Hey cultivator. Welcome back to my channel. So in today's video,
I'm going to do something fun,
which is showing you how I set up my own video interview station.
I know a lot of us are jumping onto video interviews these days,
but we don't necessarily have the cleanest backdrop and or if we do have a
clean wall that we're up against,
maybe the lighting in front of us is horrendous because we're not in front of a
window. So I'll show you just what my own tech setup is.
In case you want to set up something similar,
because I know with remote work and social distancing in place,
very few of us actually have a home office that meets all of the boxes of
what a true natural setting would look like.
Um, so hopefully with the tips and the tools that I'm going to share with you in
this video today, whether it's your next video interview,
or you're just jumping on a conference call with your coworkers,
you're going to feel really empowered and confident with how you're showing up
on camera and what's behind you in the camera space.
So without further ado, let's dig in,
alright, let me just show you what I'm dealing with in terms of my home office,
because I live in a one bedroom apartment and there really isn't a dedicated
office space. So for me, um,
I set my desk up in this corner, as you can see,
and ideally my back would actually be facing
the other way so that my face could face the big windows and get natural light
on it. However,
the reason why I set it up this way is because this is what you
see on the other end. It's a lot of clutter,
nobody needs to see a kitchen fridge all day, every day. Um,
so again,
this is really the best remedy for me and making sure that I have a
clear backdrop that's, non-distracting non cluttered,
and that is why you always see my window there. All right.
So now that you see the,
my setup and the fact that my kitchen is actually in front of me,
I want to talk about lighting because wherever you're setting up your makeshift
office inside of your home, you probably want to have great lighting,
especially if you're hopping onto evening calls and or your, um,
even on a call during the day. Um,
whenever the sun is coming through the back and you get a ton of backlight,
what happens is your face becomes really dark and you can't see your features
and you kind of look a little bit creepy on camera.
So let me just show you what I mean,
because I'm going to turn off my ring light.
So this is without any lighting, what it would look like on camera, um,
with the light facing my back. So again,
a lot of backlight and not necessarily light in front.
So what I'm going to show you is ring light because it makes all the roles of a
difference.
Alright, so this is my ring light and I just have it clamped onto my
lamp stand, but you could literally clamp it on to anything. My,
um,
desk is actually too thick to clamp on, cause it would go up to like here. Uh,
but if you have like a stack of books or you just have a book and put something
happy on it, that would work too. Um, because it only clamps to like this width.
Uh, but yeah, this is what I'm using right now. And as you can see on,
um, camera,
as I'm filming is super bright and there's so many settings here,
like you could change the type of color it is. Um,
you can change the intensity of how bright or how light you want it.
So again, this is,
um, this is with the ring light and then when I don't have this turned on,
turn it off.
This is the quality and kind of the darkness level that comes up.
So it makes a huge difference.
And this one that I'm going to link in the description box was only $15 on
Amazon, um, which is cool too,
because they do have this little cell phone clamp that you can put your iPhone
into.
I don't use it because I just use everything on my laptop in terms of a
web cam. And let's actually talk about this webcam next,
in terms of the web cam, I am actually using this 10 ADP,
uh, HD Logitech webcam. I think it was less than a hundred dollars on Amazon.
I'll go ahead and link that down below as well out.
But right now I'm using a Lenovo laptop and the quality of the camera that
is built in is very pixelated.
It's not as clear as what this looks like and it's kind of blurry.
So usually if you even just have an, you know, standard Apple laptop,
what comes with it is pretty decent. Um,
but just kind of play around and look and see if you like the crispness as
you're doing video interviews, or you're even just taking pictures,
because let me tell you, this is a small investment for really,
really great quality and I highly recommend it.
Alright, so I have my ring light going, I have my webcam with 10 ADP.
We're all good. Everything's in HD.
Um, next I want to talk about B audio because I don't know about you guys,
but every laptop I've had has not had the best built in Mike.
It often sounds staticky.
Some people tell me I'm in a tunnel and whenever I want a video interview,
I don't like to use like the built in microphone, Jack with the headphones,
because then you just see like these white strings, um, which isn't terrible.
But I think that for a small investment,
you can definitely just pick up one of these.
Um, this is the audio Technica ATR 2100,
and it is an amazing, good quality for the price. Um,
I've had this for over two years and it just makes everything sound so
professional and polished and the quality is really, really strong.
And it also doesn't pick up any of the background feed and noises and
static. You also don't have to worry about like, um, with the headphone jacks,
you know, as you like move or you just stipulate,
maybe like the microphone kind of moves in and out, um,
because it's kind of hanging by his ear,
um, with this it's just sitting on your desk and it's so clear and crisp. Um,
so what you're hearing now is from this microphone, uh,
when I was showing you my apartment earlier, um,
that was actually recorded on my iPhone with my AirPods.
So you could probably hear the difference in quality,
uh, with one of these types of microphones versus an air pod or a built in
microphone. And lastly,
I just wanted to point out that I use a laptop stand.
Um, this is actually really great for ergonomics overall. I highly recommend it,
but also as you are interviewing,
you just always want to make sure that you are eye level to the camera.
Sometimes you can get away with stacking a bunch of books, which I do sometimes.
Uh, but if possible, to just invest in one of these laptop stands,
I think they make a world of a difference. And before I forget, uh,
definitely make sure you pick up one of these. Uh,
this is the anchor for port USB extension,
but you can really use any USB extension for my particular
setup. You need a ring light, you need a microphone,
and then you need to plug the web cam into something.
So if you're like me and have just two ports available, you need another one.
And mine is always occupied by my mouse over here. Um, and my keyboard.
So that's just a quick setup tip for you.
And I believe this is less than $15 on Amazon.
I hope you found that quick tech tutorial helpful because again,
no matter what your setup is at home, if you have a wall that you're facing,
but no window, don't worry. You can invest in a ring light. Again,
this one was $15 and it has helped me tremendously so that I don't look
creepy on camera.
Um, but trust me when I say that, when you can feel good on camera,
when you feel like you look your best, it also exudes confidence, um,
carrying through and projecting for those video interviews. So,
uh, make sure that you have your tech setup all tested out before your
actual, uh, real interview goes live.
And if you need help with preparing for your interview,
be sure that you check out in the description box down below my free resource
library.
I have so many templates and worksheets for you and designed to help you think
about the context of what it is you're going to say. And then I can also, um,
have a link to another interview, video tutorial tip here. Um,
in case you find that helpful and useful. If you enjoyed this video,
please like comment, share, subscribe,
As I released this video next week until then continue to cultivate your life
and your career take care.