obvious.
What You Will Need
In order to assess your performance, you need a way to record yourself, but as you know, cameras surround us. You can use your smart- phone, a webcam, or a regular video camera as long as you have a way to review the videos you take with it.
Topics to Be Discussed
The book begins with a discussion of what makes presenting on-camera uniquely challenging and why you are your own worst enemy. We will then take a deep dive into what I call the MVPs of Performance Success. In this book, MVP stands for the Mental, Vocal, and Physical elements of performance success. You will hear some case studies from former clients and be given exercises to put those newfound skills into action.
Wondering what to wear on camera? This book will help you comb through your closet for camera-friendly attire that will make you look the part. (An early tip: When in doubt, be boring.)
We will talk about content – both unscripted and scripted – and about the importance of organizing for the ear and writing the way you speak. A great script is the secret sauce for excellent on-camera presentations.
Much of what you will learn can be applied to any formal or informal on-camera performance, whether it's shot in a fancy studio or in your basement. However, I will delve into some tips for specific scenarios like virtual meetings and interviews, formal direct-to-camera presentations, and panel discussions formatted in a broadcast-news style.
Consider this book your on-camera coach: full of tools, techniques, and insight into what works and what doesn't work on camera, no matter where that camera lurks. Many of these tools and techniques can be used in any presentation or performance – whether you can look your audience in the eye or have to imagine them on the other side of a lens.
Feel free to flip to the chapters that best fit your needs, but take note of the topics covered in the other chapters. You never know when you might need to add to your on-camera arsenal.
Chapter Takeaways
• Video cameras are no longer just in a studio; they're on your laptop, your webcam, and your phone.
• The Age of YouTube has created an expectation that you can always watch rather than read.
• Everyone wants to hear from the decision makers, the doers, the C-suite executives.. and more and more often, that means speaking on camera.
• Video is a vital communication link for a workforce that is often not corralled within the bricks and mortar of the corporate monolith.
• Video chat applications have completely revamped the hiring process across all verticals.
• Performing poorly can undercut the credibility of the presenter and ultimately can hurt the corporate (or personal) brand he or she represents.
CHAPTER 2
Why the Camera Changes Everything
Dateline: Summer 1991
Location: Altoona, Pennsylvania (specifically, Jaffa Shrine)
Event: Final night of competition at the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Pageant
I was the season shocker. How could I, Miss Butler County, a pageant neophyte who only entered on a lark, be in prime position to represent the Keystone State in the Miss America pageant?
Talent Competition: I nailed it thanks to a decade of voice training.
Judge's Panel Interview: I aced that, too.
The vast majority of my fellow contestants had been priming themselves for this moment for years, sharpening their skills on the lower-level pageant circuit. Me? I was a total newbie and on no one's radar as a potential threat. But after chalking up two preliminary competition wins earlier in the week, the dark horse had become the front-runner and likely winner.. save for a slight miscalculation by my team.
You see, along with the tiara from the county win, I had acquired a cadre of pageant professionals who were in charge of coaching me for the state pageant. They taught me how to strut, wobble-free, across the stage in a bathing suit and four-inch heels made of Lucite. They explained the importance of displaying off-the-charts enthusiasm when I introduced myself at the top of the show. We even ran through my song from Phantom of the Opera ad nauseam just in case.
What we didn't work on was my on-stage interview question. Why would we? After all, I was a top student and had even skipped my senior year in high school just to get a head start on college. I was on track to receive my undergraduate degree magna cum laude with highest honors. Public speaking was my forte. I even won a scholarship for “Excellence in the Use of the English Language.” Why would I need to practice how to answer one question?
So there I was on the final night of the pageant, ready to tackle the last part of the competition: the on-stage interview question. The crowning achievement seemed like a fait accompli.
I made my way downstage toward the emcee, who held a stack of index cards laden with real stumpers – or so he thought. He selected my question.
“If money were no object, what would you do to make the world a better place?”
Could there be a bigger softball of a question than that? I'm sure you can think of dozens of answers that would have elicited a round of applause and perhaps even brought a tear to the eye of some touched by your empathy for the needy, the disenfranchised, the unfortunate souls you wanted to help.
My response: “Laughter.. I'd give the world laughter.”
Say what?
There are no “take-backs” when answering a question live before thousands of people in a concert hall and countless others watching on television. I knew I had to find some way to make this substantive despite its laughable start.
I wracked my brain and free-associated laughter with monetary value. After a less than one second pause, I continued my response with this:
“So I'd buy everyone comedians.”
My entire entourage from the local pageant collectively slumped in their seats as if they'd been sucker punched.
I knew that I was in the process of completely tanking any chance I had to head to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. Ironically, however, I thought it was hilarious. In fact, I remember trying to stifle a giggle as I fumbled through to the end of my clunker of an answer. There was some polite applause as I walked off stage.
I have to say I was heartened to hear some of the other contestants swing and miss on their questions, too. Here are some of my favorites (with italics added for emphasis by me):
• Question: “If you could meet any famous person, living or dead, who would you want to meet?”
Answer: “Jesus Christ, because he did so much for our country.”
• Question: “If you could live in any era, which would you choose?”
Answer: “I'd live in the South, because I really like the warm weather.”
So what on earth does this have to do with presenting on camera?
My pageant team assumed that I could handle any interview question thrown my way. Heck, I did, too. Your team may assume you can present on camera because you are a solid speaker. And herein lies the problem. Everyone wants to leverage video across all the many channels it now occupies, but very little thought is given to how to use this tool effectively. Too often, business executives are put in front of a camera and expected to perform well without any training. They're obviously intelligent folks who are in their positions of authority based on their achievements. But speaking in front of a camera requires a skill set that is never taught in business school, and very few of us possess the innate ability to do it well.
My “Aha!” Moment
Nowhere was the need for on-camera training more apparent than when I served