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