Tips For On-Camera Interviews

I’ve worked in video production for several years now. As a producer I’ve always been a behind the scenes kind of gal. I’ve never liked being in front of the camera because - lets face it - it can be uncomfortable and intimidating. While working here at StoryTeller this past year I’ve found myself in front of the camera a couple of times and realized it doesn’t have to be such a tough experience.

A client of ours recently came up with a list of tips to share with its employees so they would know how to plan and what to expect for future video shoots. I thought that list would make a good blog.

So, here goes: 4 good tips for making an on-camera interview a lot less trying of an experience.

• Smile and relax. Feeling relaxed will help you feel more comfortable. The more comfortable you are the easier it will be for you to communicate your message to your intended audience.

• Practice makes perfect. Okay, maybe it won’t make you perfect but it’ll likely put you more at ease. Practicing will familiarize you with what you want to talk about and how you want to say it. Also keep in mind that many interviews or videos may be taped in segments. There may be multiple takes shot from different angles which will give you different opportunities to get your message just right. Remember too that you’re being recorded - so if you screw up - you can always stop and start over.

• Tell your story. Make sure you know your main points and be concise when trying to get them across. It’s often best on both your end and the production end to keep it short and sweet.

• How to dress. This one is really more helpful for the photographer and/or producer. Try to avoid white or patterned shirts. These tend to wreak havoc with the video camera. Solid colors work best.

There you have it. I know I’ve used these tips and found them helpful when I’ve had to take a turn in front the lens. I hope you’ll find them helpful too.

Tags: how to dress, Interviews, Making Interivews Easier, On-camera Interviews, storyteller, Tips for Interviews

Is Your Public Relations Agency Using Social Media?

Just about a year ago I had a discussion with a prominent public relations leader about the use and validity of social media in the world of PR. The owner laughed at the suggestion that social media would ever amount to anything more than a flash in the pan trend. At the time, I just figured this innovative, successful business leader simply hadn’t plugged into social media and all it can do for their clients.

Flash forward to last weekend where I ran into another owner of a small, Twin Cities PR agency at a church gathering. We reconnected and in the course of conversation I asked him how business was and he replied, “not good.” Through our discussion I realized he had recently hired a bright, young social media talent in the Twin Cities. I remarked on how sharp this young woman is and how lucky he is to have her helping with their social media PR, to which he quipped, “I don’t know about all that social media stuff. I think Twitter and all that is a passing fad.” He then added that “we’re gonna find out what (his new hire) is all about soon,” as she is traveling this weekend for a blogger convention in New York.

I was stunned and amused at the same time. Business is admittedly “not good,” and he’s not helping his clients create conversation with their customers in social media. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Social media, in my opinion doesn’t replace traditional public relations, but to deny its significance in providing added value to your clients is laughable, if not unfair. Social media IS public relations and can be a critical part of most PR platforms both to communicate with your clients customers and with the media. If, as a PR practitioner you are not considering any number of social media tools as a way to help your client, then you should ask yourself - are you really acting in the best interest of your client?

Tags: blogger, PR

Simple Tips for Taking Pictures

Every year for Christmas, my mother puts together calendars as gifts, using pictures from the past year. As she sifts through piles of prints and digital photos, she always asks me “Why do your pictures look so good?”

Keep in mind; I don’t have a better camera than anyone else (it’s your basic Canon point and shoot), even though I’d love to learn how to use a professional-grade camera someday. And I don’t spend hours using Photoshop to touch up the pictures (although part of my secret does involve using the computer).

No, I just follow a few simple tips, most of which I’ve picked up from shooting video for 13 years.

HEADROOM First off, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves: Don’t have too much headroom in your pictures. Headroom is the space between the top of the subject’s head and the top edge of the picture. Think about it: If you have a 4×6 picture, and there is 2 inches of headroom, you’re only using half of the picture for what is really important, the subject. It’s an unfortunate waste of space. (Obviously, there are exceptions, if, say, the subject is standing with Mount Rushmore in the background. But I doubt the majority of your pictures will contain a national landmark.)

Nothing like a mocha latte to get me going!

Plus, when you want to show your friends that great picture from the time you met Brett Favre at Caribou Coffee, you don’t want their eyes to have to hunt to find Number 4. The image of the grizzled quarterback should fill as much of the frame, and your viewfinder (or LCD screen), as possible.

Speaking of LCD screens, don’t forget that on many digital cameras, the LCD screen on the back is often filled with all kinds of graphics and numbers. But those distractions, while they may cover part of the image, don’t mark the edge of the photo. The edge of the photo is the edge of the screen. Some cameras give you the option to turn this feature off, and that may prevent you from leaving too much ‘empty space’ in your photos.

MOVE YOUR FEET “Zoom with your feet, not your lens”. This advice came to me from Gerald Reznick, a reporter I worked with at my first job in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His point was that the human eye doesn’t have a ‘zoom’ feature. If you want to look at something up close, you walk up to get a closer look. Snapping a picture should be the same way. Instead of standing across the room and zooming in and out, use your feet to frame things up. Plus, when you zoom with the lens, it lets less light in, and your picture quality can decrease and look darker.

IS IT DARK IN HERE? Of course, with every rule there’s an exception. I’ve just gotten done explaining why you should try and avoid zooming with the lens. BUT, if you are in a low light situation where you will be using a flash, you don’t want to get too close to your subject. Otherwise, when the flash goes off, your subject will be really bright, and the background will be really dark. In these cases, back up a couple steps, zoom in with the lens (I know, I know), and fire away. The light will have a better chance to spread and brighten the entire image.

FIX IT IN POST Obviously, there are still going to be photos that don’t turn out quite right. Thankfully most computers have some sort of photo editing software included, or maybe there was software included with your camera. These programs have become pretty user friendly and easy to use. There is no need to go crazy and start pasting your dog’s head onto your cat’s body, but you can do simple things like crop (a great way to reduce unnecessary headroom), brighten, or even tweak the color a bit if things don’t look quite right.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK Finally, get to know your camera. Digital cameras can do some amazing things these days to adjust to the situation, pretty much with the flip of a switch. So read your manual, and find out if your camera has a special setting for snowy days or low light situations, or even sunsets or fireworks. Let the camera do all the heavy lifting, you just have to know what button to push.

The great thing is, with digital photos, you can get plenty of practice, and you don’t waste money on film or developing. Soon, you’ll be grabbing the perfect shot every time!

Tags: brett favre, canon, caribou coffee, digital photography, how to take pictures, photography, photos, storyteller media and communications, tips, Video Production, vikings

Who’s Your Conversation Manager?

Quick, name your organization’s conversation manager.

So, who is it? How long did it take you to name that person? Do you have such a person employed with your group? Do you know what a “conversation manager” is?

If you’re a communications professional with a knack for interactive (social) media then …rejoice! My guess is there will soon be plenty of conversation manager job openings available to you in the near future, because every organization needs someone who spends a good deal of time managing the social media conversations taking place about their organization.

On Twitter, Facebook, via blogs, in videos on YouTube, message boards (and the list goes on) …there are a lot of places available for members of the public to praise and criticize your organization. The good news is, all of that information is out there, free of charge for you to peruse and respond to, which you should almost always do. The only problem is this takes time. Either you have a number of people with not enough to do or you need help. And that help is out there in the form of what some are starting to call conversationalists, individuals who:

A) Have a passion for multiple platforms of social media

Pretty simple. They use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, have a blog, etc.

B) Have a high degree of real-world communication sophistication

We’re looking for emotionally intelligent people here. If their Facebook page is plastered with derogatory language and pictures of the user shotgunning beers, you might want to look to the next applicant.

C) Understand the personality of the organization

If you’re working with a conversation manager who’s not a full-time employee of your organization (a PR firm, for example), you want to make sure that person has taken the time to understand how your organization thinks, a.k.a. what your organization’s personality is. This goes beyond what you sell or provide your members or customers …it’s more about what someone from your organization would be expected to talk about should they run into someone at a coffee shop. In other words, what matters to you personally, beyond your business goals.

So, I’ll ask again, who is your conversation manager?

Tags: Conversation, Facebook, manager, media, Social, Twitter, YouTube

Facebook as an Online News Center

I have to admit, that when my then 19 year old niece said to me a couple of years ago “you are too old for Facebook” I tended to agree with her.  After all, my Ivy League niece with a near perfect SAT score is really quite smarter than I.  What she didn’t know, nor did I, was over the next 2 years, Facebook users would double and she and I along with our 350 million counterparts would all be enjoying the same social networking site despite our age differences.  Here are a few of the latest Facebook tidbits:

• Average user has 130 friends on the site
• Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
• Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
• Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
• Average user becomes a fan of 2 Pages each month
• Average user is invited to 3 events per month
• Average user is a member of 12 groups

Tags: Facebook, Ivy League, SAT

Do You Have Buddies or Acquaintances in Social Media?

When I was in high school my Dad used to tell me, “you’ll never have friends like this when you’re older.” He told me how life would changed and there were more commitments and even though you’d have some acquaintances, they wouldn’t be like your childhood buddies. No one would ever be that close again.

Comparatively, when you look at your “friends” in social media do you have thousands of acquaintances or a few really good buddies? Depending on your business thousands of acquaintances might be fine, but in most cases wouldn’t you rather have really great buddies? Buddies listen, they share stories, they hang out even when there’s nothing really to do. They’re there when you need them. Minus the high school drama, are you or is your company a similar character for people in social media?

Let’s face it, there is more and more “noise” in social media as more people desperately try to be heard. It seems so many are turning on the bullhorns in public forums but few seem to be listening. Remember what makes your closest friends your buddies - they listen and they engage. Typically, your acquaintances are those who are blabbing away, more interested in their story than yours. Is that the friend you want to be to your customers? Are you acting like the friend that you would keep for years?

Think about the kind of relationships you expect from your buddies and try to be that person to those around you.

Ed Heil is the owner and president of StoryTeller Media & Communications an inbound marketing and public relations agency and video production company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ed blogs on topics related to inbound marketing, social media, media relations, news media, video production and crisis communications.

Tags: buddies, high school friends

Do Your Social Media Efforts Have A Sound PR Foundation?

You won’t find many people more passionate than me when it comes to social media and public relations, yet social media in itself is not a miracle cure. Behind every great social media effort has been a remarkable idea or event. Whether it’s the Ford Motor Company’s work with the Fiesta or Evian’s rollerskating babies on YouTube, it was the idea was the success - social media brought the idea to the people who cared most.

So as social media practitioners and advocates, remember your PR roots in identifying great stories or creating remarkable events and don’t get lost in the smoke and mirrors of the latest social media “tools.”

Tags: Evian Babies, Ford Motor Company, public relations ideas