Hey everybody, how you doing? In this video, I want to tackle one of my favorite subjects and one of the most contentious ones I'm going to touch on it is presenting to camera. In this series, I've been talking all about how you can make your videos slightly better. So we've looked at framing, lighting. Um, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Audio to in this one, we're going to be talking about presenting to camera. And so why is this contentious? Well, it's very, very, very subjective. And a lot of people click with different styles of presenting when they watch videos. Um, so this video is all about how to present not only well to camera, But also appropriately to camera. So we're going to be diving into a few different tips. I'm going to be doing two videos about this topic. This one is all about how you should be. And then the next one is going to be all about how your setup should be and how to work with the setup to help make presenting easier. So I want to focus on you today, the setup next time. In my distant past, in my professional life, I've been accused of going too big, being too ringmastery. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! But that was when I was hosting live events, and I reckon it actually really did fit the events. Certainly it was my colleagues at Apple at the time who thought I was going too big, but the audiences seemed to absolutely love it when I was introducing a musical act on a, on stage at a festival or something like that. So I spent many years working in the corporate world, training. Definitely boring executives and CEOs banging them over the head with presenting tips, maybe not literally, I've been far kinder than that, but helping them present naturally and well on camera. So that when they make videos for all of their employees or even their customers, they don't bore the crap out of them because, uh, this happens a lot in the corporate world. I'm sure you've seen executives from companies jump on camera. I just bore the hell out of everybody. So what I want to do is take all that knowledge. Let's forget executives now, and let's talk about how you can be better on camera and appropriate to your audience too. It's very, very important. We've got three tips in this video, a few more in the next one. Let's dive in. Okay, straight to the point. Tip number one, this is going to sound. Deadly obvious. But so, so, so many people overlook this one. And it's so, so, so, so, so important for your presenting is talk to somebody. What does that mean? How do you talk to somebody where there's just a camera there in front of you? No, I'm not talking about getting your wife or your partner or your best friend to stand behind the camera so you can talk to them. But what I really want you to actually do before you make a video to make your presenting much, much better. And this is what I tell all those leaders I talked about and all these companies I talked about. Think about who it is you're actually talking to. Imagine that person in your mind. So take a deep breath. Don't worry. I'm not doing guided meditations, but seriously close your eyes and actually imagine who it is you're talking to before you speak to the camera. Um, this works really well. If you think about the context you might have in real life, when you record like a video for somebody, when you can't be there for a birthday or you're sending a greeting to somebody, if you've ever done that, you really think about who it is you're talking to. So say your grandfather's turning. 80 and you can't be there and you're recording a video for your grandfather's birthday party. What you're gonna do is you're actually going to address that specific person. You are not going to sound all generic when you're talking to the camera, and this is a problem a lot of people have when they talk to a camera. They kind of present too much to the camera. Hello everybody. Welcome to my video. Today I'm gonna be talking about this and that and the other, and there's that. fake sort of like YouTube energy that's become synonymous with YouTube. And it's because people are just putting on this sort of stock level of really high energy for no reason when they're talking to the camera and they're not kind of thinking about who it is they're actually talking to. So with this sort of video, when I kind of dived into my intro at the beginning of the one you're watching right now, I was trying to think how I would talk to somebody and how I have spoken to people who I'm coaching through making a video when they are. talking about making videos, for example. So I try to be honest. I try to be open. I try to be matter of fact. Look, I am naturally quite a high energy person. This is me in real life. I get odd looks on the street when I walk down the street because I project my voice too much when I'm talking to my son or something like that, or even my wife. And look, that is just me, but it's not necessarily right for you. And we'll talk about that in just a second. Okay. But let's get back to this tip because it's really, really important. Think about who it is you're talking to. I was talking about closing your eyes and visualizing. You don't necessarily need to do that. But even if it helps you, if you're the type of person who writes things down, actually write down who it is you're talking to. Think about how they would best respond to how you present to them and present to them like that. If you are making videos for work and you're presenting to senior executives, think about how you would speak to them. In real life, when you're actually in the room with them, don't think about like the formal version of that, the best practice you think you've learned from watching years of corporate videos. Cause a lot of the time that stuff is really, really wrong. Think about how you would address that person in real life. If you're trying to impress them in real life and try and pitch it at that tone. I know it's easier said than done, and this can take a little bit of adjustment. See how people react to videos and see how people will react. for the different ways you present yourself, but what you're trying to do is act like a human being when you're speaking to the camera instead of, you know, going full crazy YouTube energy. Whoa, Mr. Beast. Cause he kind of does that a little bit. He's he's getting much better and hey, look, who am I to shit on him because, uh, he's a massive multi billionaire and I'm not, but it still stands that that. Matt, that incredibly high octane, high energy presenting is quickly tiring people out and giving YouTube a bad name when it doesn't need to. So really think about who it is you're talking to. Now, if that makes sense, let's move on to tip number two, which is about making mistakes. And this is a really interesting one. And again, this can be quite subjective, and it can depend on the audience you're trying to talk to. So you'd think, especially for me, making videos like this, talking about how to make videos, I would try and cut out any mistakes. And look, for a long time, I went through every video, and chopped out when I tripped over words, and chopped out when I made an inappropriate joke. And more often than not, what I do now is try and embrace the mistakes and try and roll with them. If I stumble over a sentence, if my tongue gets caught on something, sure, what I do is I try and reshoot that so it just doesn't sound lazy and messy. Um, but in most of my videos what I'll do is if I make a mistake I'll run with it, I'll make a joke about it. And this is what I want to impress on you. It's not just leave every mistake in the video, but what it is, in a way, is sort of embrace the mistakes, because oftentimes they can be the most relatable parts of the video that you're recording. Um, so when you're talking to camera, if you stumble over a bit of the script, if you make a mistake, or if you phrase something in the wrong way, as long as you don't have to do something very scripted, you know, where someone stumbles Safety depends on it or something like that. Again, if you're making videos in the business world, particularly on YouTube, um, being relatable and being, you can be a really powerful thing. And in those moments where you make a mistake, where you stumble over something, you are correct. You, or you correct yourself and have a laugh about it. I just corrected myself there. Whoa, happening as I speak. Um, so look, In older videos, I might have cut out that, whoa, but in this kind of video, what I want to do, and not just this, but in every video I do, what I want to try and do is maintain those moments where I have an honest, authentic moment, where I correct myself, where I laugh about something, where I have a realization on camera, because those moments are really human, they're really relatable, and people connect with them. So, embrace those mistakes, embrace those moments of humanity, don't try and be perfect because those are the types of moments that in your video will help people, you know, fall in love with you, want to spend more time with you, want to watch even more of your videos, click on the next one if that's what you're going for, hire you for the job if that's what you're going for, and I'll see you in the next video. It can feel very, it can feel very, uh, it can feel very scary to put yourself, it can feel very scary to be so vulnerable and put yourself on the spot like that and correct yourself and not feel perfect when you're putting yourself out onto into the world. But trust me, it makes you so much more relatable and so much more interesting to others when you act naturally. And hopefully even though I'm kind of presenting at you. Um, in this video, I'm sort of doing that too. And like I said, I kind of have a bigger personality. So hopefully this kind of thing just feels authentic. And I don't feel like one of those internet schmucks who's going, whoa, at the camera. Um, again, that moment, I might've cut that out in a previous video, but the more I've put stuff out on here, the more I've realized that people actually kind of have a laugh and resonate. with those moments. Um, reference my audio video for the butt cancer joke that I almost cut out but kept and had lots of people commenting on it and mentioning they enjoyed that moment. Apologies if you're new to my channel and butt cancer is making you go, who on earth is this guy? But you'll get it. Trust me. Watch the video. Good plug, huh? I like that one. Definitely going to keep that in. Okay, so we're on to tip number three. This is all about body language, and you've probably seen me doing a lot of this already. Talking with my hands, emphasizing points, um, hands going everywhere, going in front of my face as I'm talking, dance moves. I'm not going to do dance moves. I'm not a good dancer, so none of that happening in this video. Don't worry. Jazz hands, sorry. I'm, I'm stuck on a loop now. Okay. Body language is something really important to consider. And this is, I think, one of the biggest mistakes that people who are new to presenting on camera make is that they try and do this, stand like a plank. And what happens is when they stop their body from moving, they force their body from, to stop moving like that. I can't even do it to myself nowadays because I've trained myself out of it, but they stand deadly still because they think that that's the best way to do things. Let's see, I'm moving my head. Um, And they stare at the camera like this, they tend to go wide eyed, the expression tends to go blank, all emotion drains from their face, and they keep their arms by their sides because they don't want to distract anybody by moving their hands, and it just becomes so robotic, so stiff, and People don't connect with you. And what it actually does is it kind of shuts off your facial expressions. I find with people presenting to camera, this is all based on the experience I've had not only presenting myself, but also training people to present on camera. And what I found is if you try and stiffen yourself up too much and don't use any body language, it can really, really just shut off your relatability. It's like flicking a switch and suddenly you are not interesting to watch anymore. So if you are a hand talker, Do that. If you're not a hand talker, don't worry. You don't have to. What it's all about is communicating like you do in real life and being comfortable enough with the camera. And I know this is difficult. I know it can be tough. If you are really self conscious about stepping onto camera, what you do with your hands and how you speak to the camera, combine this with the very first tip when you're thinking about who it is you're presenting to and constantly keep that person in the back of your mind as you're talking to the camera. And what that does is it allows you to loosen up and be more natural and just embrace whatever it is your body's doing. To a degree, what you've got to do is just trust your body and just actually act as you normally would in real life. A lot of the time when I'm training people to do this in sort of a live workshop situation where we're in the same room, is I get them to sit down at a table with a cup of coffee. And it can actually be a great way to film your videos. Sitting down at a table with a cup of coffee and addressing the camera. like it's somebody you're having a cup of coffee with in a cafe. Um, because it breaks down that barrier that you have with the camera, it makes the camera feel a little bit more relatable. I've even actually stuck little googly eyes on the camera as well sometimes. So people have a place to look. That can be a bit extreme. Um, but your kids arts and craft boxes, if there's any parents out there, can be valuable places to go to get. Things to engage with the camera. Ooh, bonus tip there. The googly eyes actually does work. It's really, really fun. Um, and it makes people laugh and smile a bit because they think it's so ridiculous speaking to a camera with googly eyes on it, um, that then, and that's those little adhesive eyes you get in children's craft kits for anyone who's wondering what on earth I'm talking about. It's got nothing to do with Google. Um, and I'm sure they've got a proper name for them, adhesive eyes or something like that, um, but it can be really powerful. Okay. So coming back to the body language, what that allows you to do locking into that first tip and then really just letting your body language go free a little bit, as long as you're not going crazy and overcompensating and doing all these ones. Now, look, if you are really uncomfortable, there's lots of tips that they give to people, for example, like Apple executives. If you think of Tim Cook, what a lot of professional presenting coaches will do. Let's try and get them to do something with their hands, where they have a movement, where they do this, and I'm talking about the new iPhone. Awful impression of him, I'm sorry. But what he does is he does this with his hands, he forms fists with his thumbs on them like that, or when he's emphasizing a point, he often does these ones, the praying hands, where he's sort of looking out at the audience and he's addressing them like this. I forgot I had the second camera there. The new iPhone is gonna be great. Um, again, terrible accent. I'm debating whether I keep that in the video or not. The hands doing that gives your hands something to do if you don't know what to do with your hands. It can be an incredibly powerful thing. So think about the fists like this is a great tool. The hands going like that together is a great tool. What I don't recommend is locking your hands like that in front of you or locking your hands behind you like that. Um, because what it can do is it can make you stiffen up and sort of makes your body tense up when you're gripping yourself. Suddenly, one hand becomes like a stress toy for the other, and you lock yourself into this position where you start staying still again. The eyes start to widen, the tone of voice starts to drop quite a lot, and it goes flat. And actually, my tone of voice, really oddly enough, that's like it happening live. I was squeezing my hands to demonstrate that, and actually my tone of voice just did change there quite naturally. Because my body was sort of locking up as I was doing that, which I think is really interesting. It's crazy, huh? How something physical can affect the way you're presenting to camera so much. I kind of feel like I actually just switched off a bit of my mojo there. Bring it back, bring it back. Those are three tips for presenting slightly better on camera. Um, the next video is going to be all about some of the technical stuff. that can go along with those three things to help you. Um, so do check it out, like here or here or here or here or something like that. Um, that will be online, on the lines very soon. Um, but if you're, if you enjoyed this, check out my other videos on how to light yourself, how to frame yourself, and uh, how to get good audio as well. And look, I hope to see you for the next one, which is all about the equipment stuff that can help you present better. Okay, take care, bye.