Sometimes talking to a camera can feel
very uncomfortable and awkward.
And I want to give you guys a few tips
that really helped me learn how to feel comfortable
in front of a camera and communicate the message that I
want to share.
That's coming up.
Hey guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer.
And it is Thursday, which means it's time
to do some YouTube Q&A with you guys
like we do every week here at Video Creators.
One of you wrote and asked this question,
how to overcome the fear of being on camera?
I mean, how to speak fluently to the camera
so that it sounds natural?
Great question.
Let me give you a couple things that have helped me.
Number one is that it just takes practice.
It just really does.
It's something that you do over and over and over again.
The more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes.
If you'd like to see my very first YouTube video ever,
I'll link to it in the subscription below.
You can go check it out.
It is awkward.
It is so painful to watch.
But everyone starts somewhere, right?
Now, this doesn't mean you have to make
a lot of high production value videos
and then just throw them away because you need to practice.
One of the best ways is just use your cellphone
or a simple little camera that you have
and just talk to it at normal points throughout your day.
If you want to show someone something that you're doing,
maybe consider just posing it as a short 30-second video
to Twitter or maybe to Facebook or something just
to kind of get used to talking to the camera.
Number two is to envision your audience when
you're talking to the camera.
Like, when I talk to you guys like right now,
I actually-- I'm picturing your little YouTube avatar
icons in my head.
And I feel like, oh, this is how Gary
is going to respond to this.
And this is how Scott is going to respond to that.
And so because you guys have been commenting so frequently
on these videos, I kind of feel like I've
grown to know you a little bit and your responses
so that when I record these videos, I'm looking at a camera
but I actually don't see it.
I see your comments and I see your guys' faces
and I actually think of people.
So it feels a lot more natural to me
to stand here and do this, because it almost
feels like I'm just starting a conversation with you
through these videos.
So when you are learning to talk on camera, try that.
Maybe when you talk to the camera picture people,
your friends, people that you think
are going to be responding or whatever,
instead of just looking at this black box that
has glass on the front of it and a microphone on top, maybe.
And the third thing I would say is
that often people who struggle to be on camera
are also really hard on themselves,
like they are their worst critic.
And I would just encourage you to back off a little bit.
Give yourself some freedom to make mistakes,
to mispronounce a word or whatever.
Just get into the habit of being human on camera
and being comfortable publishing that even if according to you
you're not some sort of like big high quality
celebrity on camera, because the truth is, when you have
little mishaps, little bloopers, little mistakes in your videos,
that actually increases the human element
and makes it easier for people on the other side
watching you to feel like, oh, OK.
This is an actual real person here.
Maybe they chuckle a little bit with you.
No one is thinking, like, oh, how
dare they put this on the internet because they
made that little mistake right there or something.
So don't be too hard on yourself.
I have found that most of the time the things that
keep people from feeling comfortable on camera
are often personal issues or something they
believe about themselves or fears
or insecurities or something.
So just push past the discomfort.
It might feel awkward for a little bit.
But believe in yourself and give yourself more credit
than you are.
You deserve more credit than you probably give yourself.
And then number four, I think the last thing
I want to say to you guys is that I've
found that a lot of times people who feel uncomfortable
on camera actually look really uncomfortable on camera, which
makes the viewer feel uncomfortable.
So just one little tip is just smile a lot.
Like a smile's very disarming.
It's very personable.
It makes it easier for the viewer to relax.
It makes you relax.
Now, I'm not saying you should awkwardly smile
throughout the whole thing and just make it really awkward,
because that's not what I'm talking about.
But just naturally smile, especially
in the beginning when you first start talking
and at the end of your video.
Just have those bookends of like warmth, you know?
Often a question that goes along with this conversation is,
should I use a teleprompter and a script or not?
And I would say that's up to each individual.
I personally don't script these.
In fact, I really didn't even have
much of an idea of what I was going
to say before I started hitting Record in this video's case.
Sometimes I do kind of list out some bullet points.
But most of the time, I don't script because then I
feel like I come off as more robotic and more like I'm
reading something to you than actually trying to start
a conversation with you.
But I do know many other YouTube creators who actually prefer
to use a script and they stay much more task
and on target, so that's something
you're going to have to experiment with.
Find out what works best for you.
But if I had to recommend a place to start,
I would probably recommend having an idea in your head
before you hit Record of what you
want to talk about, and then not using a script just so you
get comfortable talking.
And then later, if you feel like you
need to go to a teleprompter and a script, that's fine.
I would love to hear from you guys in the comments below,
what advice you would have for someone
who feels a little shy and uneasy on camera.
What has helped you really come out and be able to express
yourself and feel comfortable?
Share those tips and ideas.
And if that is and you are learning
how to work through this, definitely
read the comments that people are leaving down there for you.
They will be very helpful, I know.
I learned from people here all the time.
The community here is awesome.
And if you're not a part of the community already,
I would love to have you subscribe to this channel.
Every week we publish videos just
like this to help you guys as YouTube creators with some Q&A
stuff.
Every Tuesday we talk about some of the updates
happening on YouTube and talk about the implications
it has for us as creators.
And then on Wednesdays, I give you some guys
some tips, ideas, suggestions, advice, things
like that to help you guys grow your YouTube channels
and your audiences here, because I really
believe that a lot of you guys have
messages that need to spread and the world needs to hear.
And I want to do everything I can
to help you guys grow your channels so that people can
find you, hear your message, and hopefully have their lives be
changed as a result. So thank you for letting me
a small part of that.
Subscribe, and I'll see you guys again next week.
Bye.