061 DIY Event Recording 101 🎥
How to make sure your next speaking gig gets recorded, even when the budget’s tight and the clock’s ticking.
Quick Quiz Time 🥳
What’s one important reason to lower your phone’s video quality setting when self-recording an event?
A) To improve video colours
B) To save phone space and battery
C) To make editing faster
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Correct answer: B To save phone space and battery - Most of the time you don’t need a 4K file for your 5-minute talk 😉
061 DIY Event Recording 101 🎥
Not every event gives you a video team, but that doesn’t mean your moment in the spotlight has to vanish into thin air. Learn how to capture your presentation confidently, creatively, and with gear you probably already have.
When you’re prepping for a big speaking event, recording yourself might be the last thing on your to-do list, but it could also be one of the most powerful things you do for your brand. If your budget’s tight or the organisers haven’t arranged filming, there are still plenty of clever (and affordable) ways to get it done. Whether it’s handing your phone to a trusted mate or rigging up a flexible tripod on a chair, the key is knowing what the footage is for and working backwards from there.
🎧 Listen To Next:
053 Get Stuff Done Smarter: Assistive Technology
048 Stop Letting Templates Ruin Your Videos
There’s a big difference between recording for your own learning and recording for your future marketing. For self-reflection, any halfway-decent video will do. But if you want to repurpose the footage for your website, social media, or portfolio, it’s worth thinking about lighting, sound, and camera placement. I even chat through how changing your phone’s recording settings can save battery and space, because the tech shouldn’t get in the way of your growth.
Your voice deserves to be heard long after the event is over. Whether it’s your first time speaking or your fiftieth, getting that recording can be a confidence boost and a content goldmine. If this sounds like something you need a hand with, let’s work together to make sure your next gig puts you in the spotlight for all the right reasons.
And hey, if you need a tripod or don’t know where to start with your tech setup, this is something I can absolutely help with. My Pick Zoë’s Brain sessions are perfect for untangling this kind of stuff, reach out and let’s get your video sorted.
What Was Discussed This Episode + Timecodes:
00:00 - Why recording your talk matters and the moment it’s often forgotten.
06:30 - Assessing your goals: self-reflection or social proof?
12:45 - Smart audio and video tips using your phone.
18:00 - DIY tripod hacks and asking a mate (nicely) for help.
24:00 - Final pep talk: your voice matters, so let’s get it recorded right.
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Zoë Wood 00:00
You've made it the event that you either signed up for a very long time ago, or the one that you are speaking at is right around the corner. You've worked so hard to get to where you are. You've practised your speech over and over again. You know exactly what you're saying. How to get the people on board make practising with maybe your family or your friends, or maybe even some colleagues of yours to make sure you get the eye contact right, the audience engagement, right? And you are just so excited, and it's right there. You can just see it in your grasp. And then someone mentioned, mentions, oh, are you recording it? Oh, can I see it later? Oh, I won't be able to make it to the event. Can Can I see a recording of it? And your heart sinks, because with everything else going on, preparing for the event, this opportunity that has been granted to you, you didn't think about recording it. What do you do now? If you're tired of the old cookie cutter marketing advice and want to take your personal brand to the next level with bold, actionable strategies that truly reflect you, you're in the right place. Let's untangle your marketing mayhem with zo the video confidence coach on the unborn your brand podcast, unboring your brand was recorded on what a run land. The thing that I have just described to you before in the intro was prompted by an email of one of my email subscribers. So if you are not on that list, feel free to check it out on our website and you can join the video confidence crew. So essentially, this was a description given to me like a very I embellished it a little bit, mainly just with a little bit of that heart centred stuff, just so you could dry along with me with that story. But if you are a speaker, an emcee, or someone who's just given been given an opportunity to speak on your topic or your niche interest or the essentially area that you want to be an authority in. Having speaking opportunities is always great for your brand. You get in front of people who are there, usually either for an expo or a convention or a larger event, where you are there because they want to get bums on seats, but you're also there to speak very highly about whatever topic that you're there for. They've given you that opportunity, or, more likely, you have seeked out that opportunity, and now you've got it right in front of you. And for this particular person, I gave them a very clear rundown of everything that we're going to describe in this podcast for you, and of course, I'm not going to mention their name or any describing details, because they didn't give me permission for that, but they gave me permission to be able to share this with you. So with everything that I've just described, you can imagine how they feel that they had an event in about two days time, and they had just had a conversation with a good friend of theirs, and their friend, of course, is someone who works a nine to five and the convention that they're speaking at is like during the day. It's a three day event, and they've got a spot on the second day, but it's at 11am and their friend who has honestly been through them without sorry, been with them throughout. Can't support them because they've got other commitments. They've got a nine to five job. They gotta, you gotta be at a nine to five job. You gotta be at the job, as you can probably imagine. And they feel a bit gutted, and they they've done a lot of prep, and I've talked to them about this because they've done a lot of prep to get ready, so they're very on the ball when it comes to the actual people in the room. But then they've come to me saying, Zoe, I need to record this event. I don't have the budget right now to afford a very professional group or set. Some of these events are being recorded, but then some of them are not. I've tried to get any sort of information from the organisers of the event, and they are not responding to any of my emails, probably because the question itself, maybe is on a low priority for them when it comes to running a major Expo event. So what are you to do in that situation? You may be thinking, just record it yourself. And that is what was going to be my recommendation as well. So for this particular instance, the the speech itself was 20 minutes, so it's not too long, but more than just 10 minutes, and they've rehearsed it again and again, so they're fairly confident on that front. So this is what I recommended. And of course, I made it quite clear, like, hey, take it with a pinch of salt if it's you know, yes, this is going to be one opportunity that you have. It's not going to be the last opportunity that you have, especially with the. Career, and the focus that you've got going on ahead of you, there's going to be more speaking opportunities, but in the event that you want to record your event, and you either don't have a budget, or maybe it's very last minute, or any other example that would fit this need, you can do a couple of these things, and I have a checklist available on my website for you to download when scrambling for this type of event, the thing that you need to do is to think about two things. Well, honestly, three things is that you need to think about you need to think about what you're actually using this video for. Then that dictates what you're actually going to do with the next two steps. You got to think about the visual and you got to think about the audio. Now, of course, I have seen and heard big, major speakers in in in their particular niches, like set up a phone, give a phone to a friend and just say, record this and it kind of works like the lighting isn't great because it's just from an audience member. The sound is very echoey, and it makes it very hard to hear, say, for example, if they want to then use it in a podcast or in a video or in anything longer than, say, 30 to 60 seconds, it can be quite hard to just sit there and listen, especially when ultimately, you weren't in the room. So that is what we're going to touch on in the first point. The thing that you need to think about, especially when self recording or providing that opportunity to someone else, is you have to think about what the video is ultimately going to be for. And I say this because this will then dictate what you're going to do next. So say, for example, if you're just recording the video for your future reference, so that you can look back and say, Okay, this is how I was on stage. Maybe I started off a little bit too nervous, and then I settled in relatively quickly. How can I achieve that? Settled in look and, you know, being able to record this video gives me a lot more perspective on how I can do better in the future. So if it's just for your reference, then it makes sense to, for example, one or two things you can make a friend at the event, or maybe someone in the front row. You know, Be nice. Be tummy. Offer to buy them a drink and say, Hey, can you record this for me? You can either give them your phone and make sure that your phone, if you are recording with your phone, has plenty of battery, has plenty of space so you can record the video. And if you're going to record the video for your own self reflection purposes, making sure that the quality is maybe a little bit lower so you have a bit more room to play with on the phone. What I mean by this is, instead of recording in, say, 4k which is one of the larger sizes of a video frame, as you can probably imagine. That's going to take up a lot of space on your phone, and also maybe isn't necessary for a self self tape or self reference video. So in those moments, you can go into the camera settings and maybe take it down to, say, 720, P, which is not our normal. So what I what I mean by this is that this the size of the video, the frame and the quality of the video that's being put out, is what I'm referring to, the normal, or our standard at the moment, say, for example, for YouTube videos, or for other videos online, is around 10 ADP. So that's going to be a usual size. It's not like the Christmas quality video, but it gets the job done. And the 720 is the slightly smaller version of that, which, again, if it's just for self reference, should be fine. That gives you plenty of room on the phone to make sure that when you actually record the event, it doesn't run out of space on the phone to keep recording the event, and also it doesn't put too much strain on the battery you're recording video. So there's going to be some strain on the battery, but that gives you an opportunity. So again, you can just hand it over to a friend, again, offer to buy them a drink or give them something in return, or maybe even record their event, if that is the case. And again, if you're doing it in self reference, even having on the side of the stage or maybe just somewhere in the like front couple of rows, that's awesome. Again, it is for your reference. Now, of course, when you're it's for their reference. You're probably going to hear them either breathing or coughing or maybe eating. Keep that in mind. Again, it's for your self reference. Now, if you do not have a friend, or if you're too scared to approach someone and say, Hey, can you record my 15 minute speech, then grabbing yourself one of these for those who are listening, this is a mini tripod. I give these away at workshops and events, and if you are interested in getting one for yourself, I can easily send you one. You just say, hey, Zo I watched this podcast or this live stream. Hey, do you mind sending me one of those little tripods for mobile phones? And I say, Yes, give me a post all address, and I'll send it to you. So essentially, what this is, is a mini tripod that is got two factors. It has a holder at the top for your mobile phone. So. That stretches out to encapsulate the phone in the holder, so then it doesn't go anywhere, and it's got legs that are flexible, that you can wrap around, say railings or chairs or, you know, you've got a bit more flexibility on where you actually end up having this tripod. So In instances like that, you can again, attach it to a chair, or attach it to somewhere that is very secure on the side of where you're filming. And if that is all that you've got awesome self tape, beautiful. Again, this is for your own reference, but if you are recording this video to use on your website, on your email list, on your social media, or anywhere else. And even in the event that you don't exactly know what you're going to do with this recording of the event, I would, in my professional opinion, recommend trying to record the best quality footage so that in the event that you don't want to use it, you can go, okay, cool. I've got this here. I didn't like how it ended up. I don't want this to to represent me publicly or professionally. Cool. I'm just gonna put that to the side, and it's never gonna see the latter day again, again. You are the one in charge. This is your personal brand. You have the choice. So in that event that you're not entirely sure what you're wanting to do with the presentation or recording, or you have a slight feeling, hey, I'm probably going to at least share snippet of snippets of this on my social media. I'm going to maybe put this behind a paywall or some sort of email list wall, so that people who are really interested in the subject that I'm talking about have to give their email address to then go see the video. If that is the case, then this requires a little bit more preparation. The reason being is because not just you are going to be seeing it, and you're going to be using it to advertise yourself, to promote yourself, not necessarily just to get email addresses, but to use on social media to showcase your expertise in the industry or the area that you're trying to build authority in. And if the video is crap, be it visually or auditory, people are going to think you're crap. And I'm not saying this to scare you or to be facetious. I'm saying this realistically. Now, of course, if this was spur of the moment, you had, like, less than half an hour to prep for this event, I can understand that maybe recording the event wasn't high on your priority. Then sure put it off to the side and maybe use small snippets of it maximum 30 seconds in, say, longer video pieces of content, or in longer podcast formats, that is perfectly fine, because, again, you're not, you're giving people context of what they're going to watch or listen to, and you're and you tell them it's only going to last 30 seconds, 45 seconds, people are thinking, Okay, that's all right. You know this was spare at the moment. But if you've got time to plan, if you've got a little bit of thinking time ahead, I highly recommend doing these things. I highly recommend let's, let's start off with a few things. So again, if you're filming on mobile, very much like what I mentioned before, making sure that you have space on your mobile phone to record a video. The minimum quality that you want to record at is at 10 ADP. You can go 4k but that is going to take up a significantly larger amount of space on the phone. Then you know a 10 ADP video will and then you need to think about your audio. So let's go through these processes already. So you've already thought about, hey, I'm going to record this video. I'm going to use it on my social media. So the things that you need to think about ahead of time is, how long is my presentation going to be? Cool? Is there anyone else on the stage with me? The reason I bring this up is because when you're recording, it's not just you, it's going to be the host, it's going to be the MC, or it's going to be maybe a panel that you're on with other people, you need to get written permission from both the creator of the event, the host of the event, or, you know, the people who are on stage, as well as the people running the event. Because even though that you are on their stage, speaking, and it is you, your face, your body, your voice, there is a little bit of, I don't wanna say copyright, because the copyright, again, is your face and your material, and you're bringing that knowledge to the stage. But it is their stage. It is their logo in the background. It is their, you know, opportunities. It is, yeah, you know that what you know what I mean by that. I've forgotten what the word I'm exactly trying to think of, but just courtesy, keep that in mind. Of making sure that you get written permission just like, Hi, do you mind if I record again? That's why you're thinking ahead of time. Maybe you have a either a Facebook group or a discord chat, or maybe even a Slack channel of people who are really invested in one. You do they want to see a recording of the event. You can let them know. Say, Hey, I just want to record this video for what have you. And if they are already recording the event, they are more they are more likely going to say no, because they already have professionals who they have hired to record the event for you, and in that event, and in that case, making sure that you get that permission to share that video from their platforms is going to be better than you trying to organise a rickety setup if say, for example, if that's what's going on. But in the event that they do not have, you know, they're not having it professionally recorded, then in those instances, then they're more likely to say yes, because it gives them promotion for the event. Then when they run it again, either the next month, next quarter, next year, gives them promotion as well. And make sure you mention to them, Hey, we'll make sure to share and tag and use the hashtag when posting on publicly and social media, so that people know about you. And they're going to say yes, and if they say no, I'm going to question that very much entirely. They want to promote their event, so they're going to do it. So again, you've gotten permission from the event host. Now you need to get permission from everyone else that's going to be on stage. If say, for example, it's a dual speaking opportunity, or maybe it's panel, or whatever is the situation may be, you need to get written permission from these other people. It's just to let them know. Again, hey, I'm recording an event. This is where it's going to go. This is how I'm going to use the footage. Do I have your permission to record you and record your voice? I am going to and, again, be very explicit and be very clear and very transparent about what you're planning to do with the footage. So then they can make an educated choice and say, for example, in that instance, that they say, Hey, I don't, I'm not really comfortable about you recording it. You know, recording our speech. You can say that is perfectly fine, just so you know that, you know, I'm going to record my sections of the event and make sure that you aren't, you know, visible, or you aren't seen on the presentation, and they're more likely to say yes, because again, you are being transparent and you're taking that opportunity, but again, they are on stage, so it's more likely that they're going to say, Sure, why not? Again, if you build a rapport and you talk with people, they're going to build trust. So again, you have that permission already in step, in place now at either on the day or maybe a day before, if you've got that opportunity. Case out the location, is there a place where you could attach your phone, either using a flexible tripod, or, again, where you could sit someone that's not so far forward that they're looking up your nostrils, but not so far back that you're a little speck on the screen moving about in a nice like space where you can realistically, again, if you're planning to give it to a friend, that they can sit there with holding a phone, usually with their fingers, so their fingers are not covering the butt end of The phone, or the bottom end of the phone, where the microphone usually is located, because that's where people pick up phone calls, and that's where the microphone usually is. You want people to hold it like this so then they're not, you know, not in the way, and far enough from their face where it's not going to pick up their own breathing hot tip on that one. And in the event that that is not the case, and you're not handing it over to someone, where is a high enough spot in the space, where there's not going to be any people around, or anyone that's going to be in your way, possibly bumping your phone, possibly moving your phone, where is a good place that you can keep this and say, for example, if you're working with, say, an AV department, and especially with larger stages, these are the audio visual department, who are in charge of the lights and the sounds and possibly even the recording of the event, depending on what's going on. You can talk to them again, be very nice, be very casual. And if you need to butter them up with offering to get them a coffee or maybe a snack, if you like, if you need to do that, of course. And you can offer to say, do you mind if I record the event? I'm just going to leave this here. I'm going to use my own, you know, audio recording from the event. And they will most likely say yes, because there is a lot of places within that technical equipment that they're not going to touch, that they're not going to get in the way of. And of course, they are there to do a job, so do your best not to inconvenience them in any way. But at the same time, you can maybe use that opportunity to record a nice, stable shot, possibly using a tripod, preferably. So again, we've covered the planning ahead part of what we're doing. Now we need to think about the actual visual and audio aspects. So again, all of that planning that we've done before, we haven't even thought about how we're actually recording this. Okay, so we've already thought about the mobile phone. We've got that covered. We've got permission of. Of the event, and also the people that are going to be on stage with us, if that is the case. Now we need to think about the audio. I know you thought that I was going to say visual first. Now think about the video first. There is a little bit of visual thinking when you're trying to pick a place to set up the phone, but again, that can be very much dictating or different depend on where you actually end up finding a spot. The more important thing when it comes to speaking engagements is the audio quality. The reason being that people can get away with a recording if the audio is okay, if the visual is a bit crap. The reason I mention this is because, as you can imagine, on a stage where there are people in front of you in an audience, and there are harsh lights on your face and there are lights behind you, it's not necessarily built for cameras. There's a reason why professionals get come in to film these events, because they've got the cameras that can that have a lot more control of their lighting when you're filming from a phone, especially a phone that you are not there. You know, niggling and trying to get trying to get this, the looks just right. It's not going to look that great no matter what you do, because, again, you are focusing on different aspects. You're trying to record this for, again, your own reference, or maybe you're going to use it in the future, whatever it be, the audio needs to be good. And the way that you can do this is a couple of ways you can use either another phone or maybe a friend's phone, and record a video, sorry, record an audio note, I should say, so there are audio notes that are in that are in all apps on all different devices, and again, keeping that butt end of the phone. So I'll get an example for you using a phone. For those who are watching either on the live stream or watching the video version of this podcast, make sure to check us out on the website. So we've got a phone. We've got the cameras up here and down here is where we've got the charging port as well as the microphone. So in those events, you would open up the voice note app, press record, turn off the screen, or lock the screen and unlock the screen to make sure it's still recording after you lock the screen, highly recommend. And then, if you are wearing a suit and something that has an inner, inner jacket pocket, put the microphone there. There is going to be some rustling, and it's not going to be perfect, but it's going to be better than nothing, because the microphone, which again, the butt up, the butt end, the microphone end, is going to be closer than your mouth, then the mobile phone that is recording you that is a minimum, five metres away, possibly even more. So in those events, you can do something like that. For those of us who have ample chest or is wearing a bra, you can just shove the phone down there. It's going to get sweaty. So hopefully your friend is okay with that, and you can just clean it up afterwards. But again, it may look a bit strange, especially if you're wearing a tight garment. But again, you're there are other things happening. And for those of us who have ample breasts, you can kind of, you can very easily get away with it. So yeah, so I'm pulling the phone out of where it was. The what you're ultimately wanting to do is you're wanting to get the microphone as close to your mouth as possible, to reduce any sort of background noise, any like any sort of distortion that will make it sound unprofessional or uncouth. And the reason I'm going to say this is because I've done this at professional events for my own but also for other people's events, where they come to me five minutes before their presentation, hey, Zo, hey, Zo, I need to record this. I need to record this. Can you please help me? Please help me. Please help me. Now, of course, because I like them and we're friends, I help them. So got my phone, put the voice recording up, shoved it in their chest, which they very much appreciated. And then I got my phone, you know, got my little flexible tripod that I always seem to have one on hand, because I do have a lot of them. And then I found a spot, put the camera and let it go. They have then used that video in like throughout their social media, throughout their website, throughout their like, highlights of what they do. And it works. It works really well. Now, of course, there's going to be some like sound distortion, because if you move your hands, or if you move like your hands over where the microphone is, there is going to be a bit of fabric and a bit of sounds like that. But that can be forgiven if the quality is good. Now, if you've got the time to prepare, highly recommend this over that other option, I highly recommend looking into lavalier microphones. So lavalier microphones, microphones that are essentially very little, tiny buds that are clipped onto your clothing, that are again on top of your clothing, to avoid any distortion that we've just mentioned. So these lavalier. Microphones can be either corded or Bluetooth. You may have seen these in YouTube videos or in other social media platforms where the sound is really good and say it with me now, because it's right next to their mouth. And the reason it's so good is because now for those again, if you're watching on the podcast or the live stream, you can see this. Now, I've got a lavalier microphone just here, and I hold it in front of my face because I pale, and you can see it. There's a little bud microphone, and there's a clip onto it. And essentially what this does is that you're able to clip it onto your clothing as close as you can to your mouth, without getting any sort of fabric distortion. And this one that I have with me now is a corded one, and this plugs into your mobile phone. If your mobile phone has a headphone jack, my mobile phones have headphone jacks because I like that and I like that opportunity. And in the event that you do not have a headphone jack, then you can get what is known as the Bluetooth version of it, which essentially looks like a little, honestly, little tiny square that sits on your clothing, again, above your clothing, to record the audio, Bluetooth to either the phone that you're recording the video on, if you've got that worked out And you've also tested this before the event, or you've got the opportunity to record it to maybe a phone that you have in your pocket or somewhere else on your body. Again, the recording of the audio is very important and can be recorded outside of the of the device that you're filming the video on, and sync up, synced up later in editing or post How we doing for time we are this is going to be probably a longer episode than my usual ones. Apologies for that, but I hope you are getting as much as you can out of this particular podcast episode. If you do feel free to reach out to me at the video confidence coach on our website, VCC, dot training. Alright, so we've covered Z planning ahead. We've covered the audio, and now it's time for the video. So you've already thought up a little bit about the video ahead of time, because you've been trying to find a good spot to put your phone. You've tried to find high places. The reason that you find high places, compared to, just say lower ones is that you don't have to worry about people standing in front of your camera or standing in front of your phone. If it's say on, say the back of a chair, there's a possibility that someone may sit in front of you, and then all you'll do is have a good 20 minutes of the back of their head. So if you've got the opportunity to put it up high, I do not recommend, however, putting your phone on speakers, speakers, because even though they may look like high vantage points and they've got a flat surface on top, that surface is going to vibrate like all hell. It's going to vibrate like an old car that needs an engine check. It's going to go and your footage is going to be blurry, and your footage is also going to be moving around a lot, and there's a higher chance of your phone falling over because of the vibrations of that microphone. And even if you know you put your phone closer to the speakers to try and get a better sound quality, while also filming the video at the same time, that is also a recommendation. Again, if you haven't had time to plan ahead, that is another tip for you there. So when recording the video, yep, so we've got lavalier mics, we've thought about the visuals. So again, the visuals are going to be, I don't want to say not important, but they're not going to be as important as, say, the audio quality of the video. Because, again, people can get away when the audio is good but the visual is crap. But if the visual is good and the audio is crap, it makes it a lot harder for people to stick around any like, long term. Yes, they can do it for short bursts of, say, even videos, or maybe shorter in steps into other videos. But again, you're trying to get the best quality that you can out of the work that you're putting in. In the event that that isn't an option for you, or maybe your mobile phone is maybe not equipped, or maybe it's not recent enough to be able to record these videos or have the control that you need, I do recommend investing in a DSLR, or mirrorless DSLR, essentially the big, big cameras that can record from up to like an hour and a half. Now, of course, I can give you plenty of recommendations, and of course this will very much depend, not just on the event that you're filming, but what you're planning to do with video long term, because when you are investing in equipment, you are investing for a long term use of this equipment. You're not investing for a short sprint, because you are doing this, you know, it's an investment. You're using your hard earned cash to buy a tool, that tool should be used for more than one. Purpose, and should definitely fit your needs. So in that case, it's not that I don't recommend a DSLR. It's more of a case so that you have to mentor it and, you know, try and get the focus right. You do ultimately have more control of the visual output of that video, but you might need someone to keep an eye on it, because maybe you get on the records for 30 minutes at a time with the mobile phone, especially as more iterations come out, the visuals do a lot of the work for you, the work the firmware and the apps themselves can do an actual lot of work for you in getting that quality perfect. But again, why are you doing this? Are you recording this video just for your own reference? Then, to be honest, I don't even worry about the visual aspect. I just get my get an old phone that has a headphone jack, to be perfectly honest. Again, this is my way of doing things. Get an old phone with a headphone jack. I have these, like PDA style holders that I got off eBay like years ago. And essentially, I turn on the phone, put on voice note, plug in my LAV, and I tap it to make sure that it's actually recording from the lab and not just the phone itself. I attach that to my back. I do what I need to do, and then it's for my self reference. All I need to do is really listen to what I'm saying and I can get the visual feedback from people in the room, because that's who I'm doing it for, doing it for people in the room. And in this opportunity, I can then put this audio through, say, a transcriber, and be able to then convert that into blog posts, or maybe convert it into other maybe carousel or text based posts for, say, LinkedIn or maybe a newsletter. Again, you can do a lot with audio by itself to be able to repurpose it into other forms of content. But if you are going to use it for your website, for your social media, for your email campaigns, at a bare minimum, getting the visuals to look decent is a good investment of your time. So again, making sure that you back up your phone ahead of time if you've got planned, if you've got the ability to plan ahead of time or when you actually turn on your camera, put it in video mode. Some cameras, sorry, some phones have the ability to tell you how long they can record for at the settings that they're on. You can fiddle around with the settings a little bit to see if you can extend that a little bit more to cover both the amount that you're speaking for, plus at least five minutes either side. The reason being is there may be a chance that you go over, or there may be a chance that something happens that requires a little bit of time, and you don't want to cut off the last, you know, 30 seconds of your speech. That really hones the really important part of what you're doing. So giving yourself that opportunity to do that is the best you can do. And again, if there's like five minutes of, you know, dead air of recording, you're fine. You're okay. The fact is that you've recorded the main thing to begin with. So to wrap up today, if you are recording your speaking event? This is what you're going to do. You are going to think about things ahead of time. You're going to think about what exactly do I want to this speech or this talk or this panel discussion, to what is this recording going to be used for in the future? Am I going to is it more important for me to think about the audio aspect, or do I'm needing that visual aspect to cover what I'm doing. Okay? Then if that is the case, I need to make sure that I have permission from the event holder and host, making sure that I have permission from other people on the stage with me, and if I am asking someone else to hold the phone for me, making sure that they're holding it like they would glasses, or when they're trying to hold the phone, they're going to do their best to keep it away from their face. And then in that event, you can start thinking about placement, and you can start thinking about the audio quality. Again, everything that I've just described may seem really complex. And at the end of the day, if you feel like, hey, Zo, this was so complex, I don't even know what to do, then do you need to record this video? Who are you recording this video for? That is a question to ask. And if it is recording for your customers, for your leads, for the people that really matter most, then the effort is worth it, if it's just for yourself, or maybe it's just maybe a couple of family and friends not saying that they're not worth it. Want to stress that, but then maybe just simply giving it to a friend in the crowd and getting them to record what you need to it is a lot easier to work with good video and good audio than it is to try and make bad video and bad audio good or good enough. Hopefully you have enjoyed this podcast. It was a bit of a Longy today, but I hope that you've gotten what you needed to out of it. Make sure you check out VCC, dot training, my website, where you'll find other tips like this, and you'll find the check. List that I mentioned earlier up on the episode to help you self record your speaking engagements. Wish you all the best. Thank you for listening or watching on boring your brand. You can find detailed show notes with tools offers and episode transcriptions. Just click the first link in the description or go to Vcc dot training slash podcast, get involved and ask me anything about personal branding, video strategy, or just a friendly Small Business chat via my email, g'day at Vcc dot training, that is G, D, A, y at Vcc dot training, the video confidence coach, would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the wadawurrung people of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which I record my podcast, I pay my respects to their elders, past and present, I stand with the traditional custodians of these lands and working towards a more equal future. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Look forward to me chatting at you next week. Superstars.
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Feeling stuck trying to build a personal brand that actually turns heads? Women and non-binary super-stars deserve more than just a cookie-cutter approach to their worries. Zoë Wood the Video Confidence Coach untangles your marketing mayhem, helping you own the camera, craft killer video strategies, and connect with your audience like never before. You’ll leave with the tools to show up, stand out, and smash your goals.
Find out more about how to grow your personal brand with the power of video right here on vcc.training
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*Please note that this podcast was previously called THE "Video Confidence Coachcast" and the "Do Video Podcast" previous to 2025. THANK-YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AS I TRANSITION THE BRAND TO BE MORE CONSISTANT FOR YOUR LISTENING AND WATCHING PLEASURE.