How To Appear More Confident On Camera
From body language and voice control to preparation and filming techniques, we share tips for appearing more confident in front of the lens.
From Zoom meetings to online presentations and social media, we all have to appear on camera from time to time. But even as video content climbs in popularity, feelings of awkwardness, insecurity, and imposter syndrome can easily get in the way.
The good news is that confidence on camera is just like any other learned skill. With enough practice and a few adjustments, anyone can improve how they feel and look on screen.
Below, we share tips and advice on how to manage your anxiety and master your body language to appear more confident on camera.
Consider why you don’t feel confident
Understanding why you don’t feel confident on camera is key to overcoming your anxiety. It allows you to pinpoint your insecurities and make adjustments accordingly.
Here are the most common reasons people don’t feel confident on camera:
- They don’t like how their voice sounds.
- They’re self-conscious about their appearance.
- They think their body language looks awkward.
- They don’t feel like what they’re saying is valuable.
- They’re afraid of being judged.
- They don’t have much experience on camera or with their filming equipment.
- They’ve had a negative past experience.
- They’re afraid of making a mistake.
- They don’t feel prepared.
If any of these apply to you, don’t worry. Below, you’ll find advice on how to overcome that anxiety.
Preparation
When people look confident on camera, it may seem like it comes naturally to them – after all, looking natural is the whole point. But you have no idea how much preparation they might have done to get there.
Content creators and public speakers usually put in a lot of work when preparing to go on camera. Here are some of the things you can do to feel more prepared and confident.
Envision how you want to look on camera
It’s easy to focus on the negatives of how you’ll look when you’re on camera. But envisioning how you want to appear is crucial to making it happen.
Write down what your success will look like in as much detail as possible. This could include:
- I will speak clearly and my voice won’t shake.
- I’ll talk with my hands.
- My hair and outfit will look good.
- People will find the content of my speech valuable.
- I’ll maintain eye contact with the camera.
When you know exactly what will make you appear more confident, you’ll know what you need to work on when practicing.
Study successful content creators
As we mentioned before, confidence on camera is a learned skill – something that can be studied and practised.
Studying successful content creators can give you a better understanding of what confidence looks like in practical terms. Write down notes on things like their body language and how they speak. You can then work to apply this knowledge to your own practice.
Top tip: when studying successful content creators, go back and view their older videos to see how much they’ve improved over time. This can help motivate your practice.
Write a script
Afraid you’ll make a mistake on camera? Or worried that what you’re saying isn’t valuable? Writing a script can help you overcome these common fears. Here’s why:
- You can rehearse your script as many times as you want before going on camera.
- You can learn it off by heart.
- You can write cues in your speech for things like pauses and facial expressions.
- You can edit your script down so that it’s succinct and engaging.
- You can send it to other people for feedback before going on camera.
- It will help you mitigate any filler words like ‘umm’s or ‘ahh’s that might make you look less confident.
If you’re unsure of how to go about writing your script, check out these 14 tips for writing engaging video scripts.
Make practice videos
Practising is the number one thing that will improve your confidence on camera, so you shouldn’t put off making videos until you ‘feel ready’.
Instead, make practice videos that you can review and give yourself feedback. Note down the things that went well, and the things that didn’t. Then keep making more practice videos, focusing on just one thing to improve at a time. Eventually, your confidence will increase as you get used to being on camera.
Remember – you don’t even have to post these videos anywhere, so there’s really nothing to lose!
Develop new habits
Have you developed some undesirable habits that affect your confidence on camera e.g. lack of eye contact, not using your hands? Remember, these habits are simply actions you’ve repeated enough over time so that you do them without thinking. That means that you can develop new habits with practice.
It’s important to understand that developing new habits won’t feel comfortable or natural at first. Your brain has to work a bit harder to mindfully make these adjustments as you speak. However, with enough practice, these new actions will become second nature. That’s why practising is so important.
Don’t be a perfectionist
They say perfection is the enemy of progress, and this applies to your confidence on camera! Delaying getting started or trying to achieve ‘perfection’ in your videos is counterproductive.
Everyone makes mistakes from time to time – even the best public speakers do! But it’s these imperfections that make our speech seem natural, and natural speech is much more effective than a robotic delivery.
Body language
Maintain good posture
Good posture can exude confidence and trick your brain into feeling good. For example, there’s scientific evidence to suggest that doing power poses releases testosterone in the brain and makes you feel more confident.
One of the best power poses to try before going on camera is the Superman/Superwoman pose:
- Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart and place your hands on your hips. Take up as much space as you can and hold the pose for 30-60 seconds.
Another benefit of maintaining good posture is vocal clarity and projection. Standing tall prevents the airways from being restricted, allowing you to speak clearly and confidently.
Talk with your hands
Talking with your hands allows you to place more emphasis on what you’re saying and put more emotion into your delivery. It can also help you appear more confident by hiding any shakiness and preventing you from fidgeting. Plus, it’s an easy adjustment to make if keeping your hands by your side feels awkward.
Use props if necessary
If your hands shake or fidget when you’re nervous, holding something while you’re speaking might help put your mind at ease. You could hold something like a pen, notepad, or an electronic device – a phone or tablet can even double up as your teleprompter.
Maintain eye contact with the camera
Lack of eye contact is one of the biggest giveaways of social anxiety. Luckily, maintaining eye contact with a camera lens is much easier than with a real person. You can do as many takes as you need to, refilming until you’re happy with the result.
Smile more
Smiling makes you appear happy and at ease, so it’s one of the easiest ways to at least appear confident, even if you don’t feel it.
Much like power poses, smiling activates pathways in your brain to make you feel confident. Plus, viewers are more likely to engage with someone who appears enthusiastic about what they’re saying.
Voice and speech control
Use a teleprompter
If you’re recording a video or giving a presentation, using a teleprompter can help you feel more confident and prepared. You can download a free teleprompter app onto your phone, tablet, or laptop and import your script. This will be a huge help if you’re worried about forgetting a line or tripping over your words.
Teleprompter Pro even has a built-in recording function, so you can look directly at the camera while reading your script. You can also customise the scroll speed and font to read at a pace that feels comfortable. You’ll even be able to add notes to your speech on where to inflect your words or pause, giving you complete control.
Speak slowly and clearly
People who are nervous tend to rush their speech. But this can cause you to trip over your words and doesn’t give your audience enough time to digest what you’re saying. Forcing yourself to speak slowly and clearly may feel uncomfortable, but with enough practice, it will become more natural.
Record yourself speaking at your usual pace, then again at a slower pace. You’ll realise that the latter doesn’t feel too slow for the audience. In fact, it makes you appear more confident and places more emphasis on what you’re saying.
Vary your tone and pitch
It’s easy to rush through your speech in a flat tone when you’re feeling nervous. But this kind of monotone way of speaking can cause your audience to feel bored.
Try to vary your tone and pitch when speaking, inflecting your words on important points. If this feels too overwhelming to think about on the spot, make notes in your script on what to do your voice and use a teleprompter.
Project your voice
Speaking loudly – without shouting – is a great way to command your audience’s attention and appear confident.
If you’re a naturally quiet speaker, you might find it difficult to project your voice at first, but it’s a skill worth learning. Luckily, there are lots of free YouTube tutorials on voice projection that you can practise along with.
Embrace pauses
When you’re in the spotlight, a 2-second pause can feel like 20 minutes. But that’s not how your audience perceives it.
Strategically pausing on certain points throughout your speech makes your delivery more impactful. It also helps you appear confident and gives your audience more time to consider your point.
On top of all this, pausing intermittently will give you time to gather your thoughts, reducing filler words like ‘umm’s or ‘ahh’s that can make you look nervous. If you’re using a teleprompter app, note down in your speech the parts where you’d like to take a pause.
Speak to a friend, not a crowd
If your lack of confidence on camera stems from public speaking anxiety, you’re probably envisioning masses of people watching you. Focusing on the size of the crowd won’t make you feel more confident, but imagining you’re speaking to a good friend might.
Delivering your speech as if you’re speaking to just one person, rather than a crowd, should help ease your nerves and make your tone more personable and engaging.
Appearance
Dress to impress
Dressing in your best or most loved clothes is one of the easiest way to give yourself a confidence boost. When you feel good about how you look, that confidence will also come across in your delivery.
Work on your lighting and background
A well-lit face will not only make you look better – it will make your video appear more professional. You might want to invest in a budget-friendly ring light that’s easy to set up and use.
A clean and tidy background might also help you feel more at ease when talking on camera. You know what they say – tidy space, tidy mind.
Choose a flattering camera angle
Cameras can warp your appearance if not placed at the right angle. You should keep your camera at eye level and place your ring light directly behind it for the most natural and flattering perspective.
Before you go on camera
Do breathing exercises
Doing a simple breathing exercise right before you go on camera can help calm your nerves. This is because it lowers your heart rate and forces you to take your mind off everything except your breath.
Box breathing is one of the most common and effective breathing exercises to try. It’s also easy to remember – just envision a square as you breathe for 4 counts of 4 (4-4-4-4).
To begin box breathing, choose a comfortable position. This could be sitting up straight, standing, or even lying down.
Relax your shoulders, release any tension in your body, then follow these steps:
- Breathe in slowly, counting to four.
- Hold your breath at the top of your inhale for another count of four.
- Breathe out slowly through the mouth, counting to four again.
- Hold your breath at the bottom of your exhale for another count of four.
- Repeat the cycle above as many times as you like.
We recommend doing breathing exercises for at least a couple of minutes before it’s time to go on camera.
Warm up your voice
Doing vocal warm-ups before you go on camera can help clear your throat and allow you to project your voice more clearly. It may even help reduce any shakiness present in your voice. Try this 10-minute vocal warm-up to feel more confident before going on camera.
Warm up your body
Much like vocal warm-ups, a physical warm-up can reduce any shakiness or fidgeting that might appear when you’re on camera. Stretching or shaking out your body right before going on camera can release tension and prevent you from going stiff.
For even better results, do a light cardio workout a few hours before going on camera. This will release endorphins that relax your body and mind, and make you feel good about yourself.
While filming
Take regular breaks
If you aren’t appearing live on camera, take regular breaks between filming. This will save you from feeling burnt out or overwhelmed, and help keep your mind clear.
If you keep making mistakes when recording a particular clip, don’t incessantly rerecord it – the stress of the situation is likely to make things worse. Instead, take a 20-30 minute break and do something that relaxes you e.g. going for a walk or reading a book.
When you take regular breaks like this, you’ll have greater mental clarity and feel fresher when you return to work.
Record in short bursts
It’s okay to record in short bursts if you struggle to go through your entire script in one go. Editing lots of individual clips into a seamless video is surprisingly easy (and it’s what most content creators do, anyway). Just watch any successful YouTube creator’s videos and count how many quick cuts are made when they’re speaking to the camera – the results might surprise you!
Record your intro last
The introduction is the most important part of your video, but it’s usually the most awkward to film. Waiting to record it last will ensure your voice and body are warmed up and you feel energised. This should help convey enthusiasm and confidence to keep your audience engaged.