You know the extra lame command messages we see on AFN and all around? The ones where the commander reads something next to the senior enlisted guy then at the end they say a unit motto or something? Oh god. We can do better.
One of our subordinate units asked my boss to record a video message for their event. This was my first “thing” to do with my new commander.
He was happy to do it. Obviously attending in person would be better but schedules would not allow.
“I know exactly what I want to say,” he said.
“Good,” I said, “But what are you planning to say?”
He wrote it out and asked me to have a screen prepared he could read from. I cringed.
Since we are experienced communicators we how this is going to look: A stiff, read-from presentation with shifty eyes.
We all want our audience to connect with the speaker. To understand and trust him.
So what do you do?
- Start with why. First remind the presenter of the shared purpose of the video. Use the purpose to explain how a natural presenter will achieve the purpose and a stiffy will likely miss the mark.
- Remind the subject of the video, “You know what you want to say.” Now they just have to say it. There is no such thing as a makeshift teleprompter. You can’t rig up text so the presenter will look natural. If you want them to look natural then just be natural.
- Be short and only say what needs to be said. Cut the extraneous stuff and all of the sudden the cream will rise to the top.
- Be confident. You’re not going to be able to convince your boss or the subject of the video if you act like a whiny bitch. Act like you know what you’re talking about. Tell them you read a professional website (MaxDis) about this.
- Bullet points are ok if it makes the person more comfortable but don’t be afraid to take a cut with or without bullet points.
This video was a fail for me. The boss wanted to read from a script and he did. We recorded the video with him constantly looking away to read from the screen. The good news is later, after I got to know him better, I convinced him to do videos properly and even joke, “Are you sure you don’t want to look away every 2 seconds and read from a screen?”
We’re the professional communicators. Sure, your boss may have 30 years of experience and be a very good communicator but we eat and breath this stuff. Help them, help themselves.
Now go and do likewise.
Photo by Leon Roberts
