Record with more confidence in front of your own webcam
By Marie-Luise Vielhaber
Imagine playing video games, showcasing your talents, or giving a TED talk to a large crowd. Surely everyone would feel anxious or nervous! But what about in front of your own webcam? Our brain hardly recognizes a difference between the real audience and the viewer watching a video. Even successful streamers or YouTubers were nervous in front of the camera at the beginning of their career. Not only for recording short explainer videos, but also for the increasing digitalization of work and meetings, it is essential to present yourself confidently in front of your own camera.
Most people don't like being in front of the camera because they are unsure how to communicate with confident body language over video. The best way to change that is to just start. Try it out, practice, watch yourself and see how you feel. Pay attention to whether you say 'um' a lot or use too many vocal filler words. Pay attention to the speed at which you speak and your background. We explain briefly and compactly, How to increase your confidence in front of the laptop camera with practice and a few tricks. Take a look:
Practice, practice, practice.
Every time you record a video to share later, practice what you want to say. Because you know - practice makes perfect. Take your script or bulleted list and go over it a few times. Make sure there are no awkward phrases that make you stumble over your words. Take some time to think about possible pauses and tone of voice so you don't sound too mechanical. Also, don't be afraid to use cue cards. Even if you don't read your script word for word, it can help you stay on track and not go off topic.
Your script.
If you prepare a script with the key content points, you can make sure you say everything you want to say. And only that. Too often when people try to improvise on camera, they forget an important point or stray so far off topic that they may even forget what they were trying to say. Even a bulleted list of your most important information is better than nothing at all. Once you feel more comfortable in front of the camera, you can figure out what works best for you.
You are the expert.
The viewer has a question or knowledge gap that you can fill. Be aware of this. The most important thing you can do to speak confidently is to know your topic and your main points. As you gain experience, you may become better at improvising, but there is simply no substitute for being prepared.
Eye contact.
Remember that on Skype, for example, you tend to look at yourself while you talk. If you want to create high-quality video content, you need to look at the lens in your laptop - so train yourself to focus on it. This will give your viewers the feeling of eye contact. Try to find your own expression and not make an expressionless face out of nervousness. This will lower your self-expression and make you less engaging overall. Don't be afraid to smile 🙂 .
Enthusiasm.
The more enthusiasm you exude about the topic, the more your viewer will be inspired. Remember that people don't like to watch a monotonous and read-off video. So: the pitch of your voice and purposefully placed pauses ensure a convincing tone of your video.
Implement our advice on how to record with more confidence in front of the webcam directly in our web application. Feel free to check it out in a free demo version.
