Very rarely can any one of us memorize a script and have it come across as
natural. That is the job for Brad Pitt. Wait, Brad Pitt,
I don't know if he's the best actor. Who would be a better actor?
The other day I was asked this question,
how do I avoid sharing pictures of myself in videos and still give a personal
and rawness to these videos? Now,
this person was referring to Instagram Story videos,
so if that's something you've struggled with,
this idea of needing to show up in videos for your business on Instagram
Stories, but actually not wanting to, feeling uncomfortable about it,
you're in the right place because today's video is all about getting comfortable
on camera.
Now I get that showing up on camera is not everyone's favorite thing to do.
In fact, it's not my first choice. I studied media,
I studied broadcasting,
but what I found as a student was that I actually preferred to be behind the
camera. I prefer to be the videographer, the producer, the director.
It was just more of my comfort zone, so I'm an introvert at heart.
It's not my natural state to be performing on camera.
So if you can relate to that at all, know that I get it.
And I'm going to share tips with you to help you slowly ease into this feeling
of being okay on camera because the truth is being on video for your business
does wonders and I want your business to grow.
So that's why I thought today's topic was super important to cover.
And stay tuned until the end where I'm going to share some of my best
preparation tips that I still use today so that I never freak out or worry about
what I'm about to say whenever the camera is flashing record or even when it's
saying Live. So stay tuned for that.
The strategies I'm sharing with you today have worked for me personally over the
last 10 years,
which is about the time when I started studying broadcast journalism and really
started to hone in on my camera skills. Queue old video of me as a student.
Oh my, ew! Hello there and welcome to RUTV news.
Hi and welcome to RUTV news. Mustache season is underway. In a perfect world,
I could sleep on Gould street in a white jacket any day of the year.
I'm Elise Darma and I've helped thousands of entrepreneurs like yourself use
Instagram so that it actually becomes a revenue stream in your business and
today I'm covering how to be comfortable on camera specifically in your
Instagram Stories. And if you're not yet a subscriber here on my channel,
go ahead and hit the subscribe button and the bell so that you don't miss any
future free trainings like this one.
Let's talk about being on camera right away.
I want to mention that it is not natural to be speaking to a phone or a camera,
which is essentially just metal and glass.
It's not a natural thing to be able to do this right away,
but the good news is it's kind of like working out. The more you do it,
the easier it becomes because you are flexing and growing that muscle.
So keep that in mind.
The next thing I want to touch on is your mindset before you show up on camera.
Now for most people,
being on camera is stepping outside of the old comfort zone.
And when we step outside of the comfort zone,
our reptilian brain is usually shouting, no, no, no, don't do it.
Our reptilian brain is there to keep us alive. It's a survival mechanism,
but it doesn't really know that we're not actually going into danger by being on
camera. So in those moments when I'm getting super nervous or worked up,
I always stop and ask myself,
what's the worst thing that could happen right now? Well, if I'm being truthful,
the worst thing is I would die, right?
But am I going to die by appearing on camera right now?
Chances are no. So I know it's a little morbid. It's a little dark,
but honestly, it keeps me going because it allows me to take that risk.
Knowing that worst case scenario is not going to happen.
I am going to get through this. I am going to survive it,
no matter how nervous I feel. Now,
if you're totally brand new to talking on camera, welcome to the club.
I have an exercise for you so that you can start flexing that muscle.
And the exercise is this.
It's to grab your smartphone and start a daily video diary.
Okay, so you're just going to grab your phone and hit the video button and start
recording your daily diary notes to your phone or your camera.
The key is you're not going to share this publicly anywhere.
It's literally just for you.
You can keep the files and look at them 10 years from now if you want,
but it's truly just to get used to speaking to camera.
And I then want you to replay the videos back so that you can see how you appear
on camera. Sometimes we get in our head a lot or we do, um,
nervous ticks or movements with our hands or eyes or can't stop touching our
hair. But you're not going to find those things out until you actually practice.
So start a daily video diary. Again,
it's not going to be seen by anyone,
it's purely just for you to get used to talking and projecting like I am right
now to a device, not a human,
and seeing what that looks like for the viewer.
Next I want to talk about your set and how to prepare yourself to actually hit
that go live or that record button.
So when it comes to your notes or your talking points,
I don't recommend it to write a script.
Very rarely can any one of us memorize a script and have it come across as
natural. Let's all save that job for Meryl Streep.
For us business owners who are just going on Instagram,
remember it's a 15 second video clip. So if you need notes,
I would only recommend to write down bullet point notes of what you need to
remember to say and honestly 15 seconds goes by really quickly.
So you're only really going to have room for one or two bullet points.
Now in terms of your set before you actually go onto camera,
few things to keep in mind: remember to face the light where possible.
So generally for most people that's a matter of finding their window and making
sure that the light is coming onto their face.
The next thing you want to do is look at your background.
What's going on behind you. Make sure it's not looking too cluttered or messy,
if you have the time. I know for me,
my kitchen is right behind me in my background usually,
and there's a bright purple oven mitt that's always showing in my Stories.
So when I remember, I just remove it because it distracts me.
So it probably distracts my viewers too. Totally optional,
but something you can consider getting is a tripod for your phone.
So this is a heavy duty tripod that I use for camera work,
but I have an attachment up here that's specific for my phone.
So all I do is attach it here and then it screws in the back.
And I use this for when I want to go hands-free.
I'll put my phone up here so that my hands can be free to wave about as I'm
talking in my Instagram Stories. So again, totally optional,
but if you are going to be doing more videos in your business,
I really do recommend to get just a mini tripod and a smartphone holder.
So if you're interested in the ones that I use,
I'll leave the links right below this video. Lastly,
I want to touch on your appearance. Now you don't need to get glammed up,
that's not the point,
but sometimes it helps to take 30 seconds to just smooth or comb your hair,
maybe put it in a ponytail. And I also like to grab lip balm.
Put some lip balm on because it's a lot easier to speak when your lips aren't
dry. Lastly, if you're feeling a little bit nervous,
I recommend the old power stance.
So you're gonna stand up your feet apart and you're going to put your hands on
your hips and press your chest out.
That just allows for the energy to flow,
for the nervous energy to trickle away and just allows you to really bring that
confident energy to when you're speaking on camera.
Let's talk about your delivery on camera.
So first thing I recommend is to get to know your phone if that's what you're
speaking to. And for me, my iPhone 10 I believe it is,
the camera lens is up here.
So even though when I open up my camera and I can see my face and my eyes are
right about here, I don't want to be looking here.
I want to be looking at the lens. Now,
this initially can be hard to train yourself to do so.
If you find that you're always looking at your eyes' reflection in the camera
and not at the lens up here, what you can do is grab a sticky,
a sticker and just put it right next to the camera as a visual reminder to look
there and not at yourself.
Next thing is to remember to speak to your camera as if you are speaking to a
friend, so if you have that sticky next to your camera lens,
you can even go ahead and write a friend's name on that sticky note.
Maybe your friend's name is Becky.
I want you to speak to your camera as if you're speaking to Becky.
That means use slang, use emotion. I know for me,
I have a broadcast background,
so I sometimes tend to go into "journalist mode",
which is emotion-less usually.
So I have to remind myself to speak to Becky. I'm going to be casual.
My sense of humor is going to be there. You know,
I'm going to stumble over my words,
but I'm going to keep going and that's the key.
That is really important for Instagram and being on camera in general because
people aren't looking for perfection.
They're looking to connect with you as if they were having a conversation with
you. Next, I want you to remember to speak with energy,
so if you do a recording and then you play it back and you think that you sound
bored or low energy, I want you to do that clip again.
Hey guys,
I just wanted to pop on here really quickly and say happy Monday.
I hope you're having a fantastic day.
Sometimes when we're talking to ourselves or a camera,
it's natural to mumble or speak low,
but this isn't the time to speak low.
This is the time to project and bring your energy, so to keep your energy up,
you might want to stand up.
I find that that is easier to really deliver energy from my gut and not from my
chest, if that makes sense. So when you're speaking from down here,
I feel like it's a much better delivery. And again, if you make a mistake,
I encourage you to keep going.
People don't mind stumbles and it's better for you to post it with a few
stumbles than to get sucked into a black hole of trying to retake and retake and
retake and really trying to aim for perfection when that's not the goal here.
My last tip for you is to remember to smile.
This is something I have to remind myself all the time.
At least when I begin to speak,
I always want to start with a smile because my natural facial muscles are to be
more of a downward slope, let's call it.
Some people call it "resting beach face", I like to call it.
So to make sure you're coming across as friendly and not angry or sad,
I recommend you start smiling when you speak.
It just brings all your muscles upwards and makes you come across as a lot more
friendly and approachable.
Now that you're primed and ready with my best tips on how to perform and speak
on camera, especially with your Instagram Stories, I want know,
can I take one more thing off your plate?
Can I take away the question of, 'What do I post to my Stories today?
If so, I'd love to introduce you to my product called Story Vault.
Story Vault is 800 ideas that you could share in your Instagram Stories to
actually grow your business. Inside of Story Vault,
I cover all seasons of business, whether you're looking for visibility,
engagement, leads, and sales.
All businesses go through these seasons and I've got you covered inside of Story
Vault, so I'll leave the link right below this video.
Go ahead and check it out and grab yourself 800 Story ideas for your business.
I promise you that Story Vault is going to make your life 10 times easier.
Like Rashida Joyce who joined and said, "It is really awesome.
I honestly can't believe it's only $27 and I did the upgrade and it's packed
with even more value." So again, go ahead and check out Story Vault.
The link is right below this video. To ease and revenue.
I'll see you in the next video.
Thanks for watching today's training on how to be amazing on camera,
especially in your Stories. If you like this video,
please subscribe and hit the bell so that you don't miss any future trainings
like this one.