How a little Flip Camera can Save Your Presentation

  

Who said "guys like gadgets/tools, women like shoes"? Wake up to 2010: this is not true anymore! Women would spend more on gadgets than on designer shoes, especially if the gadgets are designed for them!

Look at these models... Dr Freud and "Live Your Dreams"!

Better than a new pair of designer shoes!(which, by the way, I would NOT recommend wearing for giving presentations!)

For Christmas, I ordered the same gift as my 12 year old girl: a flip mino camera.

I'm using this device because it's affordable, reliable and plain basic to use. Plus it's small,cute and I like the name!

What I learned from my 12 year old girl

She uses her Flip Camera to create short movies of her and her brothers and her friends skate boarding and snow boarding.They play these short videos over and over again. They laugh and giggle endlessly...

Guess what also happens when she does that?

• She gets immediate 100 % honest FEEDBACK about her performance
• She clearly sees what she's good at and what needs to be improved
• She acts on this feedback and corrects by practicing again and again
• She's LEARNING incredibly fast

Then, she uploads the best ones to YOU TUBE, and promotes herself on her blog! Clever girl!

How can a flip camera save Your Presentation?

On why you need to video yourself, read my previous post!

If you have more sophisticated cameras, and know how to use them, or if you can be filmed by a pro, even better.

But you can already improve your next presentation by rehearsing with your flip camera.

You'd be tempted (as I was!) to use your build-in camera in your laptop . Very tempting because then, you just have to look at the little green light and speak, without worrying where the tripod is...

Don't do that for presentations! I did...It's awfully hard to look natural! When you're going to be presenting in front of your audience, will you be sitting behind a desk? No, the first thing speakers do when they are called is to stand up.

Unless it's an interview,you want to be standing to speak up!

Here's what you will be looking at, passionately:  a weird cyclops on 3 legs = flipcam on tripod!

If you could persuade your best friend to sit in front of you and listen to you while you rehearse and record yourself, it would be a big advantage!

Then, you will have someone to look and to speak to. Make sure they sit very next to the tripod where you install your flip.

If you are on your own at home, or in your hotel room, rehearsing before the big Day, then imagine your best friend, or your "ideal client" is watching you and imagine you look at him/her.I know, it's hard :-)

You could imagine you had a friendly audience listening carefully  ...

Believe me, after practice and a lot of imagination, it works!

Maybe this picture could help...

What will YOU learn?

• To see yourself like others see you
• To increase your self awareness
• To memorize your speech and then be able to improvise, if necessary
• To spot details you were not aware of and work on your blind spot
• To be ahead of the learning curve!

Then, just like my 12 year old daughter, you could upload your company's presentation to YOU TUBE or promote yourself on your website and on your blog!

Next week, it's my turn! Watch out this space!

Comments

[Mike Dalton]

Marion,

a great article and a great idea, the first time I ever saw myself doing a presentation it was a shock. Seeing yourself and hearing yourself makes you realise just how much you umm and arr, and move about. Thankfully seeing myself do it badly, helped me improve a lot. This a great idea for rehearsing a presentation, something most people simply don't do enough of.

[[email protected]]

We've just got a flip cam (today it arrived and hubby is just unpacking it as I write).


We're looking forward to using it and will be interviewing coaches for our up-coming cycle tour around the UK meeting inspirational people. Wer're then planning to use the footage as part of a blog


I completely agree with you. Who wants a pair of designer shoes when you can be so creative? It's also a great idea to use it to improve presentation skills

[Kriss Akabusi]

Super Article Marion and I like the way you have taken lessons from the real IT specialist your daughter and her generation :-) Children and the developing world inhabitants are utilising the emerging technologies, in innovative ways because they are not hamstring by the consequencies of living through the development stages of mobile, data, phone products hence don't have the conformed opinions of how these resources are to be used.

Good work

Kriss

[David McQueen]

totally get this. I have my own little flip which I use to rehearse and am currently working on using it for some short videos for the company. Rough and ready but honest.

Good article as always Marion

[Jan Schultink]

"Next week it's my turn". Ha! Looking forward to your first video presence here. :-)