5 Hacks To Looking Natural On Camera

I want to let you in on a little secret here. Most of us that you watch here on YouTube are not natural on camera. In fact, I still cringe over many of my first YouTube videos that I ever did. Because here's the deal. Talking to a camera lens isn't natural. So today I wanted to share with you a couple of things that I did to feel a little more natural on camera that maybe you could try as well. Hi, welcome back. My name is Trena. If you are new here, I am a YouTube strategist committed to helping you do YouTube better. And to do YouTube better, you probably need to feel a little more comfortable on camera. And I get it. It's definitely something that you can practice and work on to get better. Just because you don't think you're natural on camera, you can do a couple of these things that is going to help you get there. And I will tell you, the more you do it, the easier it gets. So the first thing I want you to do is when you're filming, just remember to smile. When you smile, it just sends these endorphins through your body to make you feel easier. It also lets the person on the other end that's watching you feel better watching you. Because you're smiling, you're connecting with them. And trust me, if you just think while you're filming, like I'm thinking right now, to smile, it makes me feel a lot more comfortable speaking. Speaking to a cold camera in an empty room. Smiling is also going to help you build trust with your potential client or customer. So if you're using YouTube to build your business, you want to make sure you're smiling to connect with that person. If you're not smiling, first of all, you look kind of creepy, and second of all, you're kind of awkward to watch. So if I were to talk to you like this, not thinking about smiling, you probably wouldn't watch. But when I'm thinking about smiling, you can even tell the tone in my voice. And my actions are totally different when I shift my mindset to just be smiling. Another thing that I want you to do to get more comfortable on camera is to watch yourself back. Yeah, I know. I hate the way I sound and I've hated watching myself back on video as well. But as you do it, you're able to see your weaknesses and where you should fix things. You're able to tweak how you say things or just really fix your camera presence, but only if you watch yourself back. If you don't watch yourself back you think in your head how you did, but until you see it for real, that's only going to help you get better on camera. I know you don't want to watch yourself, but it's a must. If you want to get more comfortable on camera, the next thing to do is pretend you're not talking to the camera. I'm telling you, it is really weird speaking to this camera lens. So if you can think about someone that you're speaking to on the other end, maybe you have a picture of somebody right there by the camera. So it's like you're speaking to your best friend or. Or if your friend lives nearby you or a friend can come over, invite them over to your house while you're filming so that you have somebody in the room with you to feed that energy off of. That friend is also probably going to be able to give you some tips on what you could be doing better. Friendly tips, helpful critiques so that you can create a better camera presence. And if you need to, maybe you and your friend just pop a bottle of wine and make things a lot easier. I want to know, are you thinking about a friend that you could totally call over to your house and pop a bottle of wine and have a glass and be much more comfortable on camera? Let me know if you're thinking of that person down in the comments. The next tip that I have for you is to think about your posture, so whether you're standing or sitting. I'm sitting right now, but I'm sitting at the very edge of my seat and I'm leaning forward. This is like an offensive stance, right? So if I were to sit back like this, it's a little bit more of a defense and it really affects the way you present yourself. So if you're sitting, I want you to sit straight up. I also want you to sit at the edge of your chair and lean forward a bit. If you're standing up, I want you to stand on the balls of your feet. So like right on the balls of your toes and lean forward a little bit. In this offensive position, it's going to give you more confidence because when you're leaning back, you're on the defense and you're not as confident. I know this sounds totally strange, but just try it once and see how different it makes your confidence on camera feel. Another tip that I have for you is be prepared for me to be able to get on camera and know what I'm talking about. Makes a world of difference. I have all of my videos prepared over Here on my computer, I have my script pulled up. I'm taking breaks between sentences, and then I'm looking over at my computer to see what I need to talk about next. Being prepared and knowing what you're speaking about is going to really help you feel more comfortable on camera. Just hitting record and trying to spit out everything that you want to say is not going to work. And that's where that confidence comes into play. Being confident in knowing what you're going to say is going to make a world of difference. And you also want to be passionate about what you're talking about. We're going to be able to notice on the other end of the camera whether or not you're passionate about what you're talking about. So if I were to talk about anything, numbers like finance or taxes, I would probably just glaze over, because that's what happens when I talk about numbers or when I hear someone else talk about numbers. So that's why I talk about YouTube. I'm passionate about it. I'm passionate about helping you grow a YouTube channel for your business. So think about the topics you're most passionate about and talk about those on YouTube. Now, if you're ready to take your YouTube channel to that next level, make sure you click that video that's on your screen right now and click that subscribe button for this channel, because I'm committed to helping you. Now I'm going to see you over in that next video. All right, bye.