money were no object, what would you do to make the world a better place?”
Could there be a bigger softball of a question than that? I'm sure you can think of dozens of answers that would have elicited a round of applause and perhaps even brought a tear to the eye of some touched by your empathy for the needy, the disenfranchised, the unfortunate souls you wanted to help.
My response: “Laughter.. I'd give the world laughter.”
Say what?
There are no “take-backs” when answering a question live before thousands of people in a concert hall and countless others watching on television. I knew I had to find some way to make this substantive despite its laughable start.
I wracked my brain and free-associated laughter with monetary value. After a less than one second pause, I continued my response with this:
“So I'd buy everyone comedians.”
My entire entourage from the local pageant collectively slumped in their seats as if they'd been sucker punched.
I knew that I was in the process of completely tanking any chance I had to head to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. Ironically, however, I thought it was hilarious. In fact, I remember trying to stifle a giggle as I fumbled through to the end of my clunker of an answer. There was some polite applause as I walked off stage.
I have to say I was heartened to hear some of the other contestants swing and miss on their questions, too. Here are some of my favorites (with italics added for emphasis by me):
• Question: “If you could meet any famous person, living or dead, who would you want to meet?”
Answer: “Jesus Christ, because he did so much for our country.”
• Question: “If you could live in any era, which would you choose?”
Answer: “I'd live in the South, because I really like the warm weather.”
So what on earth does this have to do with presenting on camera?
My pageant team assumed that I could handle any interview question thrown my way. Heck, I did, too. Your team may assume you can present on camera because you are a solid speaker. And herein lies the problem. Everyone wants to leverage video across all the many channels it now occupies, but very little thought is given to how to use this tool effectively. Too often, business executives are put in front of a camera and expected to perform well without any training. They're obviously intelligent folks who are in their positions of authority based on their achievements. But speaking in front of a camera requires a skill set that is never taught in business school, and very few of us possess the innate ability to do it well.
My “Aha!” Moment
Nowhere was the need for on-camera training more apparent than when I served as a regular webcast moderator for a corporate client. My role was to facilitate the discussion among global thought leaders on the panel. I was largely scripted, which helped me to come across as more knowledgeable than I truly was. What amazed me, though, was the panic many of those brilliant panelists felt just because they were going to be speaking on camera. I thought: I should be the one who is nervous. You know what the heck you're talking about. I don't. But I had spent more than two decades both in front of and behind a camera. Without that familiarity, those cameras represented a seismic shift in the environment.
In fact, I thought one of my first gigs as a webcast host was going to be my last. The topic of the show that day was incredibly technical, so my client had brought in an expert with strong credentials and deep domain knowledge. What she lacked, though, was experience communicating through a camera.
I noticed that she looked a little “moist” as we were getting mic'd up, but I had no idea how nervous she really was. In short order, though, it was revealed. I read the introduction of our guest and tossed it over to her for her 30-minute presentation. However, instead of taking the baton and running with it, she simply said, “I can't do this,” and attempted to take the mic off her lapel.
Thankfully, this was only the rehearsal. I somehow managed to find the right words to calm her down and convince her to try again. Her performance during the actual show wasn't stellar, but it was much better than no performance at all. (A big shout-out to our makeup artist on that day, who managed to keep the flop sweat mopped up during quick breaks.)
It all boils down to this: there's an assumption that if you can speak to a live audience, you can speak, convincingly and effectively, to a camera lens. And too often, that assumption is proven false, and at the worst possible time.
Unless you have experience performing on camera or are one of those rare people who just takes to it like Tiger Woods to golf, you will want and need some strategies, some guidance to perform at your best.
Perhaps if I had tested out some techniques for answering stock pageant questions (“Bring about world peace, feed the hungry.” yadda, yadda, yadda), my most embarrassing moment of all time might have been my biggest triumph. (Okay, maybe not biggest triumph, but certainly not a complete and utter failure to perform.)
A Camera Changes Everything
It may seem odd that the mere presence of a camera can cause such a disruption in the environment and recalibrate the way we act, think, and feel. Often, the change manifests physiologically. As soon as you are told “you're on,” your body may send a jolt of adrenaline through you, similar to the one you receive when you stop short in traffic. Your palms may sweat, your knees may knock, and a giant lump may temporarily block your throat.
Why? Allow me to offer four reasons why the camera changes everything.
No Immediate Feedback
When you're giving a presentation to a live audience, you're constantly surveying the room. Maybe you see someone nodding along. Maybe you see someone nodding off. You adjust your delivery based on what you see reflected back to you by your audience.
But when you're talking on camera, that lens isn't giving you any indication of whether your message is resonating or even being heard at all. You crave feedback, but the camera doesn't offer anything in return. Basically, it feels like your words are being sucked into a big black hole. That uncertainly can undercut your confidence and cause you to seek out reassurance from any source available.
CASE STUDY
Barbara was not a confident on-camera presenter, and yet she knew it was a skill she needed to hone in order to reach her global team.
When Barbara spoke in person, she was known for her warmth, dry sense of humor, and passion for the role her team played in the enterprise. She loved her coworkers, and the feeling was mutual. However, her on-camera persona was a total mismatch with her off-camera self.
Barbara's biggest problem was what I call “People Pleaser Syndrome.” Any time she appeared on camera, Barbara's eyes would dart around the studio, desperately seeking out that human interaction and validation for her performance and message. She would try to lock eyes with coworkers who had accompanied her to the shoot and were standing off camera. She would make eye contact with members of the crew. But she rarely looked directly into the camera.
Barbara's
