Pre-recording yourself, whether it’s for a large online audience, or even just your internal team, can feel a bit jarring. Without having that face-to-face conversation, you might be left feeling nervous and unnatural.
Yet more and more, we’re all expected to undertake this kind of task. Video recordings have become an essential part of training, delivering messages, presenting for events, meetings and more.
So, how do you stop these recordings from being a time consuming, stressful nightmare?
Firstly, know that it’s completely normal to feel nervous. Most speakers you see will have experienced a lack of confidence at some point. Luckily, we’ve got some fail safe tips that will help you out, and leave you feeling more confident, whatever it is you need to be recording.
Firstly, let’s start with the most important one. You must prepare yourself in advance of your recording! It’s usually obvious when people haven’t checked over their notes beforehand, and if you lack familiarity with what you’re saying, it’s not going to look natural either. Preparation is key to delivering a good presentation - not only does it free up your mind to focus on other aspects such as your delivery, it will also make your words more believable.
The best part of a pre-recording is that it means you don’t have to get it right first time. Take the pressure off by reminding yourself that if you do make a mistake, you can stop and start again. If you’re up for a little editing, you might want to break your speech up into smaller, more manageable chunks that can be stitched together later.
This applies to all aspects of your recording. You should leave plenty of time to record to account for mistakes, as well as time in advance spent preparing. As well as this, it’s a good idea to take your time whilst you’re speaking too. A common mistake people make when they’re nervous is to speed up their talking. To help you to be mindful of this, try taking a deep breath in before you start, and focus on your breathing throughout.
Over-animating your face on camera is actually a really effective way to keep your audience’s attention. Smiling can also help you feel more relaxed, and come across as more confident. Even if you’re not feeling it, the ‘fake it ‘till you make it’ technique really comes into its own here, and it won’t be long until you’re doing it naturally. The more you find yourself in front of the camera, the more natural it will start to feel, and the easier it will be to present without worry.
Hopefully these tips will help you out on your next video recording. With Camflare, you can record straight from your chrome browser, and even add a teleprompter with your notes on if that’s what works for you.
