Tips To Boost Your Webcam Game

Welcome to the D shift podcast, where we provide inspiration, motivation and education to help you transition from the challenges of divorce to discover the freedom and ability to live life on your own terms. Are you ready? Let's get the shift started. Hi, and welcome to another episode of the D shift podcast. And I'm really excited to introduce you to a personal friend of mine and somebody who if you've seen any of the videos that I've done, Gary is the guy that's responsible for all the creativity in them and putting them together and doing them. So I'd like to introduce you to Gary Rogers. Gary is a professional speaker. He's been an executive in the film and TV industry for over 50 years. He's done professional training for organizations all over the world. And now he has his own company, and helps people learn how to use webcams and do great things online. So Gary, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, thank you, Mardi, you are just such a great friend. And we've worked professionally for about a year now. I can't get around you, you excite the heck out of me. Well, thank

you, Gary. And I want you to tell people a little bit about your background, because I know I just barely covered it. And I know there's a lot more expert experience and expertise there. So give us a little bit about your background and what you're doing now that's going to be helpful to our listeners. Hey, great.

As you can see, I'm an old man, I've been around for a long, long time, which is good, because I got a lot of experience. And hopefully, I can help other people in their fields as well. I started basically as a salesman with three M Company years and years ago, I did well at sales and they promoted me to a sales trainer training other salespeople how to sell. And eventually they made me a training manager, training people in all kinds of subjects, one of which was public speaking skills. They wanted their corporate managers not to put people to sleep when they got in a public speaking environment. That was a fun course. And I did something kind of revolutionary in those days. I talked three M Company into buying a very expensive video recorder. This was years before home video. I asked them to put a video recorder and a camera in our training room. And when people got up to give their presentations, we recorded them. And it was amazing the results that we got and people when they saw themselves on television, oh my gosh, am I really doing that they could see the mistakes that we were trying to get them to avoid. And you've heard all your life a picture's worth 1000 words. And when they saw themselves it really revolutionized our training. I fell in love with video at that time. And so much so that 10 years later, I left 3am company and I started my own television production company. My company produced television commercials, infomercials, corporate videos for many of the great companies in the country in the world for that matter. My clients, including people like IBM, Motorola, Mitsubishi Coldwell Banker, Procter and Gamble. I spent the next 35 years in the television production motion picture industry, I had a chance to direct a lot of Hollywood stars, in fact, one of which was Academy Award winning actor Charlton Heston and I, I tell everybody, if I can direct Moses, directing anybody using a webcam, I sold my business about 13 years ago, and retired, that lasted all of two weeks, I got sitting around doing nothing. Just then webcams were starting to become popular on the internet. And I thought, well, that's something I could certainly help people with. And I've been coaching ever since people in their own businesses, virtually anybody that uses of webcam, which today is virtually anybody. Yeah. Those are people that I help promoting their own product service company course. Whatever needs to be promoted.

Yeah. And so there's a couple of things. First of all, I can remember back in the day when we didn't see see ourselves on computers, or we didn't know we didn't have computers, and we certainly didn't use a lot of video recording. And I remember the first time that I had to do something for an assessment and we were recorded and I thought I did so good. And then when I saw that assessment, I could see every mistake I made so yeah, the power of that is isn't credible. And the other thing that I think that that's really kind of interesting about what you said, is that everybody does use video cameras now. And it's not just for it's not just for people that want to grow their business, although that's your your area of expertise. A lot of my clients is we talked about this before we got on here, a lot of my clients are now appearing in court via zoom or another platform where people are doing job interviews, or they're, they are working with their clients as employees or their or their team members or anything else. So, Gary, what do you see? I'm good, give us kind of a $365,000 answer to this question. What's the biggest mistake that people make when they're when they are using their personal cameras, personal equipment to to get online? For any reason? What's the biggest mistake?

Great question. And it's the worst mistake that anybody can make. And 95 98% of everybody that uses a webcam makes this mistake, as soon as they turn on their webcam, they do not connect with the people that they're talking to. And there's a reason for that, when you're using a webcam, and most people are using laptops. The tendency is to look at the people that they're talking to, which is normal. When you're talking to somebody in real life in person. You look them straight, straight in their eyes, it would be rude to look away when somebody's talking to you. On a webcam, those people. Most people are on a laptop, they're down below you. Right now, all of your viewers or listeners, if they're watching on video, feel connected with me. If I'm on a laptop, which most people are, if I move my eyes down, like I'm doing right now, you don't feel connected with me right now Marty, you don't feel like I'm talking to you, none of your viewers would feel like I'm talking to them. Now, all I got to do is look straight into that camera. But I, when I started my coaching, I knew that from my production experience that I had to look straight into the camera, if anybody was going to feel like I was talking to them feeling connected with me, and it drove me crazy. Because I couldn't see the people I was talking to they were down on my on my laptop screen. But I had to look straight into that camera, it drove me crazy. For three years, I did that. And then I found a secret that allows me to actually see the people that I'm talking to. Right now I'm looking straight into your eyes, right? Like, you're gone like this, and not even affirmatively and I want that. And everybody wants that when they get on a computer. But as soon as they look down, they've lost connection with the people they're talking to. It's the worst mistake you can make. And I teach people in my workshops. In fact, I've got a free workshop, I think you're going to leave your link afterwards. People can come for free, doesn't cost them anything. And I'll teach them how they can avoid that mistake and see the people they're talking to, and have them feel connected to them. That's the people make

I and I really liked that. And so I've taken Gary's course and I took his free one. And then I also took his other one to get this actually make the videos. And there was a lot of things that I think that I know the camera is important. And I know that eye contact is super important. But what about the way we speak because I know that you have such a background in this and even if you have mastered the eye contact you've got your camera set up you've got your people position where you need to so that you can, you know keep track of what's going on. What's What do you have to focus on with your voice when you're on online?

That's so important. And yet it it applies to the worst fear that people make our worst fear that people have in this country and this world actually. And that's public speaking, most people would rather die than get in front of anybody in a public speaking environment. And when you're on a webcam, you're speaking to people every day, I'm speaking to dozens if not hundreds, or even 1000s of people on a webcam. And it's even more frightening on a webcam because you got a smile like I'm doing right now talk it into a webcam, which is not natural people, but the worst people worst mistake that people make is not making their words come alive. There's a skill to that it is part of public speaking skills project inflection, enthusiasm, iContact gestures, all of them are important. Right now whenever I get on a podcast like I am now, or a seminar, I crank up my projection. If we were just sitting next to each other, I'd probably crank down my voice level right now, this is the way I would talk. Normally, and I don't think you think there's anything wrong with it. But I lost a lot of enthusiasm and projection. And it's infectious. People literally will go to sleep, if you just speak in a monotone voice, if you're not connecting with them with eye contact, if you're not using gestures, as you would in a normal situation. Those are all very, very important in public speaking skills. And public speaking as part of using a webcam it just,

yeah, I was gonna say, and it's so much easier to do something else when you're online. I mean, I, you know, there's all this space like you don't know what I'm doing. And so you really have to capture people's attention and make them have a reason to keep listening to you

know, today, this, this is the most powerful promotional tool sales tool and training tool I've ever seen in my life, you can reach anybody on the face of the earth that has an internet connection and a webcam. But it's what you do with that webcam that counts. This is the great resignation, everybody, as you know, is doing their jobs, they're wanting to do something that they love, and people are starting their own businesses. Now. Anybody with some experience, some knowledge, can literally start their own business, and use this webcam to reach people at virtually anywhere in the world with an internet connection. But obviously, there are skills that need to be applied. No matter what you're doing, you need to promote yourself. And this is such a great promotional tool. You are so good at what you do, Marty, I've seen you grow. And just the time that we've been together, you are a true professional. I have people that are Marty winter Adams, because you are so good. And your ability to help people like going through a divorce or contemplating a divorce, you can do that right in the comfort of your office and the comfort of your clients home. bringing everybody to you through this medium through a webcam.

Yeah. And if you're going to I mean, if you're going to be on webcam, and you're going to do it, you might as well do it, right. I mean, you might as well invest a brief and it's not a long, it's not a lot of training you need it's just a few little tweaks that Gary's gonna walk you through. And I'm really going to encourage you to take that that free webcam seminar, because that is phenomenal. It's going to help you get all your ducks in a row, and you're going to come on online and look fantastic. I do want to talk to you about something that you and I have talked about many times, backgrounds. Because here's what I see, I see two things. One, I know more about what's inside people's closets in their bedroom now than I ever wanted to know. You know, I mean, I've got to admit, I'm bad. At this, my cats will get up and walk across the screen or sit beside me and look, my dogs will sometimes bark. Or people have the backgrounds that are the virtual backgrounds. And every time they move half of their head disappears or their fingers go missing. Or finally colors come Sparky, talk a little bit about that kind of stuff and how you can maybe adjust for that.

Well, virtual backgrounds are so popular nowadays, it seems like half more than half of the people that I talked to in seminars and networking events are using virtual backgrounds. And they are very problematic, because if you don't use them properly, everybody's used to seeing terrible flares shooting out of your body. And somebody puts their hand up, the fingers are falling off or if they walk up, the Golden Gate Bridge is right in the middle of their stomach. things and they move their head, their hair goes crazy, big flares. And there are a lot of reasons why those things are happening and bless their hearts. Most people that use virtual backgrounds and zoom which we're using right now tells you you can use a virtual background without a green screen and you can but you'll always Have those problems unless you use a green screen, and that's just number one. Green Screen. Yeah, we'll eliminate the problems. But you got to do a lot of other things, a lighting is absolutely key. In using a green screen, you can't have wrinkles in your green screen. If you don't have enough light on your own face, you've got to have both lighting on the green screen and your face. That's just the beginning, I tell most people do what Marty is doing, you can just have your own backdrop, or just a blank wall to rational you don't need anything fancy. To look professional. All you need is good lighting. And good sound. sounds even more important than video, believe it or not on video. Yeah, we'll put up with grainy video, but boy, terrible sound. And lots of people use their own microphones built into their laptops, and most of them aren't very good. And a use microphone built into a webcam is normally almost disastrous.

Sounds like an old fashioned telephone that really tinny, weird sound.

Just little things, and they're so easy to resolve. But bless their hearts. Most people don't have a clue why these things are happening, or how to eliminate them and all of that I cover in my free webcam workshop to try to help people.

Yeah, and it doesn't have to be costly. Like, you know, I mean, I have I have a proper desktop microphone for doing for doing the podcast. And Gary has got me using the right kind of camera. So I've got that in place. This is my background is not a virtual background, my background is an actual it's an actual background, Canvas thing that's hung on my wall behind me. But those people that see me as a client know that normally I just have a really nice picture back there. And then you just see the rest of the wall. So it doesn't have to be anything fancy. But please don't have don't have your dirty dishes piled in your sink that people are staying, or your closet with all your clothes all over the place. So there's lots of them. And I was actually on one that was I was this was a business one. And I was talking to an attorney or I can't remember if it was an attorney or accountant, it was a professional anyhow. And their partner walked it was in the summer their partner walked behind them with like, just like going to the pool kind of close. It was like holy cow.

Yeah, if you're gonna do business, on a webcam that use some judgment,

you got to be thinking about things. And the other thing I was gonna say is a lot of this stuff isn't expensive. You know, like, you can get a nice little lapel lab lavalier microphones, I think they call them for you know, $51

one $80 You see every NEWSCASTER on every television station every night, using a lapel microphone, 20 bucks, all you need is the other end needs to connect into your computer. Right? Great show.

Yeah. So for people that are doing so let me ask you something in particular, for people that are doing job interviews, via webcam, what are some tips or tricks or things that they might want to keep in mind that we maybe haven't already covered?

Well, just be yourself be, be yourself Be authentic. And most importantly, we've already covered it, but I beat it to death, you've got to connect with the person you're talking to. And that person is in that camera. person is not down here. If you look down at get the person on your laptop, you're going to lose contact with that person. And it's unlikely you're not going to get the job. People literally lose business every day. Because the people watching you don't feel connected, just like you're talking to them. That's sad. And it's so simple for people to do. But like anything that needs to be taught this is out of the norm, if you will. It's easy if we're in person talking with each other, but be authentic, be personal. Don't try to be anything that you're not. And have fun, enjoy a conversation just like we're doing today. Here. Just a ton of fun to talk to and be around. And that's gonna rub off and anybody that's interviewing you, be cordial and polite and nice and fun. And just remember that person is in your camera. That's the way you're going to impress the person interviewing you.

Yeah, and one other one I want to do one other thing. We're almost at a time here. I know this, this time goes so fast. I don't know how 25 minutes can go so quickly or 2025 minutes can go so quickly. One of the things that you talk about is the power of using a one minute video that you actually help people. Create a script, rehearse it, and then you put together, it looks like a like a commercial that you'd see on TV really. But a one minute video, talk about the power of that, Gary, for the people that may be listening, that are entrepreneurs or thinking about starting a side business, or that wants you to have some kind of online presence. What, what's the what's the magic of that?

Well, anybody that's doing anything online knows that the number one promotional tool on the internet is video, there's nothing that even comes close to it. Everybody knows that. If you've got a video promoting your product, your service your course, whatever it is you want to promote. If you can put that on video with cutaway shots that pertain to whatever you're trying to, to convey in your video. That makes it more interesting, more appealing. More watch watchable, if you will. That's the way to connect with people, you can send a video, I encourage my people to just put a little link a hyperlink on every email they've got. Watch my 62nd video 99% of people getting your email will just click at 60 seconds. Oh, I'll take a look and see what Marty's got there. And you can promote whatever you want to promote on a video to hundreds of people to 1000s of people or millions of people with a video at no cost whatsoever. Doing that most of my life and I do that now, putting promotional videos together for my course clients. That's part of my course. But boy, the power in video, well, everybody knows how powerful it is. I don't think I need to sell that point.

And I think I was I was reading somewhere. I think that now that that one minute is really a critical time limit to because people people want everything like in short little manageable chunks now. So these long, like 20 minute expos days,

shorts. And if you go over 59 seconds, if you go to one minute, they won't put it on. I encourage all my people stay at 59 seconds. 59.99. That's fine. But don't go over one minute. Because there's a lot of people are places where you can't post it if it's over a minute.

Right. Right. Gary, this has been this has been great. And a lot of tips, a lot of ideas, a lot of strategies. What's the one thing that you want people to remember? When they turn off the podcast and walk away with their life? What do you want them to remember about our conversation today,

whenever you turn on a webcam, look into that camera, that that is the number one thing that 99% of everybody else is not doing. And that'll put you far above your competition. And it'll make you look so good. Just looking into that camera.

And Gary, thank you so much. And so I want to say personally, like I say I endorse what Gary's doing, I have been through his program, and it really does help you get those strategies down. So Gary, if people want to reach out to you, I'm gonna put the link in the show notes. But just to give people a quick place, if they want to go right now, how can they reach you?

They can go to the URL just above my head, but they should use your link that you're going to put in your show notes. That'll get them right to the free webcam workshop. Doesn't cost him a penny.