Guest author Amanda Goetz shares her own media journey and the 6 steps you can take today to get more polished on camera.
Back in 2018, I had been a VP for over 3 years and was already being paid at the top of the band. At my performance review, my boss told me I was exceeding expectations and killing it, but unfortunately the company couldn’t give me a raise.
Luckily I saw it coming and had made a list of other things I wanted from the company—one of which was media training.
I knew I needed to get more comfortable speaking on camera and wanted professional training and resources. This was the best thing I could have asked for at that juncture of my career.
Here, I'll share what media training is, how I used it to propel my career, and how I'm using it in my video journey today. Then, I'll cover the 6 steps you can take to start your own video journey.
Media training is communication training for people who plan to have interactions with media outlets, podcasts, or other external interviews.
Here's what my media training journey looked like:
My goal was to work my way up to doing one national TV outlet. In order to do that I needed to have a sizzle reel of local TV appearances.
Our PR agency came into the office for two 4-hour sessions where I was in a room with a camera pointed at me. They would ask questions, record me, give pointers, and then make me do it again until I got it right. It reminded me of basketball practice but for talking and was so much harder than I realized.
In order to get the practice I needed, we started with smaller outlets. My first TV appearance was on CheddarTV at the New York Stock Exchange. I then jumped on planes to do morning TV in Chicago, Las Vegas, and D.C.
After about a year of local segments, the PR team felt I was ready to be pitched for national TV. On April 23, 2019, I woke up and did a segment on Access Hollywood.
The road to this moment was a lot of practice and training, but it gave me skills that have transferred across so many moments in my career.
You may have seen I’m starting to do more video content on social media, and Capsule has been a big part of that. I quickly realized the process of getting started felt a lot like media training.
Many people expressed interest in doing more video content but “would rather be punched in the face than watch themselves on video,” as one LinkedIn commenter shared.
Before we get into making this all feel a little less face-punchy, here are three reminders:
“No one cares what I have to say.”
“Those people are way more qualified.”
“Everything I say is so cringe.”
Everyone feels this in the beginning. I call it “Cringe Valley” because it feels as though you are wandering around not sure what to say and you question everything. It feels icky and self-absorbed.
Eventually you climb out of it and get to a more stable and confident place. A place where you are proud to take up space.
You have a story to share. It’s unlike anyone else’s. Switch your focus from what you look and sound like to how much value you can share with others. I promise if you try to act like someone else, it will come across inauthentic because. . . well . . . it is.
Do you cringe when you see or hear yourself on camera? The mere exposure effect is our tendency to develop preferences for things simply because we are familiar with them.
And what are we familiar with?
We are used to seeing ourselves in the mirror—not the way others see us. So even the tiniest unfamiliarity makes us cringe. The same goes for hearing our own voice. We are used to hearing it from a combo of inside our own skull and through our ears. So, the way we perceive our voice is often at a deeper tone than what we actually sound like.
You just have to get more familiar seeing and hearing yourself on video for the mere exposure effect to dissipate.
Are you ready to stop cringing when you see or hear yourself and ready to get better at podcasts, interviews, and other video content like Zoom?
Let's do this.
When I was on a reality TV show (long story, don’t ask), we did OTFs (on the fly) which is the 1-on-1 interview format you see on The Bachelor or any reality TV show when the person is talking directly to the camera.
A producer sits behind the camera and asks a question, to which the person answers in two parts:
For example: “How did it feel to see Chad kiss Melissa?”
So if you don’t know what to talk about, start with a question:
Here are 2 questions to start with today:
H = Hook
I = Intro
S = Story
T = Tip
H: Hook
Answer the question in a declarative statement to show the viewer what they will get from watching the video. “Today I’m going to teach you how to succeed as a _______.”
I: Intro
State who you are and why you are appropriate to tell them. “Hi, I’m ______ and I’ve been doing (role or task) for (duration).”
S: Story
Now it’s time to tell a story
This is going to bridge the hook to the tips. Tell a story about a specific experience you had that helped you learned these things. (Kind of like how I started this post with my own media journey)
T: Tip
End with actionable tips. “So here are 3 ways for you to. . .”
Most people act so different once a camera is pointed at them.
Picture your best friend on the other side of the camera. Now talk as if you were actually talking to the person. We have a tendency to speed up and glance away when we are nervous.
This will also force you to:
Next it’s time to film yourself. You don’t need a fancy camera. I use Quicktime player on my computer, but you can also just take out your phone.
Upload the video to Capsule and look at the auto-generated transcription.
This will help you see patterns in your speaking, as well as find your filler words.
For example: Every time I upload a video and read the text, I see every sentence starting with the word “So”.
I’m now more aware when I do a podcast to slow down and remove “So” from my answer.
It’s important to set an intention and goal if making video content is a priority for you.
You can use this goal setting framework.
For example:
Objective: Get better at video content
KR 1: Publish 1 video a week
KR 2: Reduce time to publish from 5 hours to 1 hour
Are you ready to start putting yourself out there?
Where do you want to be in one year?
It’s easier to talk about creating than to actually create. Trust me!
But if you keep talking and don’t start doing, nothing will change.
Just start.
Amanda Goetz is a 2x founder, 3x CMO, brand builder and content creator on personal and professional growth, inspiring over 110,000 people every week through her social insights and weekly newsletter, 🧩 Life's A Game.
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Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
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