How to Talk to the Camera (pro tips for looking & sounding confident)

Are you camera shy? Do you feel like you don't know how to talk to the camera? In this video, I'm going to share with you some tips on how to look and sound confident in your Youtube videos. By following these simple tips, you'll be able to put your best foot forward and make great videos that will engage and connect with your viewers!

🔹 Watch my free YouTube workshop to learn 3 Secrets to Reach 1,000 Subscribers and Get Monetized in 3 Months:
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// WHAT TO WATCH NEXT

MAKE YOUR VIDEOS LOOK PRO **3 LEVELS OF VIDEO LIGHTING**

How to Make Your First YouTube Video (equipment, scripting, filming, and editing!)

How to Start a Successful YouTube Channel (2022)

How to Get NOTICED on YouTube (Grow Your Channel from 0 to 100,000)
https://youtu.be/s6kcMwdNFTM

How Much YouTube Paid Me In 2020 With 450K Subscribers (2020 Income Report)
https://youtu.be/y39SCh5GqFs

// LINKS

Learn more about Gillian and find resources to build your online business:
https://www.gillianperkins.com

Follow Gillian on Instagram to get a BTS look at what it's like to be a digital entrepreneur:

// FILMING EQUIPMENT

Camera:
Microphone:
Tripod:
Main light:
Other lights:
RBG light strip:

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Hey everyone it's Gillian Perkins and Welcome back to my YouTube channel today I want to talk to you about how to talk To the camera comfortably confidently Not awkwardly sound natural and all of That now I know that when you are first Starting when you're making your first Few videos even your first 10 20 30 Videos you can feel really awkward and Uncomfortable sometimes it seems like it Will be easy you sit down you try to Talk to the camera and it's not you feel Like a mess you feel like you have no Idea what you're doing suddenly you have Nothing to say And it is so easy at that point to just Throw in the towel or at least consider Throwing in the towel and think this Video thing is not for me because you See your favorite YouTubers looking and Sounding awesome and super confident and Completely natural and now your Experience is that it's just not that Way for you and so you think that you Are not cut out for video but I have to Start by telling you the reality the Reality is that when I make a YouTube Video Even though people all the time Tell me you're so good on camera how are You so confident do you script every Word of your videos the reality is that When I make a YouTube video I sit down And I talk to the camera for 20 30 Minutes sometimes an hour and then you

End up seeing a 10 or 15 minute edit of That and so what you see is not what Happened it is the product of a lot of Takes and a lot of editing a lot of Mistakes and a lot that got cut out and Just quick little tip here I'm not Starting in stopping the camera over and Over again I do that pretty much only When I move to a different location or Change something about the shot itself But as long as I'm filming in the same Location I just keep the camera rolling I find that to be way easier so let's do This let's get into some tips for how to Confidently talk to the camera So first you just need to accept the Reality that everybody starts as a Beginner everybody's First videos are Awkward and normally terrible and when I Say their first videos I don't just mean Like their first one or two videos or Five or ten videos a lot of the time It's their first 20 30 50 videos that Are awkward it takes a while to figure Out how to talk to a camera and to get Comfortable with it and I feel like that Could be discouraging but I hope that It's not because really it is good news It means that everyone all of the YouTubers who you love watching started Right where you're at right now their First videos were not good they were Awkward on camera at first but now you See where they're at today you see them

Looking confident you see them Comfortable on camera and talking to the Camera in a really natural way and so You can know that you too will get there With some practice and you can get Closer to that right now if you do the Second thing which is to start with a Plan now I know some of you don't need Your hear this at all some of you are Maybe over planning even we'll talk About that in a minute take it easy but Others of you think that talking to a Camera should be natural it should be Easy you see other people do it and they Make it look so easy and effortless and So you think well I'll just sit down and Talk I mean I know how to talk I can Talk to friends and so you feel like you Don't need a plan but really if you Start with a plan even a really simple One it goes a long way and it gives you A lot more confidence and helps you to Sound a lot more confident as well and That brings us to tip number three which Has to do with what your plan should be Like my biggest advice is when you're First starting out do not script your Videos but why not now yes you can make A better video potentially if you script Every single word it's not necessarily Going to be less awkward but it could be A better quality more professional video But you will be doing yourself a big Disservice because you are much less

Likely to actually get confident and Learn how to speak naturally if you stay Glued to a script it will just be a Crutch and you will always have to lean On that crunch so especially when you're First starting out just use a simple Outline this is how I do the majority of My videos it was definitely how I got Started simple bullet points I have an Entire video you can watch about how I Script my videos which is primarily with A bullet point outline so you can watch That if you want more information about This process but just keep it simple you Do want to have a plan for what you will Say but you don't want to go into too Much detail because it will keep you Glued to your notes it will keep you Reading a script it will be awkward There will be a lot of takes a lot of Cuts and it won't really be the natural Authentic comfortable video you want it To be and my next tip for you is to make It easy on yourself especially for your First videos talk about stuff that you Are really comfortable and confident Talking about stuff that you know a lot About Don't try to be more impressive and Therefore talk about things that are More complicated or things that are Maybe like above your pay grade or Something like that stick to what you Know at least at first because you'll

Find it's way easier to talk about stuff That you know I mean I'm sure that there Are things that right now you could Stand up and give an entire presentation On without even having to make a plan Now making a plan might make it more Organized but you have plenty to say About it without doing a speck of Research My next tip is to get comfy now a lot of People when they try to make a video They sit down they hit that record Button and they immediately start Talking sometimes you even see them hit The record button shot it's like hi guys Okay so that is not how most Professional or experienced YouTubers Make videos or really anyone who has Much of any experience making videos at All when I make a YouTube video I sit Down and once everything seems right I Turn on the camera and then I look at Myself in the viewfinder I kind of check Myself out I check my hair I check you Know my makeup I make sure that Everything is as it should I look at my Shirt you know is anything crooked okay So I get comfortable that way I'm also Looking at the set in my viewfinder and Making sure that there's nothing out of Place like is there a pillow on the Couch that looks awkward or something I Make sure that everything looks good and Looks as it should and that gives me a

Lot of confidence and it also helps me To kind of warm up and get comfortable I'm so ready and then I think about what I'm going to say first even if I've Already written an outline even if I Have quite a plan for the video I still Think about the first point while the Camera is rolling and decide exactly What words I'm going to say first and Then I start talking and then a lot of The time I stop talking and I say those First things again and sometimes it Takes me a few takes to get warmed up And now let's keep going with a few more Tips for the actual talking to the Camera Part you've probably already Heard this one but you need to look Straight into the lens of the camera I Know it can feel weird it can feel kind Of awkward it can just like feel like You want to look somewhere else but Think about it when you watch YouTube Videos where are your favorite YouTubers Looking they're looking straight into The lens it looks like they're looking Right at you and it doesn't feel weird At all it feels completely normal I mean Is it normal is it normal for me to be Sitting here right now talking to this Camera with no one else around and Probably not but it will feel normal to Your viewer it's not going to feel weird Or awkward that's not weird at all and You just need to do it because it is

Going to make your viewers enjoy your Videos so much more and feel much more Connected and engaged with you another Thing that might feel weird but really Helps so much is to smile while you talk Now there is certainly a time and a Place for a serious video there might be A video where you mostly don't smile but That time and place is probably not your First few videos because honestly it is So much easier to look and sound and Feel so much more confident if you are Smiling now I know it can be a little Weird like physically strange to smile While you talk it might feel a little Bit unnatural But you're going to come off so much More friendly engaging charismatic and Much more confident if you just smile When someone is sitting back and they Are talking like this and we'll talk More about this in a minute but and Their face is just completely relaxed They tend to look very shy and passive And not very confident inspiring or Confident themselves versus when someone Smiles and engages with the camera then It feels like they feel good about Themselves and they are confident in Themselves and that brings me right to My next point which is to bring the Energy you will be surprised at how much More subdued you look in a video Compared to how you felt like I said you

Know a lot of the times it seems really Natural to just kind of sit back and be Relaxed like you would talk to a friend And that'd be totally normal if you were Talking to a friend but on camera you Are going to see much more confident if You lean in a little bit and you smile And you give more energy than would be Normal or natural in real life The camera tends to make everything very Two-dimensional instead of Three-dimensional and so all of your Movements your body language your facial Body language it all gets minimized you Want to use a little bit more inflection In your voice and that will make you Seem much more confident on camera and Make your videos a lot more interesting To watch now my last tip some of you Probably won't like it is to do the hard Work of editing your own videos at least For a while now a lot of us start out Editing our own videos because we don't Have any sort of budget to Outsource That to hire someone to help but those Of you who maybe are starting a YouTube Channel for your business or maybe You're hoping that your YouTube channel Will turn into a source of income maybe You're being business-minded and being Smart and thinking you want to invest in Your channel to grow more quickly so you Will hire a professional editor save Yourself some time make better videos

And that is all well and good it's Fantastic but when you are really Working on making your videos better Honestly nothing is going to help you Improve faster than getting hands on With them and doing the uncomfortable Work of sitting down and editing them Watching yourself on camera which I know When you're first starting out is just Like oh it's horrifying you don't want To do it it can be so awkward and Uncomfortable but facing that fear and Doing that is really going to not only Help you to get over it which is a Valuable skill to have but it also is Going to give you a lot of important Information see there's this thing that Happens if you make videos and then you Have someone else edit them where you Get the finished video Back and You're Not really satisfied with it and a lot Of the time there are things you might Notice that you did that you don't like But you also feel like you didn't really Like how the editor handled it but what You don't know what you can't see is That a lot of the time the footage that You gave them it wasn't really the right Thing to work with there were some Issues in the footage that they dealt With as best as they could but you would Have been able to understand those Issues much better if you had been hands On with it and doing the editing

Yourself yes the editing is time Consuming yes you'll probably want to And probably should Outsource it in the Future but when you're first starting Out and not just like for the first Couple videos for the first 10 20 plus Videos do it yourself if you want to Improve faster so those are my tips for You for how to talk to the camera Confidently and naturally and feel Comfortable while you are doing it and You know one last little tip is really Just to not be afraid of being natural And being yourself a lot of the time we Think that we need to be really perfect On camera and that we need to never say Um or uh or pause and it's true that we Don't want to do those things too much And that if we stumble and stutter we Should probably stop and say the thing Again and cut out the mistakes and cut Out the long causes but that doesn't Mean that you need to be a perfect robot How did we get into this mess people Don't want to watch a perfect robot That's boring they want to watch a real Human they want to connect with a real Human so don't be afraid of showing a Little bit of Personality don't be Afraid of looking off to the side as You're thinking you don't have to stay Locked in glued in to that lens the Entire time you don't have to speak Without a single pause or stumble if you

Make a little stumble it's really fine To just keep going versus if you Completely mess up don't be afraid of Starting over so that you can get a Better take it's all about balance you Don't want to try too hard to be Perfectly perfect but you also want to Like I shared in the earlier trips you Know bring the energy and smile and do a Few takes to get a good one so that you Can edit it and end up with a polished Video that you like I know that Implementing these tips is going to help You make way better videos that you feel Way better about but there is still Still a difference between making good Videos and making good videos that People actually watch so if you want to Learn more about how the YouTube Algorithm works and how to work with it To get views on your videos and grow Your channel then check the description Box below for a link to a free class That I offer called three secrets to Reach 1 000 subscribers in just three Months it's going to teach you all that And so much more and overall teach you How to turn your YouTube channel into a Success thanks so much for joining me For today's video if you are new here be Sure to subscribe before you go if you Want to learn more about how to grow Your YouTube channel or if you're Interested in learning how to start your

Own online business because that is what I normally talk about on this channel That's all for now but I love you and I'll see you next week