes because you never know how a joke will go over with various audiences. But a little self-deprecating humor hasn’t hurt anybody. At least that’s been my experience.
- Analogies are perfect for making your point. For example, Brilliance Extraction™ might be like mind-reading that you can turn on and off. That might be an analogy.
- When you use data, you got to slow down because it takes people time to process data in their brains. When possible, show them on a slide unless you have a single number. But if you have multiple numbers highlight the number you’re talking about and take it step-by-step.
And then practice. Above all, I can tell you this: Don’t try to be perfect because no one is. Instead, be yourself, be personal, engage people, keep the video short and put it into motion, and have an impact with your brilliance now sooner rather than later.
I’m Curious
- Have you recorded yourself on video to teach something you know? How did you feel about it?
- How do you like my analogy that Brilliance Extraction™ might be like mind-reading that you can turn on and off? (Do you have an even better analogy for Brilliance Extraction?)
Dr. Stephie
P.S.: I appreciate you commenting and sharing this with others. Thank you!
