Videosocials.net and phoneBlogger.net COO and Co-Founder, Mark Bullock, explains why you shouldn’t read a script word-for-word when presenting on video.
Stay up to date, get our newsletter
Transcript:
Should you read from a script, or should you go from memory, or should you just have some crib notes?
Hi, I’m Mark Bullock with Videosocials.net and phoneBlogger.net and Videosocials is a safe place to practice. You can do whatever you want to do. And there’s different ways of handling — how do you get what’s in your head onto camera?
So the first is, and what a lot of people who are new at it like to do, is to try to ‘Well, I want to make sure that I get every word right, so I’m going to script it.’ That’s fine, but it’s going to be obvious that you’re reading unless you have quite a bit of experience reading on camera, which, by the way, when we’re having you read the Reminders and the Posting Reminders, etc. at Videosocials, that’s specifically to give you a chance to have practice at reading while you’re trying to present on camera.
So, in along those lines, we have a few people that are trained media journalists. So, that… they literally had hours and hours and hours of practice reading scripts through teleprompters and things like that. It’s not as easy as it seems like it should be. Even if you memorize the script before you read it on camera, you’re still… you still got a couple of other issues that can come to play.
When we type something, we write something to be read, it’s entirely different than how we typically come out when you’re presenting or having a conversation with someone. And so, for that reason, I generally recommend that you don’t bother with the script. Why? Because you want to have a conversation with your audience and if … unless you are very trained and very practiced, if you’re reading from a script, it’s not going to sound like a conversation with an audience. It’s going to sound like you’re reading from a script. Even if you get the whole eye… you know, where your eyes are at — where the script is in relation to the camera worked out — which is its own set of logistical nightmares, right?
Now, next step. What about some notes on a post-it note on either side of the camera? We mentioned this before, but I think a lot of people don’t necessarily want to jump to it. Fact of the matter is whatever you’re talking about, you’re probably pretty experienced. You’re probably pretty knowledgeable. You’re knowledgeable about your industry. There’s nothing wrong with ” writing out a script” so that you can have that in your mind as the flow that you’d like to go through.
But then set the script aside. Take the two or three points — and I said 2 or 3, not 5 or 6 or 7, because you’re not going to fit in three minutes — 2 or 3 points on a post -it note right next to the camera, and then just work off of those notes and riff off of those notes, just as if the camera were somebody sitting across the desk that you were explaining this to. You wouldn’t pull up notes and read them a script, if they ask you a question. You would literally answer from your mind.
So, it’s okay for there to be little bobbles, for you to look away the camera … from the camera for a moment, to think about what the next thing is to say, because that’s the whole secret sauce of Video socials. You’re having a conversation with your audience. Scripts, extensive notes, a memorized script, all can get in the way of that conversation.
So, what do you — how do you do that? I don’t know how to do that, because I’ve got, you know, I’ve got to get these points across. Well, practice. Come in. Practice. And by the way, you’re going to get feedback during that — after you’ve practiced, and that feedback is going to help you refine, and help you see from the audience’s perspective, which is the hardest thing to see when your a content creator — is to know what the audience is hearing and seeing versus what you think you’re projecting or saying.
Hope you found that helpful. Again, Mark with Videosocials.net and phoneBlogger.net. Have a great day.