Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Remote Podcast Interviews: Camera On or Off?

Episode Date: January 14, 2021

Do you record your remote interviews with the camera on or off? On Podcasting Step by Step, I share what I do and why, plus who should keep their camera off and who should have it on (it has nothing to do with looks!)***Hiya, I'm your host Sarah Mikutel, podcast launch consultant at your service.Are you ready to launch a podcast that builds your brand and business, connects you to your global community, and grows your influence? Visit sarahmikutel.com to see how we can work together.Here’s a special treat for you: Use my Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift certificate. I’ve gotten to know the Buzzsprout team over this last year and love their customer service so much, I moved my shows over here. sarahmikutel.com/buzzsproutDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Do you record your remote interviews with the camera on or off? In this episode, I will share what I do and why. Plus, who should keep their camera off and who should have it on. It has nothing to do it. It's nothing to do with what you look like. Welcome to podcasting step by step, where you will learn how to create a podcast that's irresistible. I'm Sarah Magatel, a podcast launch consultant and an American who has been permanently based in Europe for more than 10 years. I especially love helping fellow expats and location independent entrepreneurs build their online brands and businesses through the magic of podcasting. Looking for one-on-one support, visit sarahmicotel.com to book a podcast launch BIP day with me or to check out one of my online courses and make sure that you grab my five-step formula for getting on podcasts at sarahmicatel.com slash pitch formula. I was listening to a podcaster recently who on her show was talking about how you should always have. have the camera on during your interviews. No, she was X radio, where she might even still be in radio, but she was used to having people come into the studio. And so for her, she said the face-to-face

is essential. If you don't have that, then people are going to be awkward and talk over each other and not know when to interject into a conversation. And I have to say that for me, I completely, I completely disagree with that. I actually prefer to have my camera off during interviews. I think the conversation is actually a lot more intimate that way. But I wanted to talk to you about a few other reasons why I like to have the camera off because as an experiment, I decided in my last few interviews to do them with the camera on. And I noticed a few different things. Number one, our conversations were epic, like two to three hours long. And I've had long conversations before, but like all of these ones with the camera on seem to go really long. And yeah, we had really good rapport. But I don't

know, maybe there was something with having the camera on where we just like kept going and going. And I don't know, but that you've got a lot of editing to do if you've got a three hour podcast, I'm just saying. So I think it's much better. Like maybe you lose track of time. But I definitely prefer to record like an hour max. Point two, the guest always, like in every instance, indicated something visually with a gesture or like pointing to something in the room that would be unclear to an audio listener. So I had to be careful to sort of like verbalize what they were doing.

Where, of course, if the camera wasn't on, you wouldn't have to do that. And I'm an audio first podcast and pretty much audio only. maybe I'll incorporate more video later. But for now, I'm audio, but like you heard a few episodes back, Andrea Jones. She does record her podcasts with video so she can put them up on YouTube. But she mentioned that she's audio first. So she never says anything in the audio that the audience wouldn't yet. And then her editor will add like graphics and stuff to the video.

But she's audio first. So anyway, that's another point that if you're using video, just be prepared to have to explain what your guest is doing. Point three, I didn't notice background noise as much. And after one interview, like I got it back and I was like, his chair was squeaking a lot more than I realized. Whereas if I didn't have the video, my ears would have been more attuned. And I could have asked him to like sit still or to say,

oh, you know, I can hear you're really squeaking in your chair over there. and I'm sure he would have, you know, sat still. And it also would have felt less awkward, I think, to mention that I could hear him squeaking in his chair rather than like telling him to his face, just for all the non-conflict people out there. I also point four for, I felt awkward checking my notes when I was interviewing somebody. Now, I don't think you should be reading question by question, bullet by bullet when you're interviewing somebody. You should be listening. But you know, you do want to like check to make sure that there's a question like you're not missing anything that you really wanted to ask. And sometimes you need to reel somebody back on track or

they say something and it reminds you of like a question at the bottom of your list. Like I think it's really handy to have those notes there. And so looking at that while I'm talking to somebody just felt very awkward. And so I didn't do it. And for me, I just don't like recording on video. I like talking to the person as if it were a phone call. Remember those? Like, we didn't have any problems talking to our friends when we were on the phone back in the day. So you don't need to see somebody visually to get a feel for when it's your turn to speak. As I said, like on the phone call, you just let it flow.

You didn't worry about who was going to say what next. So we just need to be better listeners, meaning we should be actively listening to what the other person is saying instead of thinking about what we want to say as soon as they finish. And maybe there will be a new tangent to explore. Maybe you are going to want to reel them back in to stay on topic. You can definitely jump in if they start speaking for too long or go wildly off topic. And if they're speaking for a really long time, they may have even forgotten what the question is. Maybe this has happened to you. And so now all of a sudden you're rambling and you would appreciate somebody jumping in and sort of rescuing you. But you don't need to see them for any of this to happen. You don't need to

be on video for any of this to happen. And as I said, I actually think we listen better and we can have better rapport with audio only. Now, who should keep the cameras on when they're podcasting? Well, if you're repurposing your podcast content for something like YouTube, then obviously you will want to have the camera on. You might also want to repurpose a live interview you did. via video or some other platform, but please make sure that the sound quality sounds acceptable for a podcast and that the interview isn't interspersed with too many. Like if you're doing a Facebook live, oh hi, I see we have Amanda in the chat. How's it going, Amanda? Like if you're going to repurpose video, then just chop all of that stuff out. And then also, if you are interviewing

multiple people in different locations, it might be helpful to keep the cameras on because in that situation, it can be beneficial to have some visual cues like handraising when somebody wants to jump in, but that's not essential. I've facilitated a few different roundtable interviews and some with cameras on, some with cameras off. And if you are recording video for your podcast, I recommend using e-cam call recorder for that. Now, who should keep the cameras off when they're podcasting? Well, if you're not going to be using video for your podcast, then I would recommend not recording your interview using video, so not using Zoom or using the video option for call recorder. Because video takes up a lot of bandwidth, so a lot more than if you were recording just audio. So you'll have a better connection with your remote guest if your audio only.

Now, squadcast I've mentioned before is what I like to record remote interviews, because as they record locally for both you and your guest. And they actually allow you to like see the other person. They don't have the capability yet to record video that's coming sometime in the future. But you could leave the cameras on if you wanted to. I've already talked about how I like to turn the cameras off, but they don't even have the capability to record video. So if you're doing an audio only show, then I would I would recommend recording on squad And I usually keep the cameras on at the very beginning just for like the intro before the interview starts. So we can put a face to a name, break the ice, have some nice little chit-chat, warm the guest up.

And then we'll turn the cameras off. And I think this relaxes a lot of guess as well. It kind of takes the pressure off sometimes. And they've got notes that they want to check as well. And so I like having that comfort level for both of us. So to sum all of this up, cameras on or cameras off. It's your choice, but I personally find that I have a better connection literally and metaphorically with the guest when I keep the cameras off. But experiment. See what you like. Try different ways.

And then let me know what you think. I would love to hear what kind of setup you've got going on. You can contact me on Instagram. I am at Sarah Micatel. That's all for now. To learn how you can sign up for a one-on-one podcast launch VAP day with me or to learn more. about one of my online podcast courses, visit sarah micotel.com and make sure that you grab my five-step formula for getting on podcasts at sarah megatel.com slash pitch formula. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.