Knowing how to communicate on camera was once a challenge only for people who worked in television. Not anymore. Today, the business world often requires busy executives to sit in front of the camera and find effective ways to communicate key messages persuasively, credibly, and naturally.

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	Paula Lyons

Consider the following situations:

• You've been asked to explain an important aspect of your business on tape so that it can be accessed via "streaming video" on your company's website.
  
  
• You regularly have to make important announcements to your team via video conferencing because your company has offices around the world.
  
  
• You're being interviewed for television "Ted Koppel-style," and the interviewer is in another room or studio. You can't see him; you only hear him, so there is no opportunity to create a true "human connection."
  
  

How do you speak and act? Where do you look? What do you wear? How can you pull this off without looking like a deer caught in the headlights?

While recently coaching a senior executive in an international manufacturing business, I was amazed to learn that his job required regular video conferencing. The conference sessions were taped, but he had never screened one afterward to see his own performance. It never entered his mind to do so. As the conversation progressed, he gradually divulged, "Oh, am I supposed to look at the camera? I always look at the screen so I can see the faces of the people I'm talking to." Turns out the screen was so far down and to the left of the camera that all his audience saw was his profile. To add insult to injury, he was looking down, reading from a script!

We are forever telling our clients to take charge of their own image by finding effective ways to communicate the substance of what they know. That means one-on-one, in front of a large crowd, and now in front of cameras as well. It's up to you! If your company employs video conferencing, but hasn't taken the time to help you develop the skills you need to be successful at it, what can you do? Take control.

First, find the technical person in charge and ask questions in advance of recording your first video conference or interview in a new location:

• Can you tell me how this works?
  
  
• Where will I sit?
  
  
• Where is the camera?
  
  
• Do I look directly at it?
  
  
• Do you have a teleprompter?
  
  
• Will I be able to hear questions from the audience? How? Through an earpiece?
  
  
• How do I adjust the volume? Can you show me?
  
  
• Do you tape each conference?
  
  
• May I have a copy after so I can evaluate my performance?
  
  
• Could I possibly do a practice run a day ahead of time and screen that?
  
  
• How much time will I have?
  
  
• What else do I need to know to do this well?
  
  

After 25 years of communicating via television camera, I am happy to share some tips that have served me well:

• Imagine you are communicating with just one person, someone you genuinely like or admire (I used to imagine I was talking to my husband or best friend). That helps you literally "look through" that big cold lens and creates warmth in your tone and facial expression.
  
  
• Do not wear anything that contains small, close together stripes or patterns. They have a tendency to "moiré" or shimmy on video.
  
  
• If you are wearing a jacket, before sitting, pull the tails down and tuck them under you. That will prevent the jacket from riding up and giving you "hulk-like" shoulders.
  
  
• Women should avoid jewelry that makes noise or could come in contact with the mike (like long beads).
  
  
• Write out what you want to say, but keep your sentences as short as possible. They will be easier to say and to remember.
  
  
• If you are being interviewed remotely, look straight at the camera. It will look as if you are looking right into the interviewer's eyes.
  
  
• Speak in your normal tone of voice. Today's microphones are very powerful. No need to raise your voice unnaturally.
  
  
• Show your energy and enthusiasm. Remember you usually have to sit still so your voice and body language are all you have to express yourself. And don't forget to smile.
  
  
• Avoid excessive motion. This is no time to rock or swivel in your chair. But, don't sit at rigid attention either. Relax and act naturally.
  
  
• When communicating with others long distance, remember to first investigate your audience and use peoples' names whenever possible.
  
  

One final bit of advice: volunteer to do video conferencing often. The more you do it, the more comfortable you will become with projecting your knowledge and personality through any camera lens.

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