Get Comfortable In Front Of The Camera

[SharonRamel]

This is important as most students like to feel they have rapport with their instructors. That is difficult if you rely on totally PowerPoint ... plus it is so boring. So mix it up for a good balance.

• Spend time filming yourself everyday until you start to feel natural and comfortable in front of the camera.
• Be aware of any nervous tics you have, things like clearing your throat, scrunching or wiggling your eyebrows, wringing your hands, cracking your knuckles, tapping your foot, shifting back and forth or swaying, blinking excessively, swallowing hard, and saying “um”, “uh”, or “like” too often. If you catch yourself tensing up, take deep breaths and relax your shoulders to pull yourself out of it.
• Relax. For me this is my morning yoga and meditating, for you it maybe goi g for a run, or dancing.
• Slow down as most of us speed up our speech when they are nervous. Try speaking a little slower than normal, especially if you have an accent.
• Develop a love for the lens and look directly into the camera as if it were a person you were speaking to. 
• Do not over or under do the makeup (gentlemen, too!). Check it in different lighting. Mmm I am notorious not not wearing any makeup.... I really loathe the stuff!
• Do not go for perfect. As you are speaking, if you go off-script a bit, but it still makes sense, keep going instead of stopping or making the “uh-oh” face. You audience will never know!

[Hypnodan]

Definitely some great tips. I find I have to work at speaking faster. I naturally talk slow, many people say this helps them to integrate what they are learning, but some say they just want me to talk quickly through the content. Also making sure there is variation in my voice rather than a monotonous drone...

All the best

Dan

[MarieLeRoux]

Thank you for this golden advice, @SharonRamel .

I just submitted my test video after endless humming and hawing and wondering whether I should just take a vow of silence and go live in a faraway cave. 

In the resulting existential crisis, the Search function serendipitously sent me to your post. 

Such a help and reassurance...

Thank You. 

[SharonRamel]

My pleasure @MarieLeRoux , feel free to reach out to our community at any time.

[AliciaPaz · Accepted solution]

Totally agree with all of this.  Also if I find myself nervous or uncomfortable I will hit record and talk about something boring like what I ate for breakfast for a few minutes before starting to talk about the course in order to relax a little.

[MarieLeRoux]

Love the idea of filming random talk on random topics, @AliciaPaz! This can really help with getting a friendly, conversational tone that connects with students.

It's especially valuable for the main issue I confronted in my test video: coming across as authentic. I'd been so focused on not sounding boring that I went the other way - to cartoonish levels of animated facial expressions. Very awkward to watch! Thank goodness for the test video to give me time to work on this :). 

[ZeynepNurTa241]

I'm having the hardest time recording. All my friends and family who viewed my practice recordings said that I'm talking like a professor and they want me to be more conversational. Any tips on how one can be less "stilted" and more conversational?