Three years ago, Terry Brock spoke at an NSA meeting and showed us how easy it was to do video on the web. I was so taken with it, I went out and bought a new Sony laptop that had a video camera built in.

 

I have yet to use it.

So when I participated as a guest expert today on Nick Vaidya’s seminar series for 8020strategy.com , I got my first real taste of what it means to be on camera.

Here are some pointers;
1. Decide what you want to look like. I was wearing a coache’s shirt. Nick was wearing a jacket and tie. Guess who looked more professional.
2. What’s in your background. Nick had a green screen. I had some pictures on my wall and a guitar. They just happened to be there. What kind of impression are you trying to create. I’ll probably bond with a guitar player who will become a big client. <g>
3. My head kept going in and out of frame. This is going to take some practice!
4. My eyes kept going left, right, up, down — and boy do I have bushy eyebrows! Now I know how Richard Nixon felt during the debates with JFK. It’s easy to be shifty eyed. It’s hard not to.
5. Don’t touch your face. No matter what you do, it looks disgusting. Thankfully, this will be edited.
6. I have a "good side." At least that’s what I discovered after the interview ended. My eyebrow doesn’t flare as much from the left side. Good to know for the future.
7. On the screen, I can see myself and I can see Nick. It is very disconcerting to see myself. It’s like looking in the mirror.
8. By the way, when I say mirror, it is a mirror. Everything is flopped to the other side. If you think you need to move to the right, you really need to move to the left!

Nick tells me that people hate to read so the next big thing on the web will be video. Right now we have YouTube, which he calls the Model T. We’ll have the video equivalent of Corvettes, BMWs, Jaguars and Kias before you know it.

Be prepared!