Steady now!

I visited a blog recently that had some amazing content. The guy obviously is an expert in his field and he’s out there trying to help others succeed. He posted a video clip from a conference that he spoke at recently. Again, the content of the clip was amazing, however, the delivery system was not so impressive...it was almost annoying. They filmed it with a small hand-held video camera and were obviously in a large convention center. The camera shot was shaking the entire time and it was as wide a shot as they could get, you could barely see who was speaking. The chatter of the people in the background was almost as loud as the speaker’s voice and the loudspeakers overpowered the camera’s microphone.

If the quality of your video is so bad that people stop watching it, you’ll never get your message to them. So how do you create a video of a presentation that looks and sounds as good as the content that’s being delivered? I’m glad you asked...

1. Use a tripod. There’s nothing worse than a shaky shot...unless you’re filming an action movie. You can purchase a tripod for as little as $20. Trust me, your viewers will save that much in nausea medicine.

2. Frame your shot. Since your video will mostly be seen in a small box on your blog or website, make sure the speaker can be seen. Try a “head to waist” shot. If the speaker is antsy and wants to move around a lot, you’ll have to loosen (zoom out) your shot a little bit. You may even want to experiment with following the speaker as he moves around the stage (panning left and right)...but be careful that you’re not being shaky again!

3. Use a lav mic. Purchase a digital voice recorder with a lav mic (about $50). Even if you’re using another microphone while you speak, clip this mic on your shirt and press record just before you walk up to give your presentation. You should be able to import your video and your audio files into iMovie or another editing program and line them up with one another. You’ll get a much cleaner sounding video without all the background noise.

You’ll be amazed at how much difference these three steps will make in the overall look of your video presentation.