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Well-Prepared Presenters
Tips for taking the
pain out of corporate video shoots
Claudyne Wilder
You've been asked
to make a complicated multimedia CD-ROM that will go out to all of your
company's salespeople, or you're producing the annual corporate video
that goes around the world. The presentation must include people in the
company giving talks that last anywhere from 30 seconds to a half-hour.
You're not looking forward to this part of the project. The last time
you put people in front of the camera, the shoot took hours, and neither
you nor the presenters were satisfied with the results. You did everything
possible to use the section, in which the speakers looked and sounded
effective.
How can you make the
process of taping corporate speakers more efficient and effective? Here
are three tips to keep in mind when you need to prepare your presenters:
First, you need to help organize the talk; second, you must decide how
best to prompt the speaker about the content; and third, you have to get
your speaker relaxed, smiling and appearing confident.
Organizing the Talk
I have found that most
people do not know how to organize a talk. They either overprepare with
a written script or underprepare with a few notes that do not provide effective
prompts. The simplest organizing structure for a talk is the "general format,"
which can be used for presentations that range from five minutes to an hour
or more. These are the steps:
1.Open: Give the objective
of the talk
2.Key points: State
the three major areas that the talk will cover (in a five- minute talk,
there might be only two areas to discuss.)
3.Details: Discuss
the details of each key point.
4.Example: Give at
least one example so the audience is glad to be listening. This forces
the speaker think of an interesting story to illustrate the facts and
statistics. While sharing an example, the speaker's voice will change,
and his or her face will usually become more animated.
5.Close: Recap the
key points, then tell the audience what will be happening next.
It is rare the speaker
who can look natural and relaxed when the director says, "OK, camera going."
Prompting the Speaker
If you are using a TelePrompTer,
you will have to teach your speaker how to use. Otherwise, the presenter
will sound as if he or she is just reading the words, One way to do teach
this is by asking the speaker to simply read the words for 30 seconds as
if he is reading out loud to himself. Then ask him to read the words to
you for 30 seconds, emphasizing key words and pausing at the end of a sentence
or at a comma. While the speaker is reading to you, stand behind the TelePrompTer,
and ask the speaker to imagine that there are 20 of you behind the screen.
Show your speaker this tape. If you're lucky, the speaker will be convinced
to pause and emphasize key words.
What if you are not
using a TelePrompTer, and the speakers wants to refer to notes? One way
to handle this is by turning the notes into bulleted phrases on a flip
chart. Put the chart in the speaker's line of vision. If the speaker is
going to talk for a while, you may need a couple of pages. A tip: Create
the flip chart so the pages can be pulled off and dropped on the floor.
That way, you won't record the noise of the turning pages along with your
speaker's voice.
If the speaker insists
on notes that he can hold, re-create them so that they follow the same
style as other visuals in the presentation. Make sure to use a large typeface
so the speaker can glance down quickly and see a phrase. And structure
the phrases so that the presenter can easily speak from them.
Building Confidence
A mark of a good photographer
is the ability to work with a subject to bring out his or her personality
in such a way that the resulting photograph looks fantastic. Your videographer
needs to take this type of care with your speakers. It is the rare speaker
who can look natural and relaxed when the director says, "OK, camera going."
You can help by directing
the speaker. First, have her walk around and swing her arms to get the
tension out, and ask her to make funny faces to relax her facial muscles.
Rub her shoulders for 30 seconds. All of this preparation will take about
two minutes or less, and the speaker will look much better on camera.
Get her smiling before you start. Have her take a couple deep breaths.
Some people like to
do a dry run, and some don't. If you've set the speaker up with the right
type of notes, you shouldn't need many takes. If a speaker is giving a
talk that is 20 minutes long, I suggest taping for three minutes, then
stopping and playing the video back. This will give the speaker a clear
picture of how he or she looks on camera. Speakers usually have problems
getting going, so you may want to start with a practice session. Also,
be sure that your speaker has a strong conclusion and that he or she has
practiced it before the final on-camera take.
People want to look
good on camera. They just don't know how to prepare. You can make a difference
in the way your speakers appear on camera. If you teach your speakers
to prepare in the manner that I've outlined, they won't dread the annual
videotaping. Also, your short video clips will get done faster, and your
presenters will be proud of themselves.
AV
Video & Multimedia Producer, July 1997.
Copyright ©
2000, Wilder Presentations
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