14.8 Speaking To a Camera

Public speaking is no longer limited standing up in front of a group of people who are in the same room. You may be called on to give a speech on camera, either with a remote audience or as a recording. Chapter 5 discusses Imagined Audiences, where the speaker has to rely on their imagination to anticipate how the real eventual audience may react, so I won’t repeat that here, but will just touch on a few mechanics of how to speak to a camera.

• Train yourself to look at the camera. If you’re presenting on a video platform such as Zoom and you look at your notes, yourself, or audience members, you’re not looking straight at the camera, which means your audience won’t see you looking directly at them. It’s off-putting to see a speaker giving a speech but looking elsewhere.
• To make life more pleasant for your viewers, put thought into camera angle and background. Avoid “nostril view” low camera angles, bright backgrounds (which put you in silhouette), and positioning yourself too close or far away from the camera. Also remove as many distractions from your background as you can, or blur the background.
• Use a good microphone. Remember that seeing you is less important than hearing you, and if your audience has to struggle to hear you due to poor equipment, the cost of listening (see Chapter 4) may become too great. If you’re going to be on camera regularly, invest in an external mic; others will thank you for it.
• As mentioned already, before screen sharing, check to make sure that you are not sharing too much, such as tabs that are open in your browser.
• If your cat, dog, or child wanders into the frame, introduce them to everyone else. 🙂