Blah Blah Boring Video: Are your execs turning off viewers internally and externally?
New (social) media may give us more channels for communicating but they also give us more ways to bore our audiences. Take video, for example.
Many companies, especially large ones, have used it for a long time to talk internally to employees around the world, as well as telling their stories externally on national or local TV.
Now with the advent of easy, inexpensive cameras and YouTube, any organization can take advantage of the power of visual communication by putting their execs on video, posting it on their website, and emailing it to anybody who might be interested.
It’s a good strategy—if the execs are any good on camera. Unfortunately, most aren’t. So audiences can’t get to the stop button fast enough.
Four ways you know your so-called “talent” is boring everyone in sight:
1) The Teleprompter Stare (aka “deer in the headlights” eyes)
(This can happen with or without a Teleprompter.) Reading a prompter is a skill that looks easy but isn’t. It takes instruction and practice to get good. Most don’t take the time. Much better to just “talk” to the camera.
2) The Endless Drone (a monotone voice with no inflection)
3) The Mannequin Delivery (stiff, no energy, no gestures, no smiling or any other facial expressions)
Equally as bad, are the hunched over posture while sitting at a desk or table, and/or leaning back too far.
4) Non-Conversational Gobbledygook (Too many words and sentences that are too long)
TV/Video is the medium least forgiving of anything that’s boring. If you’re using video and your execs don’t know how to deliver, you’re simply wasting your time.
