1. Make your videos as natural and personal as possible. You want your viewer to feel like they are on a call with you or you made the video just for them.
2. Audio and video quality should be good enough to not be distracting, but “overproducing” makes it feel less personal.
3. Speak normally. Filler words and verbal errors are ok, either laugh them off or keep moving as if nothing happened. People don’t speak “perfectly” normally, so it can feel weird if you do. Along those lines…
4. DON’T USE A SCRIPT. Don’t read. Don’t memorize. You wouldn’t do this if you were on a call with someone you care about so don’t do it in your video. It’s good to plan a bit and you can outline, but it should either be simple OR…
5. Consider “collaborating” on a visual aid with your viewer. Build a mind map on the call or something so you can have a reference but it feels like you are working together rather than using a script.
6. Always show your face and amplify your normal expressiveness. There will ALWAYS be some distance between you and the viewer since you aren’t in person; the extra expressiveness helps bridge the gap a bit.
7. Speak to “you” (the viewer) rather than an “audience”.
8. Don’t be afraid to laugh and share personal stories or thoughts that pop into your head.
9. Either go fully evergreen and conceptual or go fully walkthrough mode (demonstrate something). The in-between space isn’t great. So it could be “today I’m going to explain what Inbox-Zero is and some principles to achieve it” OR “today I’m going to demonstrate getting to Inbox Zero” but NOT “I’m going to share step-by-step instructions for getting to inbox zero (without demonstration).
10. Try to keep videos ~5-10 min. Or, if you are making lessons, try to keep the total time commitment for the average viewer to 15-30 min for the student.
11. There should ideally be only 1 call to action from a video, if any.
12. Try to stick to 3s and 5s for things you share. “5 tips to bla” or “3 steps to bla bla”
