Video Vantage: Episode 4 – Mastering On-Camera and Public Speaking Skills

Video Vantage: Episode 4 – Transcript

Intro

Mark

Hello and welcome back to Video Vantage, your insider guide to video marketing. I’m your host, Mark O’Connor, and today in Episode 4, we’re going to be doing things a little bit differently. Up until now, we’ve spoken about the various reasons why businesses should invest in video production as part of their overall marketing strategy. But what about the people element?

As a video producer, one of the most common hurdles I come across is businesses who are hesitant to invest in video production, even though they are aware of its potential to grow their businesses and elevate their brand. But why? What’s holding them back? It’s very simple – they’re camera shy. And I get it, I’m definitely more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. Producing the Video Vantage series from a camera, light, and audio setup perspective is a straight forward day for me, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous about being in the hot seat to host it as well.

In the run up to recording this series, I reached out to Maureen McCowen of Soft Skills Success, to help me prepare for recording all the sessions today, and I’m delighted to welcome her on the show today to show some tips and tricks that you too can use when preparing to speak to camera. Maureen is a Communication and Presentation Skills Specialist, who helps business professionals and teams unlock their speaking confidence. That could be the confidence to deliver a pitch, speak up at a meeting, or create and deliver presentations with impact. Maureen has worked with clients throughout the country, and has delivered one-on-one coaching and team training sessions in the UK, Europe, USA, Latin America and Asia. Her clients include Sky Ireland, Board Bia, Eirgrid, HPE Financial Services, and Fortinet.

Interview

Mark

So Maureen, you’re very welcome to Video Vantage today. Thanks for coming on the show. Can I begin by asking you, how did you prepare for being on camera yourself today? Do you ever get nervous being on camera?

Maureen

Do you know, it’s funny because a lot of people feel that nerves are bad. Nerves are good – we all need a little bit of nerves because it helps us to perform better. The problem with nerves is when they prevent you performing better. So if they’re holding you back, if they’re making you a case that you’re not able to perform.

So the key to it, first of all, is good preparation. And what I loved about the preparation for today was all of the contact with you beforehand, the questions beforehand. I knew exactly what to expect for when I came into the set.

Mark

No surprises.

Maureen

Yeah. No surprises, so that all helps. Secondly, if you can arrive early, if you’re moving, going to a new destination – arrive early, give yourself that bit of time for settling down. And then as well, thinking about what you’re going to say, not necessarily having it all learned by rote or scripted and so on, but just the general idea as to what it is that you want to say. You might not remember it all. Chances are, when I’m driving home today, I’ll think “oh yeah, I meant to say that and I didn’t!”. It doesn’t matter, because nobody knows that you’ve forgot it.

Mark

Well, exactly yeah. The less they know, the better, in that sense. So simple steps, basically like you’re saying. A bit of prep work, arrive on time. And yeah, healthy nerves are good – a bit of adrenaline to keep you going.

Maureen

Absolutely. Yeah.

Mark

You mentioned scripting there – is it a good thing or a bad thing maybe to over script?

Maureen

Over scripting I would suggest avoid. When it comes to scripting, the same as when somebody is delivering a presentation and comes to using notes or not – it’s important that you’re comfortable, that you feel confident. But I would suggest that you’ve got the minimum amount of extra content, or minimum amount of script to help you be confident in what you’re saying.

Mark

So it’s streamlined to the key points.

Maureen

Absolutely. So you know, you might have a good idea as to what it is that you want to say, but there are three key points that you want to get across. So you might just have those on a piece of paper. I might have a little piece of paper hidden discreetly here that I could just glance down to, to make sure that I say what I need to say. With regard to using teleprompters, the challenge with that is that you can become so focused on reading the words, and saying them right, that it just sounds wooden.

I know when I first started doing video, when I set up my business, almost five years in business now, when I set up the business and I was doing videos and, you know, just videos on the on your phone that I was doing at home. And the first few times – 20 takes of a video!

And I was just like, “this is ridiculous. I can’t keep going like this!”. And even at that, it was still sounding very wooden, very robotic. It’s having that conversation. So you have you imagine someone is there, you’re having a conversation with them, and how do you connect with them.

Mark

Well, at the end of the day, because you are speaking to an audience. Even if they are not physically there, it is an inanimate camera that you’re looking at – on the receiving end there is an audience eventually, at some point. So 20 takes, but you got the content in the end?

Maureen

Got there in the end, and reduced it down so that, you know, it wasn’t looking for perfection anymore. It was like, “okay, you’ve got to get this!”. And actually a tip that helped me to relax when I was doing it, was that I would set the video running on my phone, and I would just start, move my head, shake and doing a few warm ups, loosen up. Then I would be smiling, I’d be relaxed. Then I would start speaking, and then I’d just chop out that bit at the beginning. And that worked for me.

Mark

That’s a good tip, yeah. Give yourself the breathing space basically to do this. And what about situations where people maybe don’t have the luxury of that breathing space? Maybe they got a last minute call a day or two beforehand, say, “hey, we need you to speak at such a conference”, or “there’s a video being shot next week, we need you on site” – those people are going to be nervous, maybe overly nervous. Are there any tips or tricks to help put them at ease? I can think of a classic example of someone who’s kind of fidgeting, maybe.

Maureen

Yeah, so first of all, even if it is ten minutes notice that you have – take that ten minutes time to prepare and think about key points. What are the key points that I want to get across? Because if you’re clear on those in your head, then you’re going to sound more comfortable and more confident. When it comes to the tips for dealing with nerves on the day type of situation – if you think about breathing first of all, and very often if you say to somebody, “oh yeah, you need to take a deep breath”, they’ll go and it’s a big breath here in the chest, that’s not going to help. It needs to be right down into the tummy – it’s that diaphragm breathing, and that serves a lot of purposes. Because first of all, when you do that few deep breaths, it will help to relax you. It will slow everything down. It gives your voice more volume – so it means that you’re speaking from down there rather than speaking up high in the chest. Because quite often people feel that they, you know, that they’re running out of breath, that they’re getting breathless, that their voice is a bit wobbly.

Mark

Trying to catch up with themselves.

Maureen

Yeah, so that breathing will really help that. And it also helps to slow down your speech. And when you slow down your speech, you’re less likely to use “ums” and “ahs” and all of those filler words.

Mark

Gives you even more time to think about it.

Maureen

Yes. So all of that, that’s a good one. Another is physically to just relax yourself by, you know, the shoulder shrugs and rotating the head and just getting your body physically relaxed.

Mark

It’s best to approach it like an athlete preparing for a match, right? You know, do your loosening up like you’re saying, do your stretches. Mentally and physically, I suppose. Yeah, that’s a great tip.

Maureen

Drink water, avoid tea and coffee, you know, and drink your water so that you’re keeping your voice, your throat lubricated and all of that. And some people find the power pose – Amy Cuddy was talking about this power pose. Very powerful and useful. And it’s, you know, standing up to do the Wonder Woman pose. You’re standing, shoulders are back, that you’ve got your hands on your hips, you’re standing with your legs apart.

Mark

It opens up the lungs, I suppose. You’re able to get more air in, and speak better.

Maureen

And the idea behind it is that you’re taking up more space. And that it boosts the testosterone levels, lowers the stress hormone, and that it makes you more confident. And for anything like that, I think try it because what have you got to lose?

Mark

And visually I suppose it helps create a presence within the room, or on screen. Whereas if you’re a kind of like, you know, nervous like this, you’re more shrivelled up.

Maureen

Absolutely.

Mark

Intimidation isn’t the word, but presence. 

Maureen

And that presence is really important. Because people are, you know, subconsciously people are judging you, and ultimately they want to know, can they trust you? If I’m talking about my business and I’m, you know, not looking confident but looking down at the ground.

Mark

You don’t have confidence in yourself, why should I? 

Maureen

Yes. So, you know, you have to be able to show that as well.

Mark

I suppose yeah, body language is very important. How else should someone prepare for presenting themselves on screen, on camera? Dress code, depending on the circumstances, is obviously very important.

Maureen

Yeah, depending on the circumstances. Dress so that you feel comfortable, that you’re also matching the people that you’re going to be speaking to. So if you’re in a trade, if you’re a painter or a plumber, for example, and you’re dressed in a suit talking to people, they’re not going to take you seriously. So you need to think about who your audience is.

Mark

And for a video, they’ll obviously be prepped ahead of time. Especially if there’s a Marketing Director involved. You know it’ll be on brand – whatever logo they might have to wear, the colour of the clothing matches with the background, so that’s not a bit distracting.

Maureen

Absolutely, that everything is going to fit.

Mark

It’s a big part of the puzzle. So, just want to go back, briefly you mentioned the voice being low in the diaphragm. It’s interesting that you said that, because from an audio production point of view, a lot of the time you’ll put the microphone down lower as well, it’s not about the mouth. But it’s interesting, you know, in terms of the speaking confidence, the same thing applies. That was just a little titbit there that I thought was very interesting and lined up nicely. So we can see the crossover of the two skills in that sense. You mentioned the power pose then as well – what should people do with their hands?

Maureen

That’s always a big question, isn’t it?

Mark

And I can think of Angela Merkel always being like this.

Maureen

Yes. And quite often you see tips that say, you know, stand with your hands straight down by your side. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried that and I feel so uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel natural. So finding a way that that works for you. For me, I find if the arm is slightly bent at the elbow, the hands are pretty much based in the centre.

And that you can use the hand for gestures if need be. And then return it to the centre. And that works. Some people speak with their hands, some people are, you know, very demonstrative with their hands. And it’s being careful that it doesn’t become a distraction. So if I start talking to you and my hands are going like this, it becomes a distraction. Whereas if you are using the hands to talk about one point or another, and you’ve got the way in which you’re speaking about it.

Mark

It’s a measured approach.

Maureen

It makes sense, yeah. So, it’s being careful with that.

Mark

And would that be if someone is being overly dramatic with their hands, that’s a sign of nerves potentially? Is it that they’re overcompensating?

Maureen

Sometimes it’s their personality. Some cultures are more demonstrative with their hands – in Ireland, we don’t tend to be. But you might have individuals and then sometimes it can be that they’re nervous as well.

Mark

And when that starts to kick in with someone, say they are mid-speech, for example, either to a live audience, or maybe they’re doing a few different takes to camera, and they can see themselves are starting to talk a bit quicker, they’re losing control of the hands a little bit – is there anything that they can do to kind of settle themselves in the moment?

Maureen

A couple of things – nobody will notice if you pause for a drink of water.

Mark

Yeah, so tactical water!

Maureen

Always have a drink beside you. Because people don’t notice, or they’re not going to think, “oh my goodness, she’s nervous” or “she forgot what she was going to say”. So the water, and just consciously pause yourself down for a moment, take a deep breath, become aware of what’s happening, and consciously slow things down and take back control.

Because if your speech is going too fast, or your breathing is getting out of control, or your voice is getting wobbly, you’re losing control of what’s happening. So it’s regaining that control. But I would suggest that you plan that in advance, and that you practice what that’s going to look like. 

Mark

So it’s not a sudden reaction.

Maureen

Yeah. You know, when I’m working with clients very often we take a look at, well, what are you afraid of? What’s the worst thing that can happen? And then, well, what can we do if that happens? So whether it’s a case that they forget what they’re going to say, or slides don’t work, or somebody asks an awkward question – plan for those, prepare for those, and know what you’re going to do if it happens.

Mark

And would they be the most common hiccups that one could come across, like the PowerPoint slides not working, or maybe an awkward question from that awkward person down the back of the crowd?

Maureen

Yes. Yeah, it can be. And again, it falls into that general preparation. Part of that planning is part of the preparation that you would have in advance. So yeah, the slides not working or not being able to see their notes with the slides is a big thing if somebody is presenting. And the answer to that is back to what I was talking about, know what you’re what you’re going to be talking about and have minimum dependency on your slides.

Mark

Well, even from an audience watching in a live environment, if you see a PowerPoint slide and it’s just full of stuff, for me anyway, I’m just like, “oh, great. Switch off”.

Maureen

Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. The slides have to be there for the benefit of the audience. They’re not the notes for the speaker.

Mark

Don’t be relying on it. Let the information come you, and not from the slides. And in that environment, say eye contact for example – what’s a good level of eye contact or is there too much? You don’t want to be staring at someone. Or like if you’re looking at your shoes, obviously don’t want to do that either. What’s the best way to approach, especially presenting to a lot of people? Or in a case like this, we have crew members just off camera here, so there’s a lot of eyes on us at the moment, as well as tree cameras. So, you know, that can be intimidating for some people. What what’s the best way to kind of, you know, take all that on board and say, okay, when to look on, how not to look.

Maureen

So I think if you think about a normal conversation, if you’re having a chat with somebody like what we’re having here, you’re not going to be staring somebody and eyeballing them for the whole time because it’s just a bit weird. So in this situation here, forget about the cameras, forget about anybody else who’s off screen. And what you’re focusing is on the conversation that you’re having the person in front of you.

If you are in a situation where you’re delivering to a large audience, it’s focusing on individuals in the audience, and making eye contact with them for, my advice is for what feels comfortable to you. You see advice sometimes and it says, you know, hold somebody’s eye contact for three seconds – now personally I find that too long. Okay, so I do less than that, but it depends on what you’re feeling comfortable with. But have a think about where you’re going to be standing on the stage, where you’re going to be making your eye contact, how you’re going to do that scan – because if I start here and just scan, you know, I’m like a lighthouse light just moving back and forth, that’s not good. That’s not going to work. So you’re looking to see, you know, that you’re making some eye contact. Maybe the front left, and then it might be the back right. And you’re moving around.

Mark

And it helps give the impression that you’re addressing everyone in the room. You mentioned during the start of our conversation about taking 20 takes to do your own pieces to camera for social media. How did you get used to doing that? Do you like watching yourself back?

Maureen

Oh, who likes watching themselves back on camera?!

Mark

I’m dreading watching myself back!

Maureen

Because what do we focus on? We focus on, you know, my nose is too big, or I hate the sound of my voice or all of these multitude of things. So what I would share with you to give to your listeners is, a link to a checklist that I have done out. It’s a feedback checklist and it looks at things objectively. So recording yourself is a great way to practice before you have an event coming up, a speaking event coming up or video. And then use a checklist to see what areas you’re already good at, and what areas you need some help with. So for example, you might be focusing on your hands. Are you using your hands too much? You know, is that staring or have you got good eye contact? Have you got lots of ums and ahs? What’s your pace like? Are you speaking too quickly? And you’ve got all of that on the checklist. Look to see areas that, yeah that’s fine I’m okay on that, but I could work on this.

Mark

And that would be ideal for preparing for a professional video shoot if the script is already prepared in advance, which it should be. Just give it a practice in the mirror, it’s basically the same thing as practising on your phone.

Maureen

I would disagree with that, actually. I would, yeah. Because I think for me, when I’m practising in the mirror, I’m focusing on looking at myself. Rather than focusing on what I’m saying and imagining that I’m delivering it, whereas a video, you can forget about it and then look back at afterwards.

Mark

So you can put the phone down. You might be doing something, whatever it is. Listen back to yourself. That’s a very interesting point.

Maureen

Yeah, that’s what works for me at least.

Mark

So following on from that point there about practicing in front of a mirror, or maybe not practicing in front of a mirror, what would you recommend to your own clients and what type of clients do you have?

Maureen

What I recommend to the clients is exactly what I’ve said to you to there today. You know, your starting point is your practice. You need to know your audience, regardless of whether that’s for a video that you’re doing or if that’s going to be a talk that you’re doing at a conference – it’s knowing that audience. That can be challenging as well, and I’ve got a checklist on that one as well, so I can share that with you. It is that knowing your audience.

My background is teaching, so I sort of believe in making things simple, and having a structured approach to everything, so having that preparation work done beforehand. But the type of clients that I have vary because typically I work 1 to 1 with a lot of people who are new into leadership positions.

So they want to get that confidence for how they are going to lead meetings, deliver presentations. I mean, I have had people who have been promoted and said, “I’ve managed to get away without presenting up until now, but I can’t avoid it anymore”. It’s a huge block for people. And then delivering in-house presentations, I do quite a lot of that with a variety of teams. Sometimes it’s sales teams who want to improve their presentations, sometimes it’s internal teams that they want to improve the quality of meetings and presentations that they have at meetings. So always willing to have a conversation, because very often if I’m not the right person for you, I know somebody who is and I can guide you in the right direction.

Mark

And what’s the best place for people to reach out to you for that conversation?

Maureen

My website is softskillssuccess.ie and they can contact me through that. And I’m on social media, preferred platform is LinkedIn and Instagram.

Mark

So they can see all your videos there that you’ve been practising yourself.

Maureen

So they can go back to my YouTube channel, back to the early days, and see if there’s an improvement.

Mark

Well, it just goes to show practice makes perfect.

Maureen

Practice makes improvement.

Mark

Practice makes improvement. Okay. Very good.

Maureen

Yeah, yeah. Thank you. And that’s another I think if we if we aim for perfection all the time we’re putting ourselves. Under undue stress.

Mark

Yeah.

Maureen

You know, if we stumble over a word, if we say an “um” or an “ah”, it’s not the end of the world, you know? So give ourselves a break on things like that.

Mark

Well, Maureen, that’s all great information. Really appreciate that today. To summarise for yourself, what would your top three takeaways be from today’s conversation?

Maureen

I would say always do your preparation well in advance. And that doesn’t mean having it scripted, but it does mean having a at least an outline of what you want to say. Know who your audience is and what’s going to appeal to them, what challenges they might have and how you’re going to address those, and then be prepared as well for what might go wrong.

Mark

And a little bonus tip, maybe?

Maureen

And a bonus tip, enjoy the process!

Mark

So enjoy the process is a great way to wrap up our conversation today. Thanks very much for coming on the show today.

Maureen

My pleasure. Thanks a million, Mark.

Outro

Mark

I hope the tips discussed today helped put your mind at ease for the next speaking engagement you have coming up. Whether it’s a presentation to your team, or maybe to your entire company. Or maybe it’s given you the confidence to commit to the video project you’ve been putting off for so long. Speaking of, now that we’ve covered all the reasons why you should invest in video, and how to prepare for featuring in the video, what happens next?

What actually happens during a video shoot? We’ll be discussing this and more in our next, and sadly, final episode of Video Vantage. If you have any questions about the topics raised in today’s episode, please don’t hesitate to contact me, via the Media Mill website at mediamill.ie. Until then, I’ve been your host, Mark O’Connor, and this has been Video Vantage.