So you sit down in front of the camera, and you’re getting to talk to it, and you’re like–

[GULP] It gets really intimidating, really scary. Today, we want to talk with you guys about how to feel comfortable and confident when you sit down and talk to that camera.

Daniel Read is discussing this topic with us today. He is a professional acting trainer.

Daniel: “Yeah, I make people feel comfortable on camera. And I get paid to do it.”

This includes actors, people who do commercials, short film, and stuff like that.

We’ve been working on a course called Find Your Voice which is all about how you feel comfortable on camera and how you present your true and authentic self. So you can find more about that.

We’re going to talk with you here today about some things that come from the lesson about nonverbal communication and body language, which can make a big difference in how comfortable you feel on camera.

So what are some things that will help us?

Daniel: “If you’re not feeling comfortable on camera, you just always get sweaty and awkward when you’re on camera a very simple thing you can do is simply to rock forward onto the front of my feet. And now, instead of being on the back of my feet where I’m on the defense, I can more openly and calmly say things in an offense positions (sports wise, that is).

In sports, you’re on the balls of your feet. You’re ready to go. I can dip and dive and stuff. Now, all of a sudden, I’m ready to attack the camera. Not that you actually want to…”

Great. What else?

Daniel: “Another thing would be to the camera’s your friend. You know, it’s an inanimate object. But if you could personify it, the camera is your friend. If you have a director of photography or somebody who’s helping you create the videos, chances are they actually are your friend. So they’re rooting for you. They want you to do well. The camera, too, wants you to do well. The camera is there to capture your genuine self, your true self, your fun-loving authentic self. And then, that’s going to go out to the YouTube world.

And remember your audience is cheering for you also. They’re not sitting behind judging you, necessarily. They’re coming to your video looking for some valuable information, some entertainment, whatever the case may be. And so they’re rooting for you to do well. So they’re not judging you either. But sometimes we feel like they are because we judge ourselves.”

Daniel: Third thing to help you feel comfortable on camera is to smile. Just smile all the time. Basically just never stop smiling. Your body can actually affect the way that you think about yourself and the way you’re feeling. It can change your behaviors. So if you can physically manipulate yourself to smile more, then–”

Tim: “Not in a creepy way, right?”

Daniel “No, but the more that you smile, you’re just going to feel more natural. You’re going to feel more comfortable.”

And the audience is going to feel more comfortable, too, because you’re setting the mood, the tone for them. So if you’re enjoy yourself, looking like you’re having a great time, then your audiences will feel that way, too. So you set the tone, you set the mood for what your audience will experience.

Whether you’re actually feeling good or not, if you smile, eventually you’re going to start feeling good.

I know a lot of you guys who are reading this right now are professional YouTube creators who’ve been doing this for a long time. And I know you have a lot of great valuable tips and ideas to share with other people who might not feel as comfortable. So definitely comment below and leave your advice down there. And the rest of you, this is something you’re trying to learn about right now, go read some of the other tips people have for you down there. I know you’ll learn a lot from them as I always do.

And if this is something you want to dig into and learn more about, again, this is some of the things we talk about in one of the lessons in the course called Find Your Voice. And that is linked up down there below. Or a card will pop up around here that you can click and go check that out.

If this is your first time here, I would love to have you subscribe. Because every week we make videos just to help you guys as creators know how to grow your YouTube audience, spread your message, and, essentially, get it out to people who need to hear your message and have it change their lives.

Check out, the “Find Your Voice,” course.