(upbeat electronic music)
- How does a shy introverted person
gain confidence and get comfortable talking to a camera
to you create videos like this?
Does it really just come down to practice,
or is there something else that we can do
to remove the fear and anxiety and awkwardness
of talking to a camera?
Well, in this video, I'm gonna share my best tips
for making videos feel easy
so that you feel comfortable on camera
and come off as confident to your viewers.
You know, the advice we often hear for this is,
"Oh, you just have to do it.
Just practice makes perfect.
It's like ripping of a BAND-AID, right?"
And that's not untrue, but as a total introvert
with almost six million views here on YouTube,
I have some tricks up my sleeve to get confident
and comfortable on camera fast
so that making videos is a lot easier
for us introverted types.
Because the sooner we can actually get comfortable
on camera, the more content we can create,
the faster we can grow as an online business,
as a side hustler.
Plus, friends, listen.
When you're not comfortable on camera,
your viewers can sense that.
It's uncomfortable for us to watch you be uncomfortable
in your videos.
So let's move past the awkward stage as quickly as possible.
If you're new here, my name is Meredith Marsh
and this channel is dedicated
to helping your side hustle thrive with video
so that you can be the boss of your own future.
And it really just comes down to taking the right steps
in the right direction.
So hit that Subscribe button now
so you can keep moving forward.
Now I remember the first time that I recorded videos
for this channel.
It was just me and my camera, in my living room,
at my old house.
I remember it so well.
And I sat on the couch because I thought,
well, I wanna be comfortable on camera,
so I'll be comfortable on my couch, right?
Free video editing software that you can use
to edit home movie.
You know, one of my favorite sayings now is,
cringe-worthy before binge-worthy.
And I think everyone has to go through
that cringe-worthy stage at some point.
I can remember like opening my mouth to speak to the camera
and I just said,
"This is so awkward."
But I did it anyway.
I practiced. I kept going.
And over time, I picked up some tips
from some other people and developed some tips
for my own self.
I swear, the sun is like trying to sabotage this video.
So I'm gonna share my best tips with you
because I 100% believe that it really comes down
to more than just practice.
Because let's be honest, you can practice
over and over again and still keep making
the same mistakes over and over again.
So tip number one is practice talking to yourself.
Yes, you can practice talking to a camera,
but even just practicing talking out loud
when you're washing your dishes or driving in your car.
I used to do this on my way back and forth from work.
I had about a 15-minute commute,
so it worked really well for me.
And I would just practice talking about the things
that I would be talking about in my videos.
And you know, your brain can write things down on paper,
it can type things out on, you know,
in a Word document or something,
but it's different when your brain is spitting things out
of your mouth.
And so the more practice you have doing that
about the topics you'll be covering in your videos,
the more natural it will be when you actually do sit
in front of a camera and hit record.
Tip number two is start with topics
that you're already confident talking about.
Are there things that you could stand up
and give a speech on right now without much preparation?
Those things are already in your brain.
You're already used to talking about them
and thinking about them and teaching about them, probably.
So start with the stuff
that you're already comfortable talking about.
Tip number three is kind of ironic for this video,
but that is to have great lighting.
Now how does great lighting
actually help boost your confidence?
Well, when you go and put your videos into your computer
and you go to edit them,
when your face comes on the screen,
you wanna look at them and go,
"Wow, I look really good on camera."
You don't wanna look at them and say,
"Wow, I can see my wrinkles
and these spots and those spots and gray hairs coming in."
When you have good lighting,
that stuff is not as accentuated.
It doesn't really draw your attention to it.
So great lighting is always a good tip.
Now today, I'm shooting here in my living room.
I don't have any artificial lights on
other than the living room lamp.
So I have a window over there,
and the sun keeps peeking out from the clouds.
So the lighting is not perfect, and that's okay.
I'm comfortable with that imperfection
because I'm trying to get my videos out consistently.
That's something that I talked about in a recent video
about how to stay consistent is to avoid the feeling
that everything has to be perfect.
'Cause it's never gonna be perfect.
Tip number four is actually to stand up in your videos,
which I did at the very beginning of this one.
This helped me a ton, really, honestly,
it was a game changer for me when I first started.
I already mentioned that I thought
that being comfortable on camera meant
I should be physically comfortable,
so I sat on my couch.
And the result was
kind of like blah.
Whereas, once I heard the tip of standing up
to do your videos because it gives you a little more energy,
total game changer.
Like it triggers something in my brain
that I have something important to say.
And so like naturally, that confidence kinda comes out.
And I feel a lot more comfortable doing that.
Then the result in the end
is that I do have more energy on camera.
Now I have a lotta practice,
so I can bring the energy even though I'm sitting
on my couch.
But I also have a lotta practice that I've put into this
at about five, six years into my YouTube channel now.
Tip number five. (beep)
Okay, tip number five. (beep)
Tip number five. (beep)
Tip number five is to do as many re-takes as you need
in order to feel like what came out of you
feels natural and comfortable.
When I have a script or notes that I'm going off of
for my videos, generally,
I try to deliver just one or two sentences at a time.
That's really all my brain can handle.
I don't use a teleprompter and I don't read from a script.
It's all in here, but it's coming from my notes.
And so if I mess up my words,
I just redo the whole sentence or the whole paragraph
or I start over, whatever.
When it comes time to edit,
you will never regret redoing a section
that you weren't 100% confident about.
You're already here, your hair is done, your makeup is done,
your camera's on, your batteries are charged,
your mic's plugged in.
Redo it 17 times if you have to.
Honest to God, I do that all the time.
Tip number six is expect it to feel weird.
Nobody is born knowing how to talk to the camera.
It's not a natural thing.
So you have to kinda do whatever you have to do
to make it feel natural for you.
And if it doesn't feel natural, you're not alone.
We all feel awkward talking to a camera.
We do it anyway.
And tip number seven, this is my all-time favorite tip.
This is like my secret sauce, my secret weapon,
as an introvert, as a shy person
who doesn't naturally talk to a camera.
This actually works for recording YouTube videos.
It works for attending a conference
or a public gathering of any kind
and even works for public speaking,
speaking at a conference.
And the tip is to simply pretend.
Pretend that you're not a shy introvert.
What would it look like if you just showed up on camera
as a confident person?
If you could pretend to be an extrovert,
nobody knows the difference.
Nobody knows that you feel awkward
or that you don't feel confident
or that you're actually an introvert.
All they know is what you show them.
So show them that you're confident.
Ultimately, though, you don't have to be comfortable
on camera in order to create a video.
And in fact, I challenge you to be confident
in the uncomfortable.
Find confidence in the uncomfortable.
You know, when you take just one little step outside
of your comfort zone, your comfort zone gets bigger.
Now of course, there are some things you can do
to look professional and look legit on camera,
like with lighting and audio and equipment
and things like that
so that not only do you feel confident and comfortable,
but your viewers see you as confident and legit.
They take you seriously.
They stick around. They watch more videos.
They hit Subscribe.
And I've queued up my next video here
because that's exactly what I cover.
So after you hit the Subscribe button,
I'll see you over there.