Lessons Learned from Talking to the Camera

This was my pov (point of view) being videotaped for an instructional webinar on "Why Stories?"

Here is what I learned about talking to the camera.

I was more nervous than I expected. No one gets to stay in the room with you...except the camera man because you don't want to take a chance on any distracting noises.

It is really hard to talk with no feedback. Jeremy ( the camera man) was busy filming so I didn't have anyone to talk to....I had no clues as to how the content was being received. Was it helpful? Interesting? Boring? It is hard to stay animated talking to a wall.

We did three takes. The first because I hit the mic ( it was on my collar). The second because my slides were "off"...I had forgotten to take a transition out of PowerPoint. Third time I was determined to make it all the way through.

I didn't know when the camera was on me and when the audience would be seeing a slide, so I felt like I had to look at the camera all the time (which makes it hard to check your notes.)

So what would I do differently?
-Practice with someone just before I tape so I can remember their reaction.
-Focus on one example or story, followed up by one take-away for each point I want to make.

Written by Julie

Watching Stories Together Miles Apart

Kyle never lets a little thing like distance stop him from meeting with someone, either in a group or one-on-one. Here he is showing someone in Iowa around our office in Madison.


The other day he wanted to debut videos of several stories about serving local farm products in the Chilton, Wisconsin, K-12 school, but one person was in Chilton, others were in Madison, and he was attending a conference in Austin, Texas.

That would pose a big problem for me, but Kyle is kind of a technology geek.

How to Set Up an Online Video Premiere

• First, Kyle set up a conference call, and told everyone to expect an email just before the start.
• He set up a document with questions he wanted everyone to answer in Google Docs and used the sharing menu to generate a link to it.
• Next he drafted emails to each participant containing the Google Docs link plus links to the videos, sending them just before the call.
• When everyone was on the line, Kyle cheerfully cautioned them not to open the video link just yet, and led a phone-muting practice exercise.
• Opening the Google Docs link and document was next on the group agenda--no problem.
• He walked everyone through opening another browser window, then finally gave the okay to open the video links.

Group Reviewing in Real Time
After a few minutes of silence watching the videos, fingers were flying on keyboards describing reactions all at the same time in the Google document. It must have felt like ghosts typing alongside each person at their computer.There was a technology breakdown (weren't you just waiting to hear that?)—one person could not get the videos to play on her computer. Kyle tried troubleshooting with her by refreshing the page, trying another browser, but nothing worked.

She ended up watching the videos on someone else's computer and talking to Kyle later.What caused the video failure on her computer? Don't know...but we're looking into it.

Apart from that, it was a fun experience. I’m starting my own journey of learning about using online common space by experimenting with Google Docs.

Behind the Scenes: "Julie Talks" at Wisconsin Public Television

Today we taped Julie Swanson, our Senior Outreach Specialist, giving her presentation on “Why Story?” about using stories to communicate with researchers, public health officials and even legislators. This launched a project to create several 10-20 minute instructional webinars for the preventive health community in collaboration with Wisconsin Public Television.

Julie normally presents in front of an audience and inspires audience participation, but for this project she presented to…no one! She was by herself in a production booth. I must admit, watching from the production studio I found myself nodding to her face on the screen. She has audience engagement even through the camera.

Information will soon be available regarding how you can access the "Why Story?" webinar.

Next up, we will be following Julie to the 2011 State Prevention Conference, June 13-16, to videotape more presentations. This year's theme is "Using the Power of Our Voices to Influence Change," and there is still time to register.

Prevention Speaks webinars will be a resource to bridge the research-to-practice gap, offering practical, succinct, readily accessible information and tips in prevention efforts. We are looking forward to hearing from our audience about their experience using them.