I’d been looking forward to the day. Sitting in the middle of Fox Studios for a full day of TV presentation training.
As the Director started I was reminded of a scene from a Bruce Lee movie.
Bruce was pouring a glass of Coke for a new student. And he kept pouring, even though the glass was overflowing. When asked why he kept pouring his answer was, “Your mind is like this glass. I can’t put anything in if it’s already full. So you must empty it first.”
I’m a seasoned stage presenter. I knew we were likely to cover a lot of stuff I was familiar with and indeed had a lot of expertise in already. But mastery comes from adding layers of expertise and practice.
Therefore I made a conscious decision to keep an open mind, take on board feedback, try new things and get out of my comfort zone. What would be the point of being there otherwise?
It’s an attitude we’ve noticed every successful person embodies. Successful people don’t allow themselves to get stale. Doing the same stuff and never trying to improve.
Personally we’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of clients. And we’ve noticed two attributes with the ones who’ve really excelled.
They had an open mind. Were willing to take on board new ideas. And most importantly, implement. They realised that not everything would work the way they expected. They were willing to fail fast and fail forward.
So what did I learn and what could you take away from my experience if you make videos?
Presenting to camera is quite unlike a live performance.
Here are some of the rules.
- Look straight down the barrel of the lens. Pick a spot and keep looking right at it. In a live presentation you’re likely to look at different people in the audience. Here your audience is behind the lens. You’re speaking to ONE person. Even the slightest deviation of your eyes will make you look shifty.
- Amp up (and I mean really amp up) your voice and energy. Speaking in a normal tone will have you coming across really flat. Having been through multiple takes with, “Amp up more”, I felt as if I was shouting at times.
Watch your favourite news reader and outside broadcast correspondents. Pay attention and you’ll notice they’re not speaking in a “normal” voice. There’s a lot of energy being expended.
- Time distorts on camera. What can seem like a short pause can be interminable to your viewer.
- I have a new respect for Autocues. If you’re using one don’t read lines word for word. Use them as a guide or you won’t sound natural. You, not your autocue control your speech rate. i.e. In a professional setting an autocue operator follows you rather than the other way round.
- Be concise. People get bored easily. And in the age of YouTube your bored viewer can kill your video in a heartbeat meaning your message gets lost.
- Don’t repeat yourself. Presenters are taught the rule of three. “Tell me what you’re going to say, say it and then tell me what you’ve said.” Totally redundant on a pre-recorded video where your watcher can simply go back and watch it again.
- And finally, if you’re co-presenting side by side, it’s like a dance. Know what you’re going to say, take turns and don’t hog the limelight. I’ll admit I found that the most difficult of all. But after being accused of being selfish and had this been a dance, stepping all over my partner’s toes, I learned to give up control.
There were lots of other tips around lighting, camera framing, sound and backgrounds I won’t go into for the sake of brevity.
And in case you’re interested this was the mob that did the training. TV Training Academy
Remember, mastery comes from attaining the right knowledge and taking action. Practicing the wrong thing will just cement bad habits. A bad golf swing will only get worse with practice.
If your client attraction system isn’t producing the results you want there’s no point in doing the same stuff and hoping for a better result.
If you have an open mind, are willing to try new business building strategies and implement, we can help. Call us on 0414 913 334 and we’ll help you implement proven marketing and sales strategies that will bring in a steady flow of new clients.
