Sheryl Plouffe shows her home video setup: a 2015 MacBook Pro, Yeti microphone, Logitech 4K webcam, and a ring light. She uses an Adidas shoebox to position her laptop at eye level and rotates two external hard drives for backups. Her main point: focus on strategy and message, not perfect gear.
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This is me back in my TV days entertaining a group of people who were coming through the TV studio for a tour, and this happened a lot. People wanted to see behind the scenes. They wanted to see the big broadcast cameras and the huge green screens, and they wanted to see where was the script that all of the weather presenters were using. And lo and behold, they came to find out that there weren't any. But today what I thought I'd do is bring you behind the scenes of what things are like for me now that I'm not on TV and really creating my own TV channel, uh, which is now YouTube and Facebook and LinkedIn, and creating the videos that you see on my social media. So let me take you on a quick tour and show you some of my favorite tools and why I love them. Here is my setup. If you've ever seen me do a Zoom meeting or a Facebook Live, it's likely from this desk. I love the fact that it's in the high-traffic area of our home. I wouldn't have it any other way. We do have a spare room in our home, but I actually choose and prefer to be right in the middle of all of the action. I am an Apple girl through and through. This is an early 2015 MacBook Pro. It has never let me down, and when I upgrade to another laptop, I'll be getting— guess what— another MacBook Pro. The only downfall to this particular model, and granted it is a bit older, is that it only has one USB port. Port on the side. So that's just one of the, the downfalls of this particular model. So I did have to buy one of these— I don't know what we call them, but I'll call it an extender for lack of a better term. And this is what's plugged into the side of the computer, which then gives me an additional 4 ports to add in things like the Yeti microphone. This is a USB microphone, love it, have had it for years. I think it comes in different colors now, but when I bought mine, it just came in I think black and silver. So I've had it for a long, long time and I use it pretty consistently. My all-time favorite webcam, this is the Logitech 4K Brio. Great, great webcam if you can find one. They've been a little bit difficult to find since COVID with as many people as there are now doing Zooms and wanting to, you know, continue to have their meetings online. So if you can find one, grab it. 4K Brio, absolutely the best by Logitech. And I also have a Logitech mouse with a seemingly dirty mouse pad, but nonetheless, it's been a great, a great mouse to have to use with my computer. This is a little pencil case that I bought at the dollar store, and I just think it's cute. Bought it for a dollar, love that. This is called a Rocketbook. And what the Rocketbook is, is an erasable— you use a friction pen with it. It's an erasable Pilot FriXion pen, and you can only use this kind of pen with this type of repurposable Rocketbook. So what happens is you take the little cloth. You can wet it with water and then you're able to erase this. You can also take pictures of the notes that you make with the scan, the QR code at the bottom here. And there's also a categorization, um, menu here at the bottom so that you can categorize all your notes within the Rocketbook app. So this is a really wonderful tool that I've started to use for note-taking and it just saves on a lot of paper, and I can erase my notes and keep them all really organized online. On the back of my chair, I have hanging a— what's called an O'Pillow by Naipo, and this— it's not plugged in right now, but when I do plug it in to the socket, I can turn this on, and it's— it has heat, and it's like a shiatsu massage. So if I've been sitting at the chair for an extended period of time, maybe I'm editing some videos, I can just turn this on and give myself a little bit of a, a back massage. And it's just a really nice, uh, luxury to have here at my desk. As you embark on your journey becoming a video creator, you will soon realize that videos take up a lot of space on your computer. I recommend getting an external hard drive. I have two Seagate external hard drives. I've never run out of space and I like to rotate between both of them. I have an Adidas shoebox that I keep under the desk and when I need to prop up my laptop to bring the webcam to eye level, I will use the shoebox underneath to prop up the laptop and it brings it to just the right height so that my eyes are looking directly into the webcam. For the longest time, I was using a desktop ring light. This is a new addition to my overall setup, which is a floor model ring light that I have set up. One of the things I love about this one is that it's made of plastic, and it also comes with 3 different shoe mounts, so I can add additional accessories to it if I want to. And clearly it comes with a smartphone mount. I've been really happy with this, and it's sitting behind the desk, but still does not impede anyone from getting in and out of the kitchen because it doesn't take up that much room. One of the biggest mistakes that I see coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs making is getting so caught up in building the perfect video setup that they never start making the videos. You don't need a ring light. You don't need a fancy webcam. If you have a smartphone, you have really everything that you need. In order to start making videos, save for one thing. And that one thing is a strategy. And if you want help on your strategy, please get in touch with me. It's certainly something that I can help you with. Ultimately, it's about your message. The video just happens to be the format in which you deliver it. So don't let the setup be the thing that holds you back from getting your message out to the world. Be sure to check out these videos on my channel, including how to share your Zoom meetings on Facebook Live. I'll see you next time.
