Sometimes talking to a camera can feel very uncomfortable and awkward. And I want to give you guys a few tips that really helped me learn how to feel comfortable in front of a camera and communicate the message that I want to share. One of you wrote and asked this question, “how to overcome the fear of being on camera? I mean, how to speak fluently to the camera so that it sounds natural?”
Let me give you a couple things that have helped me.
1. It Takes Practice.
It’s something that you do over and over and over again. The more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes.
If you’d like to see my very first YouTube video ever, you can go check it out here.
It is awkward. It is so painful to watch. But everyone starts somewhere, right?
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to make a lot of high production value videos and then just throw them away because you need to practice. One of the best ways is just use your cellphone or a simple little camera that you have and just talk to it at normal points throughout your day. If you want to show someone something that you’re doing, maybe consider just posing it as a short 30-second video to Twitter or maybe to Facebook or something just to kind of get used to talking to the camera.
It’s normal to feel uncomfortable when you first talk to a camera, but there’s a few things you can do to relax and feel natural in your videos. Some of these ideas may help you feel comfortable and relax a bit more when you shoot your YouTube videos, especially if you’re just starting out on YouTube.
Sometimes talking to a camera can feel very uncomfortable and awkward. And I want to give you guys a few tips that really helped me learn how to feel comfortable in front of a camera and communicate the message that I want to share.
One of you wrote and asked this question,
“How to overcome the fear of being on camera? I mean, how to speak fluently to the camera so that it sounds natural?”
Great question. Let me give you a couple things that have helped me. Number one is that it just takes practice. It just really does. It’s something that you do over and over and over again. The more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes.
If you’d like to see my very first YouTube video ever, I’ll link to it in the subscription below. You can go check it out. It is awkward. It is so painful to watch. But everyone starts somewhere, right?
Practice
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to make a lot of high production value videos and then just throw them away because you need to practice. One of the best ways is just use your cellphone or a simple little camera that you have and just talk to it at normal points throughout your day. If you want to show someone something that you’re doing, maybe consider just posing it as a short 30-second video to Twitter or maybe to Facebook or something just to kind of get used to talking to the camera.
Envision Your Audience
Number two is to envision your audience when you’re talking to the camera. Like, when I talk to you guys like right now, I actually– I’m picturing your little YouTube avatar icons in my head. And I feel like, oh, this is how Gary is going to respond to this. And this is how Scott is going to respond to that.
And so because you guys have been commenting so frequently on these videos, I kind of feel like I’ve grown to know you a little bit and your responses so that when I record these videos, I’m looking at a camera but I actually don’t see it. I see your comments and I see your guys’ faces and I actually think of people. So it feels a lot more natural to me to stand here and do this, because it almost feels like I’m just starting a conversation with you through these videos. So when you are learning to talk on camera, try that. Maybe when you talk to the camera picture people, your friends, people that you think are going to be responding or whatever, instead of just looking at this black box that has glass on the front of it and a microphone on top, maybe.
Don’t be Hard on Yourself
And the third thing I would say is that often people who struggle to be on camera are also really hard on themselves, like they are their worst critic. And I would just encourage you to back off a little bit. Give yourself some freedom to make mistakes, to mispronounce a word or whatever. Just get into the habit of being human on camera and being comfortable publishing that even if according to you you’re not some sort of like big high quality celebrity on camera, because the truth is, when you have little mishaps, little bloopers, little mistakes in your videos, that actually increases the human element and makes it easier for people on the other side watching you to feel like, oh, OK. This is an actual real person here. Maybe they chuckle a little bit with you. No one is thinking, like, oh, how dare they put this on the internet because they made that little mistake right there or something.
So don’t be too hard on yourself. I have found that most of the time the things that keep people from feeling comfortable on camera are often personal issues or something they believe about themselves or fears or insecurities or something. So just push past the discomfort. It might feel awkward for a little bit. But believe in yourself and give yourself more credit than you are. You deserve more credit than you probably give yourself.
Smile and Relax
And then number four, I think the last thing I want to say to you guys is that I’ve found that a lot of times people who feel uncomfortable on camera actually look really uncomfortable on camera, which makes the viewer feel uncomfortable. So just one little tip is just smile a lot. Like a smile’s very disarming. It’s very personable. It makes it easier for the viewer to relax. It makes you relax.
Now, I’m not saying you should awkwardly smile throughout the whole thing and just make it really awkward, because that’s not what I’m talking about. But just naturally smile, especially in the beginning when you first start talking and at the end of your video. Just have those bookends of like warmth, you know?
Often a question that goes along with this conversation is, should I use a teleprompter and a script or not? And I would say that’s up to each individual. I personally don’t script these. In fact, I really didn’t even have much of an idea of what I was going to say before I started hitting Record in this video’s case.
Sometimes I do kind of list out some bullet points. But most of the time, I don’t script because then I feel like I come off as more robotic and more like I’m reading something to you than actually trying to start a conversation with you. But I do know many other YouTube creators who actually prefer to use a script and they stay much more task and on target, so that’s something you’re going to have to experiment with.
Find out what works best for you. But if I had to recommend a place to start, I would probably recommend having an idea in your head before you hit Record of what you want to talk about, and then not using a script just so you get comfortable talking. And then later, if you feel like you need to go to a teleprompter and a script, that’s fine.
I would love to hear from you guys in the comments below, what advice you would have for someone who feels a little shy and uneasy on camera. What has helped you really come out and be able to express yourself and feel comfortable? Share those tips and ideas. And if that is and you are learning how to work through this, definitely read the comments that people are leaving down there for you. They will be very helpful, I know. I learned from people here all the time. The community here is awesome.