- So script or no script?
There are a lot of people who will tell you
that they don't use a script.
I am one of them, and that's me.
I usually know my content totally cold.
It's usually for me a matter of storytelling,
speaking from experience.
And that's probably why I'm on this stage right now.
But that's not for everybody.
And when you're in a service or a product industry,
and when you're trying to build reputation
and you want people to trust you,
you can go one of two ways on this.
You can go with a script,
or sorry, you can with a lack of a script,
which means that you're off the cuff,
you're in real time, you're authentic.
This is where using things like YouTube Live
and doing Q and A can come into play.
But you would have to know your content cold.
You'd also have to be very confident
and comfortable, and when you're just starting out,
that's probably not the easiest thing to do.
Does anyone here, when they're in a completely
new situation, get a little bit of anxiety?
If I told you guys that I'm actually, really straight up
an introvert, you guys probably don't believe me, right?
I actually used to suffer from severe anxiety,
social anxiety.
When I was a kid, I breathed into a paper bag
because I would get palpitations.
And now I'm in here on stage, talking to you guys
like off the top of my head about things I know
and things I care about.
And I've made a thousand videos.
So that means, guess what, you can win
if you're an introvert in this audience,
you can win and you can get comfortable on camera
like I did by sucking out loud with 50, 60
videos before you get it right.
And then, maybe one day you're on stage
as a subject matter expert trying to help other people.
Because what I did was I used what I knew
and what I cared about and what mattered to me,
things like cameras and camera gear, photography, video,
design and branding, the things that I would make
my friends and family's ears bleed with
because they don't care about it,
and I found I reached an audience that would care about it.
In a situation where I wasn't necessarily comfortable
to do that, I would have used a script.
In doing tutorial videos when I started out
trying to teach people Photoshop, I had to use
at least an outline as a script because I needed
to make sure that I'm walking through the process
in a way that makes sense and in the order
that would let someone follow along easily
and not be intimidated.
I need to relieve their anxiety.
And having a script relieved my anxiety about doing it.
So don't think you have to know all your stuff cold
and you have to be able to do it off the top of your head
to be good, and also don't think if you don't use
a script that you're doing it wrong
and you're unprofessional.
You have to be self-aware and confident in knowing
what your strengths are and just play to them.
So if you do better with a script, use a script.
If you need a teleprompter, use it.
Don't let anybody intimidate you out of doing
what makes sense for you and what's gonna work.
So again, just do you, do what works.
So here's some tips for scripting.
Give your content structure, this is one of the benefits.
Being able to break something down into a process
that makes sense, that's really good.
Scripting can also keep you concise and organized.
I usually love going without slides,
but one of the benefits of having slides here
is that it keeps me from rambling.
Because I could do that, really easily.
It also lets you communicate clearly.
Being able to communicate your point clearly
is going to be part of what creates quality for people.
It's quality of experience.
Again, not about fancy expensive camera gear.
It's about quality of experience.
And quality of experience is what is gonna happen
when you're clear, when you're making points,
when you relate to people, and what's gonna help
some of you do that is knowing where you're going.
In the same way that an idea is a destination
and then the execution is the path, a script is that,
and the performance is the path to delivering on that.
So I just want you guys to keep that in mind.
It also can, for the production side of things,
for filming, it can go ahead and it can create
some guidelines for you or for whoever your
video production people are.
If we know that, all right, we're going to be doing
a demo today of a product, and we've outlined it
and we have a script, it means that the camera people
and the production people know,
okay, we're showing off these Ginsu knives,
so make sure you're getting some b-roll footage
of me like chopping up the tomatoes,
chopping up the cucumbers and everything like that.
Because we're gonna wanna cut away to that
to demonstrate the value of the product, right?
We probably can't do that while I'm actually talking
about it at the same time,
so let's film some of that in advance.
Scripts let you do that.
If you're doing everything improv,
you have no choice but to rely on your charisma
and your ability to deliver in real time
and on the value of your content,
and in a lot of cases that will be good enough.
But in the event that you make a mistake,
you end up having to live with it.
I recommend improvving with at least an outline.
If you aren't gonna read a script,
maybe have bullet points of what you want to cover.
Or maybe have at least three talking points
that you know, I absolutely have to nail these,
or at least have your call to action written down
and at least go over that a few times.
So let's talk about some of the values of improvisation.
We talked about authenticity.
Everybody here knows that being authentic,
being your real self, is the future of business.
I think we heard that in somebody's presentation today.
So I would encourage you to explore how you can
eventually get into situations
where you can just go in real time
or off the top of your head or use some type
of improvisation and get yourself confident.
And remember, you could do this even if you're
not gonna publish it, even if you're not gonna
put it out into the world.
You could do it just to get used to it and to build up.
And then it means, if you do a little bit of improv,
by the time you do a script, if you are forced
to go off script you will be comfortable because you have
the experience of it before.
So you can look at that.
It also lets you do those pivot points naturally
in the future like we just talked about.
And it also can let you create a strong bond
with your audience, because right now,
right now, I could, primary example,
can I get a volunteer from the audience real quick?
All right, I'm gonna pick you, Stephanie.
Okay, so I'm gonna show you in real time
the power of improvisation and how you can do that.
By the way, Stephanie, vouch for everyone
that this is not like pre-rehearsed.
- No, but I am obsessed with him,
just to let you know that.
(audience laughing)
- Okay, awesome.
Professional fan girl, everybody.
- I've watched all of his YouTube videos,
and they're amazing.
- All right, so what's something that you've never
asked me in the comments of a YouTube video
that you've always wanted to ask me?
- Well I asked it earlier.
- Ask another one.
Don't ask that, because that one's not gonna be,
we're not gonna do pre-rehearsed,
we're gonna do super improv.
Ask me something else, ask me anything else.
- What do you do when suddenly
you have a very loud airplane going by
in the middle of your set?
- Is this a livestream?
- Yeah, you're trying to be professional.
You don't want them to know that
like you're shooting in your bathroom.
- All right, so when chaos happens, if it's live.
- When chaos happens, what do you do?
- So when chaos happens, when it's live,
what I would do in that situation is be self-effacing.
Self-effacing humor.
Make fun of the chaos, and make it an experience
point so that you can have that bond with your audience,
and then you can make it a inside joke.
You can make it a inside joke,
and then you have a relationship and a bond
with your audience that you didn't have before.
So use the chaos as I think someone, Petyr Baelish,
would say, use the chaos as a ladder.
Anybody know that reference?
Anybody here a Game of Thrones nerd like me?
No, nobody?
Best show on television, and nobody's watching.
Like, do we just not have HBO?
(audience laughing)
So yeah, see, self-effacing humor.
I didn't get enough of you to raise your hand
and be fans of Game of Thrones,
so I had to use self-effacing humor.
So that is the value of improv right there.
Thank you so much, Stephanie.
Guys, give her a round of applause.
(audience cheering)
- Seriously watch his YouTube channel,
because it changed my business.
For real, and I told him that earlier.
- Boom.
All right, can't ask for a better testimonial than that.
And see that's another thing that
you guys can do, by the way.
You have the power to
use situations like that, and use video
to create value for your audience
but also to prove credibility, and sometimes that comes
in the form of testimonials.
Sometimes it comes in the form of doing Q and A like that.
Showing that you're a subject matter expert,
that you're an authority.