How to Be Charming

Go Off Script

(Click the photo to watch the video)

You can spend weeks translating your brand identity into a script that will successfully deliver your desired message. You can rehearse and organize locations, contributors, and activities, and it all may go exactly according to plan. But inevitably, the most charming moments —the ones that delight the viewer and endear them to your message—will be the unplanned, offhand, serendipitous ones.

No matter how it happens, it’s critical to show the viewer who you really are as your unguarded self. It can be a tough place to go if you’re not used to being vulnerable on camera. It may mean that you will need to deliver your entire polished script and every canned statement you have prepared, in order to get it out of your system, before you can set it aside and be yourself.

During Karen’s shoot, nothing turned out more authentically than our diversion to check out the giant aluminum water droplet at Vanier Park. It certainly wasn’t planned or scripted, but it brought out the artist in this local jewelry designer, and showed her endearing playful side. It’s better to let go than to hang on to some preconceived notion of what the end result should be.

How to Be the Coolest Kid in School

Be yourself

(Click the photo to watch the video)

Viewers know false. They know when someone is speaking from the heart and when they are reciting a script. It’s innate for us to weed for sincerity. Speaking and acting from the heart are truly the most effective ways to create connections with viewers, and indeed with every business prospect.

One of the most passionate people I have met on-camera yet is Justin. The level of commitment that he has to his job and to his charges is extraordinary, and I wish I could fit more examples into the video. If every teacher—or professional of any kind—were this passionate about their work, their respective organizations would be dramatically different places.

Maybe most impressive however—and in the spirit of a blog that intends to illustrate how to make great video content and how to come across on camera in the most flattering and effective way possible—is how matter-of-fact Justin is about his (extraordinary) vocational performance. He honestly couldn’t imagine doing his job in any other way, and that’s why he comes off so great in this video.

(It also doesn’t hurt that he’s the coolest teacher around, but isn’t that just a result of being comfortable in your own skin? And isn’t that a synonym for speaking and acting from the heart?)