Communicating on Camera While Being YOURSELF!

1. welcome to class: Hey, I'm Vince and welcome to my Skillshare class, being on camera and being yourself. I've been communicating to audiences for about ten years now, from public speaking to funny YouTube videos to interviews, live broadcast announcement videos, all these things. And throughout this journey, I've learned how to be an effective communicator, a comfortable one, and most importantly, be myself. In this class, you'll learn some basics about communicating, presenting, and you're going to learn all the tools you need to take your communication to the next level. So whether you're a YouTuber, you have a social media presence. You give presentations for your work or any kind of conference or whatever it is. This class will make you a better communicator and most importantly, help you to be yourself. 2. class project: So for this class, we're going to have a class project, and it's a super simple one as far as how long it will actually take. But it's going to require some organization and some inspiration for you. So for your class project, record a video no longer than 5 min. In this video, you're going to introduce yourself and your contexts. So maybe your name and your YouTube channel or whatever the setting is for your video. You're going to share vision around your video or events sponsor. So we're going to use Skillshare as just a really great example that we're all familiar with by now. Then you have the option. You can either tell a story that's impactful in lines up with your setting or you can teach something to people and that can just take a minute or two. And then lastly, you close out your time with the next step, right? So for me, I might introduce myself. Hey, I'm Vince, welcome to my YouTube channel. We're talking about how to buy clothes in a sustainable fashion and how to resell them, right? That's my channel. I might use a story to talk about today's sponsors. So I will say, Hey, when you're on the internet, learning how to buy and sell clothes is a lot to it. But on Skillshare, I learned how to be super productive. I took a Productivity masterclass on Skillshare. It changed the way I take inputs and make them outputs. You should sign up for Skillshare today. And I'll even include a little blurb about Skillshare in the description if you just want to memorize that. Then lastly, you can teach one thing about your topic or tell a story, right? So I might, if I'm doing this second-hand sustainable fashion channel, I might teach you how to use Poshmark efficiently, just one or 2 min. So that might be something like, Hey, I get a lot of my clothes, especially higher-end, close on Poshmark. And here's how I do it. I favored a bunch of items that gives sellers the opportunity to send me discounts. I work a compromise, that discount and this are that you make it more engaging, you'll put your own spin on it. Then lastly, you're gonna do your send off, right? And you'll learn more about this stuff as we go. But that's like, See you next time and a next step. For me. It might be, thank you so much for watching. I hope you learned something. I hope you're dressing well. Be sure to subscribe to my channel. Follow me on Instagram and we'll see you in the next video, something like that. So recap really quick. This video. Try and keep it to about five-minutes. Introduce yourself and your context. Shared vision around your video sponsor, which is Skillshare, um, tell a story or teach something and then close out your time with the next step. So record those and drop them in the project section of this class will be able to comment on each other's videos. And I'll try and give you some helpful feedback. And of course, celebrates you for taking a big step. 3. control your pacing: As you watch back your screen test or you start working on your class project. One of the most important things to pay attention to is your pacing. I've noticed that a lot of people, myself included at times really struggled with the pace of speaking. I've got people who I listened to on podcasts, even that honestly, I don't even know what their real voice sounds like because they speak so slow. I've only listen to their podcast at 1.2 or 1.5 speed for years. And then of course you've got people who speak so fast, especially when people get nervous, thrown off, that you almost wish they would just stop and breathe, right? So take a minute, watch back to your screen test and see if the pacing seems natural. If it seems slow, if it seems really, really fast and almost like hyperventilating, they just want the person to breathe a little bit, right? These things are really important to take note of. And as you go throughout your communicating journey, you want to find that, that pace that is natural for you. Because there's gonna be times when you're speaking that you want to slow down a moment. Let's say you're coming to the end of a really impactful or meaningful moment, you might want to just slow down how you're talking. A lot of times I will slow my pace when I'm making a point that I want people to remember or to write down. And then other times I will increase my pace when I want to up the tempo on a story or create chaos in a moment, right? It can be really fun, especially when you're co-hosted with somebody to just kinda ramp up and just kinda go crazy and then stop and give people a sense of relief, right? So look at your pacing. Another fun thing you can do. I've done this a few times is you can take your video and you can play it back at different speeds and see if it's more or less natural. You could do just slight adjustments. So sometimes if I'm in a video app or like editing software, like Final Cut and I'm watching myself speak. I might just make it 1.1 speed or 0.9 speed or something like that and just see how it sounds. I would encourage you to do that. It's a really fun activity and kind of silly, but it does help you understand pacing a little bit more. The other thing with pacing is pauses. Pauses are so important. If you're talking at a live moment, it's important to give people the opportunity to absorb and retain information. As you pause, right? So I might make a big point, like write a sticky note, put it on your computer and remind yourself to slow down, or remind yourself to speed up, right? So I might say that and just make a pause so you can go. Okay, I got it right. So your, your pace and you're pausing is extremely important. So take a second now, go back to your video. Watch your pace and let us know. Do you feel like you speak too fast? Too slow? Don't pause enough. Pause too much. Let us know. What do you think about your own pacing and your own pausing. 4. brighteyes: So you record your screen test video. What did you think? Maybe for some of you pretty uncomfortable to be on camera. I totally get it and that's good. Look, the most important thing about this step is you took a step to being a great communicator. You hit Record, you've got in front of the camera and you send stuff. And so for that, I'm proud of. But what I want you to do is take a second and watch that video back and just make as many observations as you can. When I'm teaching people how to be in front of the camera. There's one thing I learned very early on, especially when you have a piece of information that you have to communicate clearly, right? So in this example, we're talking about Skillshare. We have all this stuff to memorize and what happens, at least what happened with me and happens with a lot of communicators I teach is that you start and you're smiling and the energy is good at as you concentrate, your eyebrows, just drop because you're thinking. And I learned very early on that for me when I'm speaking or communicating information, the bottom part of my face is happy and the top gets very crunchy and very focused. And so take a look at your video. Does your expression changed? Do you lose energy as you're communicating? One of the best things you can do before you go live with it that's hitting record on a pre-recorded video, stepping onto a stage, whatever it is, you can create the energy for that video before you start recording. And this is one of the, one of the biggest things I've learned. So if I am recording a video where it seems to be excited, we're doing a huge promo for summer event. It's for the community and we're inviting families to come and joy right before we hit record. I might start laughing. I might joke with the team. I might do anything to get my energy level To that point. Honestly, even the same is true is if I'm doing, if I'm communicating something that's maybe more intense, maybe something that's extremely important, that has lasting impact. We've done this with different non-profits and stuff. I might actually take a second and just talk to myself and say, Okay, we're promoting this non-profit that seeks to make an impact for children and youth in our city. And so I'm going to remind myself of just how valuable that is, how important that is. And then I'm gonna hit record. I'm creating momentum around that tone before I even hit Start on the time that I'm speaking, right. And so I would encourage you to watch your video. How's your expression? How's the energy level? And this is the reminder I give myself. Most of the places and times that I'm speaking. The energy is light and it's fun. And so I always tell myself and my friends who are recording with me to have bright eyes. Start with bright eyes. So before you hit record, just lift your expression up. 25, 30% above the energy you think you need, right? Because you're going to lose a little bit as you concentrate. As you focus on information, your, your face will drop. So always start with a smile. Have your eyes on the camera and have bright eyes before you hit record. 5. lights camera context: So in this video, we're talking about Lights, Camera, context before you even start, the most important thing to be aware of as you communicate is the context. Whether you're posting on social media. Just a quick little real. You're communicating on a live stream as you game or you're talking at a public event that's being recorded. Do you want to know the context of how you're being recorded, who you're speaking to, and what you want to produce, right? So we have a few questions here that I want to pass on to you. You can write these down. These are great questions to just walk through before you give any piece of information or record any video. The first is, is this setting live or is this setting pre-recorded? Is it live? Or is it pre-recorded? Right? So live communicating would be like a live stream going live on Instagram. Being in a public event where people are sitting in chairs listening to you. That's one kind of setting and the other would be pre-recorded, right? Which means you're sitting in front of cameras. You will have different takes, different moments to stop. You'll be able to redo things, right? Those are two different kinds of settings, right? So for pre-recording, it's important to know that you have segments of recording. You'll be able to hone in on your message. You'll be able to find the best possible, right? So in some ways, pre-recording can be more forgiving. But also you have to have your information just as structured as a live event because you want to keep the recording process going, right. You don't want to spend five, 6 h trying to record a 20-minute video, right? Then with a live event, it's important to know that you really shouldn't be stopping and doing segments over in a live setting. If you're getting some kind of speech, it's not really receptive to make, you know what, sorry, let me say that again. Let's do that again from the top right. That's not super engaging and it'll be very distracting. But when you're in pre-recording, you can do some of that and edit it out, right? It's also important to take breaks and give people the opportunity to latch onto what you're saying. The next thing to determine is the setting formal or is the setting casual? Right? If I'm hopping on my Instagram Live, that's kind of a casual setting, right? It's just me and my followers. And the energy is very much like we're hanging out. You could be wherever in your living room, you could be eating takeout. You can be doing whatever that is appropriate for casual setting, right? But when it comes to a formal setting, maybe you're giving a presentation at a benefit gala or something, or maybe you're doing a pre-recorded video for a non-profit, right? In that setting, there's a different way to communicate. There's a more formal and kind of cleaned up way to communicate what you're thinking about. The next question is, what do we want people to know? A lot of times, even when you're just recording your own content, you need to be aware of what information people need to walk away with. And if you're having video sponsors or whatever on your channel, on your podcast, they're gonna give you information that they're asking you to communicate clearly. And so your your ability to communicate that information is extremely important. So if I have skillshare sponsoring a video, I want to make sure I hit all the information that Skillshare's giving me. Or if I'm talking about my own platform, my own brand, right? I might, I might want to be prepared with the knowledge of, I want people who watched this video to follow me on Instagram, right? So you want to have that information and make those decisions ahead of time about what we want people to know. The next question is, what do we want people to do, right? Sometimes we want people to take an action step out of, out of our video, out of a moment. For instance, if I'm using my example from, from our class project, I'm leading a channel on sustainable shopping or more sustainable shopping. I want people to try out Poshmark or eBay or something like that. And so if I have that in mind, I'm going to walk people through how to do those things and create the least amount of friction. And the most amount of motivation would create the least amount of friction and whatever you want people to do. The most amount of motivation. If you're doing something for a non-profit or benefit, you would compel people to give or to get involved. You want to have those things in mind as you record. The next thing. I always think about when I'm doing a pre-recorded video or a live stream is what are my first word is going to be? And what are my last words is going to be. That's really helpful because it's going to help you have two statements to grab onto. If you're in a live setting, this is super helpful because a lot of times you're gonna be receiving the event, the live stream from something that can be you're just starting fresh. Hey, I'm Vince. This is that, this is this. Or you might be receiving the broadcast or the podium from something that came before you write. So maybe you step up to the podium and you want to say, thank you so much so, and so for that great presentation. So it gives you a place to start and a place to end, right? If I know. At the end of my video, my last words are gonna be, thank you so much for watching. Make sure you subscribe to this channel and follow us over on Instagram. That's really helpful to me as a communicator because I know where my end is going to be enough, I get lost or I feel like we're done. I can go right to that end script. So begin with your first words and your last words in mind. And lastly, what can't you miss? Sometimes that's how I prep myself. It's like, Okay, I'm going into this moment. I have to hit the company's vision statement. I have to hit the given goal, I have to hit the next steps. These are the three things that I cannot miss. Sometimes having that in my head really helps me as I'm up there communicating. Same thing for pre-recorded videos, right? You have a list of things that you cannot miss. In our class project, we gave you a list of things you have to hit. When you hit record, you have to keep those things in mind. What can I miss? And now, here's one more kind of bonus question. Is, does this moment have a ceiling or a climax or the most important thing, right? As you become more seasoned of a communicator, you can build up to a climax in your message, in your video, in your live stream, you can actually hone the ability to take people onto a journey, which we'll talk about next. But those are some of the questions. Feel free to take those from the resource section. Put those in a note in your phone, in a Google Doc. And anytime you go to plan out a video or an event, it'll be right there for you. So go ahead, do that even with your video that you're going to record for this class project, I want to encourage you to take these questions and fill them out for your video so you can make it as best as possible. 6. organize your talk: No matter what context you speak in, you're going to have to organize your information, right? And so that's what we're gonna talk about in this video. How to organize your communication. No matter if you're speaking at an event or on social, doing a 30-second video or speaking for 30 min, you're going to need to organize your talk in a way that makes sense and is effective. So the first thing is, what's the goal of what you're communicating, right? You just want to interact with people. I'm sure going live on Instagram. Maybe the goal is really just to connect with people and create a touchpoint. A lot of times though people who go live on Instagram, they want to hang out and catch up with their followers, but they also have something they want to communicate, plug or something like that. So what's the goal of your communication? We talked about that in the last video. The next thing is to plan and lead with your takeaways. So e.g. this kind of a weird one, but I host a coffee class through Airbnb. I teach people about where coffee comes from, how we are going to drink it and talk about espresso, milk, steaming, all these things. It's really quite intense and fun. But right when we start the class, I say, Hey, this is the takeaway I want you to have at the end of tonight, I want you to have an appreciation that coffee is both extremely simple. It's just beans in water, but it's extremely complex when we think about where it's grown, how it's processed, shipped, roasted, brood, milk, steaming syrups, all these things. Coffee is both simple and complex. So planning your takeaway and oftentimes, leading with your takeaway is a great way to prime people with the right information and give them the right Next Steps to go away with, right? So for you, if you're doing an instructional video, lead with your takeaway. If you're having a vision moment, just be aware of your takeaway. It really helps to center your talk on what you want people to leave with. The next thing I'll do is I will plan out my bullet points, right? So if I'm speaking a promo video or for an event, I'm going to just on my computer in my notes on my phone is I'm just going to hit my bullet points, right? So for this video, are for your video that you're making for the class. Okay, my bullet points. My name is Vince. This is what my channel is. This is the Skillshare moment. This is my story or the thing that I'm teaching. This is my C later at my next steps, right? So I might write those bullet points out. Then on a separate page. If you want to populate those bullet points with information and a script, you definitely can. I definitely encouraged just having a page that's our section, that's just the bullet points. And then a page that's the full script on the full strip is helpful for you. Just like thinking through everything and putting all the information out there. But the bullet points thing is kinda what you want to keep on hand. It's because you can glance at it and kinda see where you're at in your talk without needing to sort through pages and pages of documents. Then the next thing I'll do is I will plan my transitions between each bullet point, right? So for each bullet point, okay, the first bullet point is the welcome. Okay. Well, I'm memorizing the information of my name is Vince. This is the channel. Here's some Today's video is about. Then I'm creating transitions to the next bullet point. When you plan out your transitions ahead of time, it helps you to have something to grab on to get you from your current point to next point. You'd be surprised. But especially in a live communications setting, you'll find yourself in moments where you might feel like you're spiraling. You might feel like you're confused. You might find yourself saying the same thing over again, repeating yourself. Planning your transitional statements is a great way to be like, Okay, I need to get out of this point. Okay. I know that if I say this statement, you know, something about when I signed up for Skillshare. Right? That's a transitional statement. I'm going to keep that in my head or in my notes app so that when I need to get out of this point, I can just start saying that statement and they'll get me to the next one. So what's the goal? Plan, your takeaway, plan, your bullet points, plan, your transitions. And the next part is all about practice. If you have the opportunity to run it, run it a few times through. Maybe that's just walking around the room before you hit record and just talking through your transitions, your bullet points, your first words, your last words. Just talk through as much as you can. Then the next thing I'll do is I like to add live. So I'm running it through. I'm just going to find different ways to say the information, right? So I might try this story. Try that story is I'm trying to communicate why getting a Skillshare subscription is really important, right? I might tell this funny story about a time I was in one of our coffee classes and someone's spit up coffee all over me. And I might find that story is really engaging and it connects this way or that way, right? So just ad lib and then make special notes, right? So let's say you're running through your bullet points and your transitions. And you lock onto a transitional statement that is really good and you feel like it's really impactful. We'll make note of that statement and be sure to use it when you hit record or you step onto the podium. Or if you make a Honestly a funny joke, like just write that down and don't forget it. You'd be surprised how fast information can escape you. Make and then make note of anything that's confusing, right? If you're listening to yourself, You know what that phrasing doesn't really make sense. That wording doesn't really make sense. Make note of that and make your adjustments. And again, always plan your first and your last words. So again, what's the goal? Plan, your takeaway, plan, your bullet points, plan your transitions, run it back a few times, and make special notes. So those are a few of the things that I use to organize my information. I'm great resource for organizing a talk. Is any Stanley's communicating for change. It's great book. I'm going to link a PDF that just kinda talks about the overview of the notes down the description. But it's a great resource for planting out our planning out a word map for your talk. So, yeah, go ahead, take your talk, your project, organize your information in a Word doc or Google Drive or a notes app, and we'll see you in the next video. 7. control your pacing: As you watch back your screen test or you start working on your class project. One of the most important things to pay attention to is your pacing. I've noticed that a lot of people, myself included at times really struggled with the pace of speaking. I've got people who I listened to on podcasts, even that honestly, I don't even know what their real voice sounds like because they speak so slow. I've only listen to their podcast at 1.2 or 1.5 speed for years. And then of course you've got people who speak so fast, especially when people get nervous, thrown off, that you almost wish they would just stop and breathe, right? So take a minute, watch back to your screen test and see if the pacing seems natural. If it seems slow, if it seems really, really fast and almost like hyperventilating, they just want the person to breathe a little bit, right? These things are really important to take note of. And as you go throughout your communicating journey, you want to find that, that pace that is natural for you. Because there's gonna be times when you're speaking that you want to slow down a moment. Let's say you're coming to the end of a really impactful or meaningful moment, you might want to just slow down how you're talking. A lot of times I will slow my pace when I'm making a point that I want people to remember or to write down. And then other times I will increase my pace when I want to up the tempo on a story or create chaos in a moment, right? It can be really fun, especially when you're co-hosted with somebody to just kinda ramp up and just kinda go crazy and then stop and give people a sense of relief, right? So look at your pacing. Another fun thing you can do. I've done this a few times is you can take your video and you can play it back at different speeds and see if it's more or less natural. You could do just slight adjustments. So sometimes if I'm in a video app or like editing software, like Final Cut and I'm watching myself speak. I might just make it 1.1 speed or 0.9 speed or something like that and just see how it sounds. I would encourage you to do that. It's a really fun activity and kind of silly, but it does help you understand pacing a little bit more. The other thing with pacing is pauses. Pauses are so important. If you're talking at a live moment, it's important to give people the opportunity to absorb and retain information. As you pause, right? So I might make a big point, like write a sticky note, put it on your computer and remind yourself to slow down, or remind yourself to speed up, right? So I might say that and just make a pause so you can go. Okay, I got it right. So your, your pace and you're pausing is extremely important. So take a second now, go back to your video. Watch your pace and let us know. Do you feel like you speak too fast? Too slow? Don't pause enough. Pause too much. Let us know. What do you think about your own pacing and your own pausing. 8. be a story teller: All of my favorite communicators are not just people who go onstage, read bullet points, and walk offstage. All my favorite communicators and I'm sure a lot of yours are great storytellers. Their people, even in your life, maybe who when you sit down to the table and they start telling you about their day, you've got these huge rises and falls and you're laughing and crying and all these crazy emotions. Maybe not that extreme, but you get what I mean. When you're with people who are great storytellers, you are drawn in and you are listening. There's a TED talk, not to be that guy, but there's a TED Talk. You have to watch it. I'm going to link it in the Resources tab. It is called the transformative power of classical music by Benjamin Zander. It's from my 2008, which I guess is old now. But in this video, Benjamin Zander basically talks about how a lot of people think the world doesn't love classical music. But his belief is everybody loves classical music. They just don't know it yet. And he goes on to basically take the audience on a journey of experiencing classical music. Not just learning about it, but experiencing it. You have to watch it. He uses every technique in the book to get people hooked in. So you will feel something, laughs, you will learn something. It's all very, very good. So take a look at that video. You'll see what I mean. But my main takeaway from that is that when you create an experience for people, when you're on camera, you help people get drawn in and basically enter the world in which you're communicating in. So for instance, if you're on a live feed and you're just telling a story about something that happened to you. Your ability to tell those stories will determine how engaged people are, right? If you go on there and you're just like, Yeah, I was at the supermarket. I saw this person. They said that it was like whatever. That's people. People have better stories at their fingertips. It's unmute to create a process, a moment for people. People learn best when they feel something and when they're connected. So if you're new to this, if you haven't told stories before, if you haven't even thought and this idea, basically, it works like this. When you're telling stories, you're introducing the setting, you're creating a tension. There is a climax, and there's a resolution, right? So if I'm talking to you about this story of a coffee class I had where somebody had a very averse reaction to the coffee we were drinking. I would set the stage. I would tell you about what the coffee class is, how it works, how we taste different coffees, we brew coffee and eventually we taste espresso. You'd understand that then I would create the rising action. So I would say these two girls came in for our class first only ever hosted. They had big energy. They are taking photos, they were social media influencers. They had their phones out and listen everybody, We're here at this class for tasting coffee. It's amazing. We're tasting coffees. They don't really love it. They prefer cream and sugar in their coffee. And eventually, we get to the espresso portion. Espresso is very concentrated, intense coffee. Take a sip and they spit it all over me. And it was humiliating. But we laughed, we had a good time, and they ended up giving the class a five-star review, right? So I took you from the setting, the rising action, the climax, and the resolution of that moment. If you'd like some resources on good storytelling, the most simple ones. The first thing is called Freytag's Pyramid. It's basically, it was invented in 1800s. It's been adopting, adopted. You'll find modern versions of that online. But it's basically, I just talked about how there's kind of an exposition. There's a rising action, climax, some resolution from that moment. It's a really great way to tell a story if you're not used to doing that, That's a great place to start. Take any funny moment in your life and just fill in those bullet points to create your story. The other thing is when you're telling a story about somebody's journey. I'm hero story by Joseph Campbell's a great resource if you're doing fiction writing or you're trying to create something that's kinda pretend the hero's journey is great. It's basically how it's a story arc you see in a lot of also a lot of writing film and movies from the matrix to Lord of the Rings. Where basically somebody goes from the known to the unknown, gets a mentor gets developed, goes through challenges, has a death and rebirth and eventually comes back to their new life. It's a really great way to tell a story and to follow somebody's development into a new scene, a new setting. Yes. So those are two resources that are really helpful if you're trying to tell stories. And I would encourage you to try this on your own to think of a funny moment in your life or an insane moment in your life. And see if you can fill out these plot points. Stories are really helpful, especially if you watch a lot of YouTube, you'll see there are people who are really good at telling stories around sponsors, right? So I watched a few coffee YouTubers, and I watched some productivity YouTubers. And the best ones will be telling you about something. And you're like, Oh, I totally relate with that. And then they'll flip it and say, because I had this issue, I have this product from this video sponsor. And they'll go into the ad. It'll be seamless and you'll just feel like you agree, and you just keep listening and you totally forget to skip that 30-second increments, right? The more lazy people will say, Oh yeah, Also, today's video is sponsored by Skillshare. Skillshare is, and they'll read the blurb, right? There's two different ways to engage content and information. And storytelling will always be superior to just stating something in a void, right? So I want to encourage you tell more stories. And if you haven't told any, Tell your first one as soon as possible. 9. know your ceiling: One of the most important things about communicating effectively is having a wide dynamic range. Write it down in dynamic range. Dynamic range is your ability to kind of go from loud and excited, I hope not too loud or quiet, subdued, intimate. So dynamic range can talk about literal loudness or emotional intensity. Those are kinda the two sides, two dynamic range. And it's important to have an awareness of that. For a few reasons. I've learned in public speaking settings, you'll often see that a person on stage, when they are talking about something exciting, they are almost like fake, really excited, right? They are just so over-the-top. Just be absolutely wild, maybe jumping around, laughing, shouting. And then when someone's being emotionally intense, not something you'll see their face get distraught. People who are speaking in the motivational realm of things, right? Or in some kind of trying to create emotion or intensity, you'll see the pain on their face. I'm the softness in their voice. And a lot of that is because the audience is only going to reflect back like 20% of the energy that you put out, right? So if something is exciting and you're just like, Oh yeah, I'm kind of excited about this. Like people aren't going to receive that the same way. They're going to receive it. If you're like, this thing is incredible. It's my favorite product, whatever it is, right? So your ability to go from loud and quiet or excited and intimate is really important. There's a principle out there in the world called the Pareto principle. I've heard about this from Ali Abdul, who's YouTuber. He's referenced it from Tim Ferriss is four hour workweek, which is a great book. And basically the principle is this, it's 20% of what we say or what we do or what there is, makes 80% of the impact. It started from a farmer who realized that of all of his crop, 20% of his crop produced 80% of the yield. It's kinda this unique principle that we see all throughout nature. Even in business. You'll actually see that out of your entire sales force, 20% of those people are making 80% of the sales. You'll see it in everything from productivity to nature to music, to all these things. And really the same is true. That principle applies to communication. Where 20% of what you actually say, we'll make 80% of the impact. A lot of that is because what you're speaking is about connecting and context. But there's a 20% that is going to make the difference for your talk, for your Instagram, real, for your live stream. And so examples, we laugh at punchlines, write jokes aren't funny without punchlines. There, honestly useless without punchlines. And you give attention to maybe the most powerful 20% of a message, right? That's where you get that turn or that takeaway, or that quotable moment, right? 20% of that is what you take away with. And so I want to encourage you that as you're looking at your own video, if you're watching back live streams, if you're looking at your class project, what is your 20% that is most impactful? What's the 20% that you should be the loudest in? What's the 20% that you should be the quietest and most intimate, right? Telling a really dramatic and powerful story. What's the moment or the climax in that moment? Where you're going to kind of soften up. You're going to speak slow, quiet with a lot of emotion, right? So think about that as you're communicating. This is kind of a bit of a jump, but John Mayer has, he's a singer-songwriter, one of the best guitarists in the world. Here's a video series which I'll link where he talks at Berkeley about this Berklee School of Music. He talks about what to do during a guitar solo. And he just talks about how the best people in their field at improvisation, they don't start with their best, loudest, most dramatic thing. He says that most times people will work up to it and they will be constantly aware of their musical or dynamic ceiling, right? So instead of starting at your most extreme, best high note, you take people along on a journey and at some point you hit that emotional dynamic ceiling. I want to encourage you to have that in mind as you're doing your videos, as you're doing your content. Where is my ceiling? Where is that 20%? That's going to make 80% of the difference in frame you're talking, your communication around that. 10. what do I do with my hands?: What do we do with these? Our hands? It's probably the most uncomfortable part about being on video. And honestly, it's true like there's no easy way around it. It is so awkward to have hands and be on video. But then you'll also realize you feel just as awkward keeping them down at your side. So don't worry about that. It's okay. It's a natural part of becoming a communicator. But for me, it really depends on the circumstance. But I always encourage people when you're starting. Doing less can be more, right? So a lot of times if you're speaking at a desk or table, having your hands folded in front of you. Not being a distraction is a great way to start, right? So you're just keeping them kind of tame and then using your hands to emphasize points. That's the next best thing, right? So when you're not using your hands, keep them still. Don't put them in your pockets, right? Especially if you're in a formal setting. Don't keep them just lifted here like Ricky Bobby. Right? You don't want your hands to be extraction. Extraction. You want them to be a tool, right? So I would encourage you, if you're making a point, you can use your hands to drive a point home. Literally. I will do that a lot when I'm making a point. You'll see great presidential speakers do this as well. Where you're saying, I want you to write this down. We need to make this major takeaway, right? You can use your hands to drive home a point. You can use your hands to emphasize something, right. So if I'm talking to you about my trip to the to the Colorado Rockies and I'll say we turned up this hill. We rounded the corner in front of us. Was this humungous. Ok. I mean, the biggest creature ever seen in my life, right? Using my hands to, to kind of emphasize what's going on there. Then you can also use your hands to help create kind of like a close moment, right? So if I'm telling you about kind of an intense story, I'm telling you about the climax of this intense story. And really sad moment. I can bring my hands close and kinda gives you that feeling of like, okay, we're leaning in, repressing in. We're listening to this really intense thing. Your hands can be a tool to emphasize what you're talking about and then your body language. Honestly, the thing I struggle with the most, and anybody who's worked on a video of me will tell you some Islam shirt. I love a slouch. And it's not great. But you have to figure out as you're watching back-and-forth, what are the things that you struggle with with your with your body posture? I would say for most people, it's being still you'll have a lot of people who pays back and forth side to side. You'll find people who will like tap their leg or whatever it is. Being still is one of the hardest things to do. And so a lot of people struggle with being still. I want to encourage you that it's okay to do nothing. In fact, this will be maybe uncomfortable for a lot of you. But go in front of the camera, hit Record and just stand there for like a minute. And don't move. And then try it again and say, Okay, what's the most comfortable way I can stand here? Looking natural and not doing anything. You'll be surprised how tough that is, how much you're going to overthink it. But I promise you, it's a tactic worth looking into. What's your resting body posture. So that's the few things. Be aware of your hand placement. Use your hands for emphasis. Be aware of your posture and be okay, doing nothing. 11. co-hosting: One of the most fun things about being on camera bar none is co hosting. Hosting is one of the most fun ways to communicate information. To be on a live stream, to do a pre-recorded video. It gives people honestly that dynamic range we talked about is just built in when you're bantering with somebody, when you're going back-and-forth. It creates another piece of stimulating subject matter for people to interact with. Co-hosted when it's right, when the chemistry is good, when the pacing is good, it is magical. You'll find moments you could never find on your own. You'll have laughs You could have never produced on your own. Mistakes become something to smile about and become additive to the experience. It's really a great way to be on camera. And if you have a way to bring a co-host into your YouTube videos, your reels, your lives, even interviews, all of these things. You should try it out. It's really, really fun, but I wanted to give you just a few tips that I found on how to be on camera with somebody. So the first thing is to, to manage your actual attention where your, where your eyes actually go, right? So a lot of people struggle with what do I do when the other person is talking? Where do I look when I'm talking, right? So here's what I kind of give people as a place to start, is most of your attention. 80% should be on the audience you're speaking to. And then 20% of your attention should go to cluing in the other party. So what does that mean? What does that look like? Well, let's say I'm co-hosted with someone beside me and we are talking, right. I'm asking them about their favorite part of the weekend. I'm asking them about their favorite part of the event that we're at together. I'm going to look at them and I'm going to ask them the question. I'm going to try. I'm going to ask for more information. But with the other 20% of my attention, I'm gonna clue in the other audience. So I might say, Hey, what do you think of the event today? Are you having fun? I know it's been a busy day, but there's so much going on. What's your face? See how I'm just kinda cooling in the camera to the person that I'm talking to. The opposite is also true, right? Let's say we had our discussion bit. But now I'm going to go back to the camera and give you a take-away from the video. Give you information about the conference that I'm live streaming or hosting. I'm going to put 80% of my attention to you and use 20% of my attention to clue in the person I'm with, right? So that might be like this. So as you just heard, shopping sustainably is very important. You can use eBay, Poshmark, deep hop. All of these are really great ways for you to get plugged in to the secondhand shopping community, right? So I'm giving you 80% of the attention. And I'm cluing in my guest with eye contact, some kind of nodding or affirming, body image movement kind of thing. Does that make sense? I can't hear you, but you can write it in the comments. And another thing to be aware of is don't just act, react, right? So don't just say the lines is supposed to say answer the questions you're supposed to answer, but makes sure that you're taking moments to react to things, right? If my co-host mispronounces something, you better believe that I'm gonna make a big deal about it, right? If we confused some information, it's fun to have a fake little argument back-and-forth about how that's wrong and how you don t know anything that you're talking about, right? You can create these moments by reacting. When someone says something really good, maybe something you didn't expect. It's okay to take a moment and just like, Wow, That makes so much sense. I'm really glad you put it that way, right? You have the freedom in a co hosting environment to not just act, but to react. Then the other thing you want to be aware of is you want to create space and hand off the baton, right? So a lot of times before the camera starts, me and my co-host will sit down, I'll say, Hey, we have five-minutes. These are the three or four points that we want to hit. I'll do the intro. So we'll go back to that bullet point and transition document that we've created. And you can use the same thing for a co-host. So I'll sit down with my co-host and I'll say, hey, I'm gonna do the welcome. I'll say my bit. Here's my transition statement to you. Here's where I'm going to hand off the baton. So what you can do is you can work down that document and say, Okay, we've hit three points with an intro and outro. I'll do the intro and the first point, Here's my transition statement. The next point. And the next point, here's your transition statement. And you can basically script out how to hand the baton off effortlessly, right? The best track teams who run relay races, they practiced those relays right? Then I'll just throw a bunch of random people out there and say, Good luck. You learned each other's paste things. You learn where in the race are going to hand off the baton and how you're going to do it. The last thing is just be sure to have active listening, right? So my co-host is telling the story as uncomfortable as it feels to have a microphone and just stay in there. You want to make sure that you're engaging with that person. So what that might look like is nodding essay. It's just giving some affirming. Or that's really good. You want to be actively listening to that person. You don't want to just stand here and stare off into the distance, right? That would be so awkward. So make sure that you're actively listening to that person. Find your chemistry AT 20 attention rule. Don't just act. React. Plan your points and hand off the baton, then active listening. Those are a few tips and tricks for you to co-host. And I want to encourage you again. If you haven't had a co-host on your YouTube videos or something like that? Honestly, I don't see a lot of people do it. I don't see a lot of people just sit down with a friend on YouTube. Some of them will like, Yeah, feature someone or whatever, but I want to encourage you to try that out. It's a great exercise and hopefully these tips will help you be the best co-host ever. 12. how to be yourself (again): Look at us. Look at you, look how far you made it in this class. I'm so proud of you. I'm proud of us for hanging in there. You're on your way to being the best communicator in the world. And somebody about separates good communicators from my favorite communicators is the best people in the world are great at being themselves. And honestly, this is the thing that takes the longest to get used to being on a camera, looking at a lens and just being who you are. See the thing is that nobody can be you, right? Everybody can organize the information. Everybody can have good body language, but nobody can be used. I want to encourage you in this segment to really think about what makes you, you and try and B, natural, which sounds kind of ironic, but, but it's the truth. So the first thing is you need to do the repetition, right? You have to internalize the information. Because once the information is basically automatic, then you can focus on just being, reacting, being funny, doing what makes you, you get that repetition down, get the information locked down. The next thing is, you might need to inspire yourself, right? So you might need to create some kind of personal inspiration or long game inspiration around your idea, something to get you excited. And then the last thing is, and this is really the most of what I want to talk about in this video is to find out what makes you, you. On video. I kinda think of like this. I want to be myself, but amplified, right? So I know this sounds weird to talk about, but I know that the things that make me unique as a communicator is that sometimes I'm pretty funny. And that's usually because I'm chaotic, sarcastic. And I have really absurd reactions to things, right? I know these things about myself. I don't put them away and I'm on camera. In fact, I used them to be like nobody else that I know. And you have those things too. So here's what I want to encourage you to do. Your personality. What are the things that are uniquely? You? Take a minute, pause the video and write some down. Honestly, if you've got some people around you, it's okay to stop and ask them. Like right now, Nicole, you're filming this video with me. What what are your favorite parts about, about my personality? What makes me me, what's unique about me? I'm chaotic. She said K otic. And I use that. Okay, but really write some of your favorite YouTubers, have these moments that are just wild. And if you were at a conference, maybe you wouldn't dial in on these moments. But you'll even see this huge trend in YouTube videos where people are leaving in some of the kind of miss mistakes. What's like a tape that doesn't go well, I guess you don't need, but they're leaving these things in because they showcase their personality, they showcase who they are and how they act. And so I would encourage you to ask some people around you, what are the properties you have that make you unique? And then you can use those things, right? And honestly, the repetition thing really helps. As I'm going through a prompt or video. I will just take a minute or two and just kinda go wild, right? Just make whatever joke if I have an idea to get up and walk around and clap and shout like I'll just do it. Whatever works like I'll roll with. So yeah, that's one of the most important things to find out what makes you, you have the freedom to try and be funny, right? Especially if you're pre-recording your own stuff. Like you can determine what stays and what goes, right? So maybe that's being ironic. Find some kind of ironic thing, even when you're promoting classes, right? Let's say you're promoting a fitness program and you know, for a fact, you don't do any fitness activities, right? So you might be promoting this exercise program and you might be like, You know what, I'm reading this now to you. And last night I crushed the whole container. Ben and Jerry's, I know I need this program more than anybody here, right? You can find some irony, find some conflicting ideas in your topic, and you can expound upon that, tie it to your real life, your real thoughts, your real experiences. You can speak from that place of what you've experienced. Again, just to recap, do the repetition, internalize the information so that you can focus on being yourself. Finally, inspiration. You need to, you need to find for what you're talking about. And then focus on the aspects that make you, you. And you will communicate like nobody else, because nobody else can communicate like you. 13. the wrap up: Saying goodbyes is always the hardest part. I feel like we really connected. We're really friends now, but I'm proud of you for going through this class with me. We learned how to prepare, how to organize our information, how to internalize it. We learned how to improvise, how to have good posture, and then how to be ourselves on camera. And I hope that you'll take all of these principles and make a great class project. You will five-minute video. Hopefully you haven't forgotten about that. But be sure to leave a comment in the discussions about how this has helped you your best takeaways, the best things that helped you the most. I would love to hear about that. Then even if there is something you wish you could hear more about, I would love to hear that too. Don't forget to check the resources page for different videos, books, and other articles that I have found helpful in my communication journey. And also be sure to follow me on Skillshare. I plan to keep releasing and classes that will hopefully expand on some of this content and also help you in all things, life, productivity, ideas, creative processes, all of these things. So subscribe to this Skillshare channel for more classes as they come. It really helps if you can leave a review that really helps with my exposure and helps to kind of bump this class up as we go. And lastly, if you've enjoyed just hearing me talk, enjoyed hearing some of the thoughts that I have about things. You'd like to hear more and like to keep this relationship going. You can subscribe to my completely free email newsletter called profoundly helpful. In his newsletter, you just get two thoughts for me. But one that I think is profound and something that I've thought was interesting or one of my perceptions on how the world works or something like that. And then something that's helpful. That can be a resource, a product, a book, or video, something that has helped me in my life, so profoundly helpful. You can subscribe to that with the link somewhere down there. But other than that, thank you so much for watching. It's been so fun getting to talk, communication with you. I hope you learned something and I will see you next time.