9 Tips to Look Your Best When Your Presentation is Filmed

This week, I was on the road facilitating train-the-trainer sessions. The evening before my first workshop, I scanned an email outlining the logistics for the meeting. The last point read, "The film crew will arrive at 8 am."

Filming the sessions was news to me and my first reaction was, "Oh." Being filmed can be intimidating because your environment changes; people are pointing equipment at you and there are limits to where you can walk and how quickly you can move. It feels like presenting to two audiences at the same time. 

I had been filmed the week before at another client's event so this unforeseen detail didn't distract me for long. I knew what to do.

Here are some tips on how to present yourself on camera:

• Watch recorded presentations on the internet to see what techniques you like and dislike
• Check yourself in the mirror just before you are filmed ‒ video is forever and something like an upturned collar will distract your audience ("Look, his collar is out of place, I bet he doesn't know)
• Don't look at the camera ‒ it makes you appear as distracted as you are, sometimes even more so
• Be conscious of the placement of equipment ‒ they are obstacles that will distract your audience if you bump into them
• Present in one spot ‒ roving presenters are hard to capture and cause the crew to move around, distracting your audience
• Keep your wardrobe consistent ‒ if you begin with a jacket on, wear it throughout the session ‒ a wardrobe change can distract the video audience (Didn't he just have a jacket on?) and may suggest that the video was shot over multiple sessions
• Focus on your audience and what you are helping them to do ‒ it is the best way to look like you are not being filmed
• Post the session, if you are asked to be interviewed on camera, always ask for multiple takes ‒ you will never know if your first take is the best unless you take at least one more

The workshops and the filming went well. The participants and I forgot that the camera crew was there. Perhaps that's the best tip of all. 

Phil