Record Polished Videos without Memorizing Anything or Using a Teleprompter | Ep. 47

Want to record polished videos without a teleprompter? I'll show you how to record polished videos without memorizing anything! Learn how to riff like a pro, develop on-camera confidence, and use simple outlines. Plus, I share my best video editing tips for pro-quality results and how to be natural on camera! ▶︎  Crush Your Edits Masterclass: https://www.meredithmarsh.co/crushX2

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Transcript

Nobody is out here thinking I'm gonna create crappy videos and upload them to the internet, and that's going to grow my audience and grow my business online. Right, but how do you record polished videos without memorizing a script or using a teleprompter?

Do you have to be insanely talented or have a background in being a television personality or a newscaster?

Well, I'm sure you could develop some skills there that would help you out, but I wanna talk about how to actually, when you sit down to record, you hit that button.

How do you record a polished video without memorizing any lines or having to read word for word from. A teleprompter. My name is Meredith. This is Video Brand Infusion. I'm here to help you infuse the best video marketing strategies into your business so that you can build your thriving video brand and be the go-to person in your niche.

you know, I was not born knowing how to talk to a camera. You probably weren't either.

I had to figure this out on my own and develop the skill, and as somebody who I've always considered myself to be an introvert, I was never an on camera person. I was never an onstage person. showing up on camera for you to watch what I have to say, what is not, it doesn't come naturally to me.

I had to figure it out on my own. And now I love it, but I also love that because it's not natural, because I don't have any like official, uh, you know, professional training. I can just give you the tips that I figured out on my own. Because you probably don't have professional training either, and I don't think you need it.

I mean, it's working for me, 

now right around, I think probably a year ago, probably right around when I started this podcast, I started doing something kind of wacky. When I record, you don't see it because I edit it out, but it's something that has really helped me to. record a polished video record sections of my video without memorizing anything and without having it kind of come off as like dry and preachy.

and I'll share that with you in a second. But riffing could easily lead to rambling, going off on a tangent or just, you know, unclear communication in general. So hear me out on this.

it can be hard to watch other people's channels and. Feel like, oh, they've got this all figured out. They're just so natural on camera. They know what they're doing, and I'm not like that. Like I'm just not up to that level yet and assume that they were born that way. if your brain has been telling you that when you watch anybody's videos, it's a big fat lie.

People, record polished videos through practice, through repetition, and through a little bit of editing that you are not necessarily seeing.

So if you think, I wasn't born with this, I don't know how to be natural, I don't know how to record a polished video, create a polished video, so therefore I'm just not going to. Then you're missing the whole point, which is you have to do it to get better at it. You have to put in the reps to create and record and edit polished videos for YouTube.

It's just a repetition thing. It's a numbers game.

I have three what I think are insanely useful tactics for you to try. When you want to record a polished video, and you don't wanna memorize a script, you don't wanna look at a teleprompter, but you do wanna sound natural and like legit, like you know what you're talking about because you're here to build your brands and build your business with your videos, right?

but a couple of years ago, I was noticing more and more discussion content, even like questions around using a teleprompter. And I had never used a teleprompter before. I hadn't really, I didn't think I needed one. I didn't really want one, but I started thinking. Maybe I should use a teleprompter.

I think I need that. I think I need a teleprompter in my life. And so I bought a teleprompter. I tried it and I loved it. I actually loved it so much that I recorded an entire video showing my teleprompter setup and everything, and that video was actually a big hit. But the truth is teleprompter takes a lot of.

Tweaking to get it to work right, to get it to work with your setup, and I was constantly having to fiddle with the right angle and the right distance. I loved having it. As a sort of second monitor, but I had to use my iPad to make it work. So when Elga came out with their prompter, which just plugs right into a computer, it's an absolute dream.

I highly recommend it if you need a teleprompter.

They offered to send me one, no questions asked, and I. Put it together. I started using it. I loved it. I made a video about it and my teleprompter videos are some of my more popular topics on my channel. But then I stopped using a teleprompter completely last year. In fact, I have mine set up right now, but it's collecting dust over here.

I'm not using it right now. As much as I loved having. My words right in front of me so that I could talk to the camera and not like break eye contact. I felt like I was sort of missing out on developing the skill of riffing.

If you're not a natural riffer, meaning it's hard for you to kind of come up with cohesive thoughts on the fly or you know, maybe it's easy for you to do in your day-to-day life, but then you turn a camera on and then you freeze. I think that is an insanely useful skill as a content creator, as a business owner.

And so for me personally, I just made it a goal. I wanna get better at that. I wanna get better at. I. Trusting my brain to formulate the words to come outta my mouth in a cohesive way. And so I had to kind of like stop using the teleprompter and relying on that as a crutch in order to kinda work up that muscle in my brain.

but that doesn't mean I have to write a script and then memorize it. So if I'm not memorizing and I'm not reading from a teleprompter. How are the words coming outta my mouth?

The answer is I have an outline and I'm just riffing on the points in the outline so I know what I want to cover. I know what I need to cover in the video. I know what I'm trying to communicate to you, and the notes are in front of me on the screen. I'm editing this video, so if I make a mistake or if I go off on a tangent, or if I just need to take a breath, take a sip of my coffee and figure out what else I need to say, I can do that.

And what you see is a polished video because I've cut out all of the stuff that I don't need you to see. So for me, recording a video is like, look at my notes, figure out what do I need to say. Look up at the camera. Riff on it, and then look at my notes, figure out what I need to say and riff on it. Sometimes I can just keep going. Sometimes I can look at my notes, I can see the next point, and I can look back at the camera and not have to stop and figure out what's going on. And other times I need to kind of regroup. It all gets fixed in the edit. We're gonna talk about editing in a minute, so don't, don't run away.

but having an outline pre-planned, of course, you, you have an outline, right? Having an outline pre-planned helps me to stay on track and make sure that I don't ramble because. I think when you are very comfortable with riffing, it can easily cross the line into rambling, and you don't want that because you want to be able to clearly communicate your message and you want your viewers to keep watching.

You don't want them to go, oh my gosh, get to the point lady.

So here are a couple ways that you can prevent rambling, prevent going on a tangent, and prevent kind of having unclear communication in your video. So that it is actually easier for you to edit. So number one, even if you're not memorizing or reading from a teleprompter, even if you're not writing a word for Word script, you still have to nail your opening hook, which is just the first sentence, the first five or six words, the first couple lines of your video.

the first few lines, that hook of your video is exactly what it sounds. It's a hook. It hooks people in. It makes them want to keep watching. So your thumbnail is a hook, it's a visual hook. Your title is a hook.

The next thing that a viewer experiences with you is The actual words coming out of your mouth are what they're seeing on screen. So you kind of have to like keep the hook going. It's a crochet hook, right? It's not a fish hook. It keeps going. I just made that up on the fly.

Talk about riffing. I'm getting really good at it, I think.

so even if no other part of your video is scripted or like prepared ahead of time.

You really have to nail your opening hook. Now, this is a question that just came up yesterday in Video Brand Academy. We had a meetup and somebody asked this question of How do I memorize the hook so that it comes out clear and concise? It's hard to, to like memorize so that I can look at the camera and do it.

So I shared a couple tips. Other people in the meetup shared a couple of really great tips for this, but one of my favorite tips, something I've been doing since like way back at the beginning is. To record the beginning of my video after I've already recorded the entire video. So I'll start off with an intro or start off with a hook, and then if I know that I haven't nailed it, if I know that I just like can't get the words out, I'll record it at the end because by the time I'm done recording, by the time I've like delivered the content to the camera.

My brain is on, like my brain is like, yes, this is fun. We're talking to the camera. I'm confident, I'm clear on my communication, like we're into it. that's the kind of energy that you want to bring to a hook. So if you get ready to record, you get everything set up, you turn your camera on, you hit record, and you're just kind of like coming in.

Dry or coming in cold and you're finding that you just can't get your intro to sound good, to sound polished, Just forget the intro for now. Record the rest of the video and then come back. Just don't forget to do it. Come back and rerecord the intro again. You could do this all in one recording or you could start a whole new recording.

' Because if you're making a polished video, you're going to edit it, right? So it actually doesn't matter what order you record anything in your video, everything is reconfigurable in the edit.

so you could resay anything in your video if it's not coming out. In a natural way, or you know, maybe if there's thoughts that are coming to you as you are speaking

and you want to sort of go back and make this point again, there's no reason why you can't do that.

I know I've talked about this before, but I know one little habit of mine, and this used to happen to me quite a bit. One of the reasons why I wanted to get better at riffing is if. My brain is trying to think of the words that are supposed to come out of my mouth. Next. I blink a lot.

Like really quickly I blink and my brain is like, oh my gosh, what is happening? We're trying to think on the fly. Don't make a mistake. And I just blink and it's weird And you know, when I first started recording videos, I didn't notice it happening in the moment. but over time it's like a habit that I have not necessarily broken the habit. 'cause I do catch myself when I'm editing. I go, oh man, what's with all the blinking? But if I notice it in the moment and I just feel like I'm not delivering this.

As clearly and concisely and succinctly as I can, I'll just rerecord that whole section

as many times as I need to. So that it sounds polished, so that it sounds coherent coming outta my mouth because the whole point of making a video is communication. So if I'm not clearly communicating, then what's the point? Like give yourself permission to slow down. Look at your notes, think about what you're gonna say next, and then just deliver it to the camera and redo it as many times as you need to.

Not from beginning to end, but from section to section or even sentence to sentence if you have to.

Does it take longer to then edit the video if you have a whole bunch of repeated sections?

First of all, you know me. You're in the right place. I have a whole channel full of video editing tips, lots of D script tutorials. D script is really the best, um, for this type of editing because you're just editing by looking at a document. It's really easy to spot. Oh, look at all the 72 times I restarted this sentence.

Delete all of that. Don't even watch it. Don't even listen to it. Just delete it. Get rid of it. You know, that's where you made your mistakes. You don't even have to look at it,

but I have a ton of helpful how to videos here on my channel. So if you're not. Subscribe to make sure you hit the subscribe button,

And the third thing to keep in mind to prevent your riffing from turning into a ramble is to know ahead of time what your call to action is gonna be. In the middle of your video, at the end of the video, do you have a lead magnet, a free opt-in, something to send people to, there's a link in the description, blah, blah, blah.

Or, you know, here's this other video you should watch, or Here's this whole playlist you should watch or let me know in the comments, blah, blah, blah.

Know what you want your audience to do before you hit record so that you can clearly communicate that when you're riffing and you can clearly communicate it throughout your video and not just wait till the end to figure out what do I want people to do now?

So those are three, uh, sort of tactics to think about when you are riffing, right? So you're gonna make a simple outline, riff from that outline,

but nail the hook. Redo any of the sections that you feel you haven't delivered clearly, And then always have a clear call to action prepared for when you are riffing.

and the wacky thing that I've been doing when I record that you don't see because I edit it out, is I. Like to just imagine every section. So I have my outline. I kind of record in sections, take a breath between sentences or between sections. Look at my notes, take a drink of coffee, I want my videos to be cohesive and polished, but I'm not just like going one sentence after another. When I take a break to look at my notes or take a drink of coffee, the next thing that I say out of my mouth, I'm kind of imagining that I'm having a conversation. I want my videos to be conversational.

And, you know, approachable. and part of that is like how I want it to be sort of perceived for you. Like how I want you to feel. Like I want, I wanna feel like we're having a conversation. But even for me, I don't wanna sit here and preach to the camera. I feel like I would much rather be having this as a conversation one-on-one, and so to feel a little bit less like I'm making a video, I'm talking to my camera.

I do like to imagine that this is a conversation, so I just said something. I'm gonna look at my notes. I'm going to think about what I'm saying next when I. Go to start talking again. I'm kind of thinking about if this was a conversation, what would the other person be saying to me? Like what is the next question they would be asking me so that I can just start talking as if I'm just kind of continuing the conversation.

I even sometimes will say, oh, that's a good question, so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I added out the part where I say, oh, that's a great question. I told you this was wacky. It's just that I want. Then I want to start my sentence off in this like conversational way.

So if I say, so my next point is blah, blah, blah, that's not conversational. Whereas if I say, yeah, that's a great question. So my next tip for this would be blah, blah, blah. it's different, right?

and that's just a wacky little trick that works for me, that to be totally honest, I sometimes forget to do, and I notice when I'm editing, I'm obviously, I'm watching the video back and I go, wow, I feel stiff. I feel dry. I feel like a little bit preachy, little bit like I'm talking to the camera And I just make a mental note. Next time you record, slow down, take a breath, and make this more conversational.

So you're gonna chill out. When you're recording, you're gonna let yourself riff. You're gonna let yourself breathe. But what if you could record a polished video without memorization or a teleprompter because your brain already knows what to say?

me out with this. I mentioned that one of the skills that I wanted to develop, that I deliberately set out to develop for myself over the last year or two is to be better at riffing, be better at making the words come outta my brain. In a cohesive way, and that doesn't mean I don't have to edit anything, but what it does mean is if the topics I choose are topics that I don't really have to do much preparation for because I already know them, I'm already confident in this topic.

I already have thoughts and opinions and experience to share on this topic. Then there's nothing to memorize. There's no script that I need to put into a teleprompter because I'm just sharing on a topic that I already know about that I already feel confident about.

If your brain already knows what to say, it's so much easier to say it. Like, I know it sounds like, duh, of course, but I think it's really easy to kind of go off. You know, I teach the spider web strategy for growing your channel, so you may go off into these other kind of spider web sections to kind of fill out the content on your channel, maybe.

If you're struggling with being natural on camera, creating a polished video, knowing what words to say, and you feel like you need to memorize or you need to use a teleprompter, maybe it's because the topics you have chosen are topics that you are not really fully prepared to create a video about,

which of course is going to make it hard. To make a video about,

I had to do this a lot back in my days of creating GoPro tutorials and things like that because I had to like learn how to use the camera, learn all of the right lingo, figure out all of that stuff in order to create a video where I'm showing how it works or showing how to do it. I had to learn the thing in order to talk about the thing.

and I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it required my brain to prepare itself to talk about the topic. I wasn't really able to just riff because it didn't necessarily come naturally to me. I was like learning as I went.

Here's a current example for you. Lately, I've been down the AI rabbit hole creating agents, creating, uh, AI tools that I have inside of Video Brand Academy for my members, and I've been loving it. I'm loving diving into it. I feel like. We're on the edge of something really big with AI when it comes to like growing your business, creating content, and I'm like, I'm not even talking about using AI to create content.

We could go off on a whole other tangent, but it's such a new world to me that even having a conversation with somebody, my brain is not prepared for all of the new terminology. There are workflows, agents, bots, chats, GPTs. There are make.com scenarios, automations, nodes, modules. What's the difference between a node and a module?

My brain still has to like figure that out when I'm having conversations. 'cause all of this is so new to me, it's not. It's not really part of my natural lingo yet.

So when I create an explainer video for someone showing them how I have my AI bots set up inside of my membership through Kajabi, I have to kind of slow down, take my time, think about the words that are coming out of my mouth. It's not just natural, it doesn't just roll off the tongue for me.

And the last thing I wanna mention here is if you wanna create, like truly create polished videos for your YouTube channel or for social media, a lot of what you see. As polished is actually editing, and it's not, it's not that you're adding polish through editing, right? It's not like you're, you're making yourself look pretty or removing wrinkles or, you know, anything like that.

I'm not talking about polishing how your video looks. I'm talking about how your video communicates, what you want it to communicate by. Creating really smooth cuts when you do have to, you know, edit out all of your mistakes and things like that. I'm talking about using B roll or graphics or little zoom ins.

When you do have to make those cuts, that almost eliminates the fact that you made a cut.

Even being meticulous about removing, you know, some of the dead space, which could just be, it could just be like 10 frames of dead space. If you have just a little bit of dead space between all of your cuts and you have cuts because Meredith gave you permission to make mistakes and redo things. Even just a tiny bit of dead space between your cuts can make a video feel really, uh, sort of disjointed.

Whereas a video that has a hundred cuts could feel really polished, really smooth, really cohesive

because of what you do when you are editing. I know that editing is sometimes like the biggest headache in the world, and not everyone loves it as much as I do. It's sometimes like the thing that people want to outsource first in their business when they start investing their time and energy and focusing on YouTube videos, but it's also one of the most expensive things to outsource.

and that is why I'm hosting a free masterclass called Crush Your YouTube Edits in two hours or less.

It's coming up soon. I'm not gonna put the date out there just yet, but I will put a link down in the description so that you can get on the wait list and get notified via email when it's ready to go, because if you can spend less time editing your polished videos, then you can create more content. Be consistent with your uploads.

If you're consistent with your uploads, you can be consistent with your audience building and your revenue generating. I mean, how would you expect. Your audience to grow consistently and your business to grow consistently if you're not able to show up consistently. So if you wanna learn how to crush your YouTube edits in two hours or less, or you have a virtual assistant or somebody on your team that you would like to learn how to edit your videos in two hours or less, make sure you get your butt on that wait list, and I'll see you soon.