Welcome back to another episode of Digital Creator with me , your host , dylan Schmidt . Today I want to talk about a question I was asked this morning . I was interviewed on a Minovo livestream procast with Mark Ronick , who has been on this podcast twice . I'm recalling correctly , he was on episode 100 or 200 . I don't know , it's all a blur at this point , but he asked me a great question that I want to talk about in this episode and that was if you're not feeling confident talking on camera , like what do you do ? How can you become confident talking on camera ? Because obviously I have a lot of experience with this stuff . I've made over 1400 talking to camera videos and a lot of podcasts and whatnot . So let's get into it . I'm going to give you a response . If you listen to that live stream episode with Mark , it'll be a similar response .
Speaker 1So I am not some natural talking to camera person . I have no background in this . I'm usually on the other side of the camera . My experience is , you know , setting up a microphone and camera for other people to record into , but what I had to do was get comfortable talking into the microphone and being on camera . That's not my element . This is not my element . It's become my element now I'm comfortable with it , but it's not something that has felt ever natural to me . Now it feels really natural now , and if you ask why is that ? Well , it's because I've done it 1400 plus times , so it's become second nature and it feels just really simple . Honestly , as easy as brushing my teeth .
Speaker 1Yeah , my advice , though , to someone feeling not confident talking on camera and what I wish I would have heard when I was just starting out and I wanted to feel more confident about being on camera , and I feel like this would have at least put me in the right mindset . I don't know that it would shorten my learning curve or anything , but it put me in the right headspace to show up on camera as my best self , which is think of parts , right . I like to compartmentalize things and kind of organize everything neatly . So when I think of myself and my overarching confidence , there are certain areas in life where I'm not that confident , right . There's other areas where I am super confident . You know , I'm not so confident that the Dodgers . You know , as you're hearing this , they'll have played game four . I'm pretty confident they're going to win the World Series , but it would be a mistake if I was just like , yeah , I'm so confident they're going to win the World Series , it's all going to be great . I'll reserve that until after the World Series ends , which is tonight . I'm not that confident in my cooking , but I am confident in certain dishes I can make right .
Speaker 1So there's parts to our life and there's little areas where we feel confident in , and when it comes to filming content , filming videos like this , filming episodes like this there are parts that we're not going to be that confident in , and there'll be parts that we are confident in . Parts that I think most people aren't that confident in the beginning are usually things like editing , so they maybe feel very unfamiliar with the whole editing process . And then maybe they're not confident in the publishing section . Maybe they're like I think the titles are kind of okay I don't know if it looks good , the lighting , things like that but there are areas that you can be confident in despite all that , which is arguably the most important part of the whole video process , which is what you're talking about on camera . Now , this is assuming that you are in control of what you're talking about on camera and you're deciding to make videos . It's not like someone is telling you to make videos for some reason , which some people have to make videos for the business or something . In that case , you can still work with this , but this is mainly for people that aren't used to talking on a camera , that want to start talking on camera , and that is be confident in what you're saying , what you're talking about .
Speaker 1For me , when I was first starting filming videos , what I would do is I would pick topics that I was like passionately angry about because I was seeing some misinformation happen or just some gatekeeping really , around this podcast producer that I had been working with . I didn't like how he was acting , so I was confident that that's not the way I wanted to be , and I was confident that I wanted to share all these things that he was kind of keeping from me and , just like his audience , he was making it seem like it was way more difficult than it needed to be , but I knew the truth . So I was like you know , I'm going to film these videos . And then I started noticing other things . Maybe people were saying things that I didn't necessarily believe in . So I was speaking truth to what I wanted to see more of out there , and I was confident in that because I had a lived experience of this being the truth and knowing that what I was saying was true .
Speaker 1So there was no like lack of confidence there , right ? Did I like how I looked on camera ? Not really . Did I like the lighting , all these little details ? No , not really . There were typos in the captions . There were a million ways I wanted to make it better , but I was at least confident in what I was saying . So I would magnify that and that's what I'm recommending you do too .
Speaker 1If you're not confident when you're speaking directly to camera is you can choose what you magnify and really focus on , right , you can focus on the editing and that the editing is not in its end stage yet . It shouldn't be really . I mean , do you get mad at a baby for not walking when they're a baby ? Right , you shouldn't , because they're in the early stages and they're figuring it out . Same thing with talking on camera . You can instantly become more comfortable on camera when you're confident about what you're talking about and it's congruent with what you know to be true . Now , if you're like me , you'll also find like , well , what if what I'm saying I think is true , but someone could argue the other way ? That's part of content , you know . That's why the news is so divisive . That's part of the whole thing .
Speaker 1I , as you know , have a company called Content Clips and we make clips from podcasts and there's only so much context , right , you can't say everything in 120 words or 30 seconds or so . There's always going to be room for missing pieces of information . It's just the splice . When we're talking about social media and content , it's not everything . So , understanding that it's naturally a flawed way to communicate your entirety of understanding , you're not making a thesis , you're just making a splices . That's a new word . I don't think it means anything other than what I'm saying in this context . You got to accept that . It's just . You're going to , you're going to have I don't want to say errors , but you're going to have missing pieces of information because it's just the splice .
Speaker 1But if you can still be confident in what you're saying is true and that your delivery and who you're filming it for is true , like what you're saying is matching and who you're talking to all that stuff it makes the confidence piece shine through You'll find that you'll have less filler . Words like um , uh , things like that . Your delivery will be way smoother . You'll come up with content ideas uh , so much faster . The whole process just all around is way more enjoyable when you're confident in what you're talking about . Anything else outside of that and you're trying to manufacture this confidence . I don't even know how to do that and it just seems really draining A lot of energy spent . That is not an efficient way to work .
Speaker 1So speak truth to what you want to see more of in the world and deliver that confidently , because there's a reason why you're sharing it . There's no reason not to be confident . You will not be confident in everything right . You're not supposed to be confident in the editing of your video Like this is exactly perfect . It's going to evolve right through the quantity . This is exactly perfect . It's going to evolve right Through the
quantity .
Speaker 1The quality will pick itself up . For example , with these videos and episodes that I record like the quality has gradually gotten better and better , I have people reach out and like what has changed ? You've gotten it dialed in . It's just these small incremental changes over time . I'm still the same person that is confidently believing in what I'm talking about , but the lighting has improved , or you know the camera quality or my background or desk setup , whatever it is , but my message hasn't changed and my confidence in my message really hasn't changed .
Speaker 1It might've evolved , or topics I've , you know , come to understand have maybe evolved or matured or whatever . That stays the same . The wrapping is going to change . That'll just change , right ? I'm going to age , you know . Things will change , naturally . The environment , all that stuff , who I am , will kind of be timeless in a way . You know what I mean Because I'm confident in what I'm saying . So unless I'm confidently wrong which that I'll be confidently accepting that I'm wrong that's a future , you know , crossing roads , but for now you can just bet on me being confident in what I'm sharing with you , and my hope is that you feel confident in what you're talking about , or else I don't think you're talking about the right thing . So look for that confidence and ride with it . I'll see you in the next one .