Mike:
00:00:00
One of the key truths about presenting whether you're in person or
Mike:
00:00:04
on camera is that you have to exaggerate everything you have to exaggerate your
Mike:
00:00:09
voice your body language your energy you have to deliver more energy because the
Mike:
00:00:14
energy that you're projecting needs to go into the audience so that they feel
Mike:
00:00:18
it and they intake it I have trained myself To be calm to speak with a low
Mike:
00:00:22
slow voice and to convey confidence and not freak out even if something
Mike:
00:00:27
is going wrong because I know better
Mike:
00:00:29
I have accustomed myself to being on camera to speaking to people and I've
Mike:
00:00:34
also just gotten to the point where my mind can fight those inner demons
Mike:
00:00:40
and fight that imposter syndrome
Mike:
00:00:48
Welcome to the Confident Live Marketing Show with Ian Anderson Gray.
Mike:
00:00:53
Helping you level up your impact, authority and profits through the
Mike:
00:00:57
power of confident live video.
Mike:
00:00:59
Optimise your mindset and communication and increase your
Mike:
00:01:02
confidence in front of the camera.
Mike:
00:01:05
Get confident with the tech and gear.
Mike:
00:01:07
And get confident with the content and marketing.
Mike:
00:01:11
Together, we can go live!
Ian:
00:01:13
Hello and welcome back to the confident live marketing podcast.
Ian:
00:01:16
This season is all about confidence and communication journeys.
Ian:
00:01:20
We're all on a journey.
Ian:
00:01:22
The first time I ever went in front of the camera was pretty embarrassing.
Ian:
00:01:26
It's still out there somewhere and you can find out but you know,
Ian:
00:01:28
we were all progressing and we're all learning things every time.
Ian:
00:01:31
And that's what this is.
Ian:
00:01:32
Season is all about because we've all got a message.
Ian:
00:01:35
We've all got something that we want to communicate in our businesses.
Ian:
00:01:38
And sometimes it's that lack of confidence or that struggle with
Ian:
00:01:42
communication that can get in the way.
Ian:
00:01:45
I'm really excited to bring back my friend, Mike Alton.
Ian:
00:01:47
He was on the show in the last season talking about his studio and he is been
Ian:
00:01:52
creating content, video content and podcasts and blogs for a very long time.
Ian:
00:01:57
Mike.
Ian:
00:01:58
Welcome back.
Ian:
00:01:58
It's great to have you here.
Ian:
00:02:00
So you've been doing this for a while, and I know you talked about this a
Ian:
00:02:03
little bit in the last episode, but tell us what you, when you first started
Ian:
00:02:08
to create video or podcast content.
Ian:
00:02:11
Tell us when you first started, blogging and writing content and then
Ian:
00:02:14
how long it was before you started to create audio and video content.
Ian:
00:02:18
And just tell us a little bit about your, your background and
Ian:
00:02:21
your content creation journey.
Mike:
00:02:23
Yeah.
Mike:
00:02:23
So I started the social media hat in 2011 and I started it because I've
Mike:
00:02:27
been writing about social media for my web development company before then.
Mike:
00:02:34
And that company and that content wasn't getting an attraction, but I discovered
Mike:
00:02:37
I really enjoy teaching people how to use social media and I was teaching people how
Mike:
00:02:41
to use Hootsuite in particular back then.
Mike:
00:02:43
So I started writing about Hootsuite in 2011 and within the first year or so That
Mike:
00:02:49
a lot of that content in that blog, I got asked to speak to a group of attorneys
Mike:
00:02:54
on how to use Hootsuite for social media.
Mike:
00:02:56
And that was my first time delivering any kind of content over video.
Mike:
00:03:00
And I freaked the heck out.
Mike:
00:03:04
I am an introvert.
Mike:
00:03:05
I wasn't comfortable speaking in front of people.
Mike:
00:03:08
I hadn't done much of that.
Mike:
00:03:09
In my career, I've been mostly an it guy and a salesperson.
Mike:
00:03:13
So I had some familiarity with speaking to people.
Mike:
00:03:16
I'd actually had a lot of sales training in a previous life, really selling
Mike:
00:03:20
swimming pools and hot tubs, but getting on camera and talking to people was
Mike:
00:03:24
not something I'd ever done before.
Mike:
00:03:26
And it was terrifying to me.
Mike:
00:03:29
Absolutely terrifying.
Mike:
00:03:30
Plus to be in front of attorneys.
Mike:
00:03:31
Oh, it was not something that I would have normally said, yeah, I should go do that.
Mike:
00:03:36
But.
Mike:
00:03:37
They offered to pay me money.
Mike:
00:03:39
So I said, okay, I'll go ahead and do that.
Mike:
00:03:41
So that was in 2012, if I recall correctly.
Mike:
00:03:44
And over the next few years, you'll remember one of the hot social
Mike:
00:03:49
platforms at the time was Google plus.
Mike:
00:03:51
And for those of you listening, you might not have even heard of Google plus, but.
Mike:
00:03:55
You also might not know that they were one of the very first pioneers when
Mike:
00:03:59
it came to live video, the Google plus hangouts on air were revolutionary at the
Mike:
00:04:05
time, there was no other place you could go and connect to multiple people on a
Mike:
00:04:09
video at the same time and have them.
Mike:
00:04:12
Broadcasting live to a social network and seeing comments come in.
Mike:
00:04:15
We take that for granted today because it's built into all the social platforms
Mike:
00:04:19
were back then that wasn't the case.
Mike:
00:04:21
There was no Facebook live.
Mike:
00:04:22
There was no LinkedIn live.
Mike:
00:04:24
There weren't a lot of other platforms.
Mike:
00:04:25
Blab came along.
Mike:
00:04:27
Later, some of the other platforms came along later, but Google plus
Mike:
00:04:31
was this place, this platform where people could create content on video.
Mike:
00:04:37
And I recognized early on how powerful that was.
Mike:
00:04:41
And it wasn't so much me creating my own content on video as it was me
Mike:
00:04:45
coming on other people's shows, Mia Val.
Mike:
00:04:47
Is a great example.
Mike:
00:04:48
She was doing a regular Friday show.
Mike:
00:04:50
There were others as well who were doing regular shows eventually social
Mike:
00:04:54
media examiners are doing their own regular weekly show talking about
Mike:
00:04:57
content that related to their audience.
Mike:
00:04:59
And I started becoming a guest on these shows.
Mike:
00:05:02
And that was my first kind of foray into becoming more comfortable on
Mike:
00:05:08
camera was as a guest on these shows.
Ian:
00:05:11
Yeah.
Ian:
00:05:12
I remember the Google Plus days.
Ian:
00:05:13
And so I think that was probably my first experience getting in front of the camera.
Ian:
00:05:18
And I was petrified.
Ian:
00:05:19
I remember somebody asking me to come onto a Google Plus show, Google Hangouts on it.
Ian:
00:05:23
And I was.
Ian:
00:05:24
I had high levels of anxiety.
Ian:
00:05:27
So let's go back.
Ian:
00:05:28
And it's so funny, because like we're doing this all the time.
Ian:
00:05:30
And it's not to say, that we don't get nervous.
Ian:
00:05:32
Still today, I still get nervous, I still have, a little bit of
Ian:
00:05:36
that level of anxiety, but nowhere near what it was like back then.
Ian:
00:05:40
Can you've mentioned that time with the attorneys, has there been like another
Ian:
00:05:44
time, getting in front of the camera when you've really struggled with?
Ian:
00:05:48
confidence or, that voice in your head that's telling you, I don't know,
Ian:
00:05:52
negative things like, you're going to make a fool of yourself, has there been
Ian:
00:05:55
any challenges that you can remember and how did you overcome those things?
Ian:
00:06:00
Because you obviously did because you're, you're doing it all the time now.
Mike:
00:06:02
What you mean like last week
Ian:
00:06:04
yeah.
Mike:
00:06:04
I still struggle with this to your point.
Mike:
00:06:07
I have accustomed myself to being on camera, to speaking to people.
Mike:
00:06:11
I have trained myself.
Mike:
00:06:14
I have gone through courses and challenges and that sort of thing.
Mike:
00:06:17
And I've also just gotten to the point where my mind.
Mike:
00:06:20
Can fight those inner demons and fight that imposter syndrome.
Mike:
00:06:26
But literally a week ago, I was interviewing someone from
Mike:
00:06:29
Tik TOK on a live broadcast.
Mike:
00:06:31
So there was a lot of anxiety going into that.
Mike:
00:06:34
There's the normal anxieties of, Oh crap, this is a live broadcast.
Mike:
00:06:38
A lot can go wrong and things do go wrong.
Mike:
00:06:41
I even actually posted about this to social media because
Mike:
00:06:43
I thought it was so apropos.
Mike:
00:06:45
This was a live webinar show that I do for Agorapulse on the Martech show.
Mike:
00:06:49
And we were interviewing one of tick tocks agency team leaders.
Mike:
00:06:53
So this was an important show.
Mike:
00:06:54
We had hundreds of people who'd registered for this webinar and that
Mike:
00:06:58
particular show, we were simulcasting into our private Facebook group.
Mike:
00:07:03
So we were using a stream yard to push that signal into sequel, which is our
Mike:
00:07:08
webinar platform and a Facebook group.
Mike:
00:07:10
Both of those were using RTMP signals.
Mike:
00:07:13
And the moment I went live.
Mike:
00:07:16
Stream yard threw up a warning and error message in my face that
Mike:
00:07:19
said, one of the streams broke.
Mike:
00:07:21
And I was in the midst of delivering my opening dialogue,
Mike:
00:07:25
which I do for all these shows.
Mike:
00:07:26
I set the stage for everyone.
Mike:
00:07:27
Then I bring on the guests and proceed from there.
Mike:
00:07:30
So I had to keep going and speaking this opening dialogue for a good 60,
Mike:
00:07:35
120 seconds before I could interview the guests, ask the first question,
Mike:
00:07:38
bring them on camera and then look to see what the heck had just gone wrong.
Mike:
00:07:42
I share that to say, these are the normal things that happen when we're doing video
Mike:
00:07:46
production, unless you're just bidding yourself in your studio and it's not live
Mike:
00:07:51
and you could just do take it to take, if it's any kind of a live recording,
Mike:
00:07:54
stuff will happen, stuff will go wrong.
Mike:
00:07:56
And.
Mike:
00:07:57
The first lesson that I want to share is just to realize things will go wrong.
Mike:
00:08:03
The more often you do it, the more comfortable you'll be, the more
Mike:
00:08:06
experience you'll have dealing with those kinds of issues.
Mike:
00:08:09
In this case, I knew I'm still recording.
Mike:
00:08:11
So worst case scenario, we didn't go live in the webinar.
Mike:
00:08:14
We didn't go live in the group, but I'm still recording
Mike:
00:08:16
and I can share this video.
Mike:
00:08:17
Afterwards that went through my brain, that thought within moments, because
Mike:
00:08:23
I'd been there, I'd done that before I'd had those kinds of issues before
Mike:
00:08:26
it turns out it was the Facebook group that broke because Facebook groups suck.
Mike:
00:08:29
And so we were still broadcasting to the webinar, which is where
Mike:
00:08:32
the bulk of the audience was.
Mike:
00:08:34
So that was fine.
Mike:
00:08:35
But I think the other big key is to get started, try to put
Mike:
00:08:40
yourself in positions where you can be as successful as possible.
Mike:
00:08:43
Don't agree to talk about, or don't ask to talk about things that
Mike:
00:08:46
you're not very knowledgeable about.
Mike:
00:08:49
The more successful I am, it's because I'm talking about topics I've talked about
Mike:
00:08:54
before, or I've written about before.
Mike:
00:08:55
Writing is a fantastic preparer, by the way.
Mike:
00:08:59
For this kind of presentation, because if you write, you are forcing yourself
Mike:
00:09:02
to think about that topic and put those thoughts into words that are
Mike:
00:09:07
written out, whether you publish it or not, doesn't really matter, but
Mike:
00:09:10
that exercise is a thought exercise Ann Hanley talks about this a lot.
Mike:
00:09:14
That's why she's so anti AI for writing.
Mike:
00:09:17
Not that she has anything about against artificial intelligence, but if you're
Mike:
00:09:20
using the AI to create the content, that means you're not really going
Mike:
00:09:22
through the active part of thinking and putting your own perspectives into it.
Ian:
00:09:26
That's really interesting.
Ian:
00:09:28
You're tempting me down a rabbit hole, Mike, here.
Ian:
00:09:30
Oh my goodness, with that one, because that's an interesting
Ian:
00:09:33
one about the AI thing, because I totally agree with that on that.
Ian:
00:09:36
But I sometimes will use AI to help me think in terms of brainstorming.
Ian:
00:09:41
So I'll have a conversation with AI to try and I've got all
Ian:
00:09:44
this mangle of kind of thoughts.
Ian:
00:09:46
And I have a conversation.
Ian:
00:09:48
So I think that can help.
Ian:
00:09:49
But I think yes, the idea of writing things down is I know it's served you
Ian:
00:09:54
really well, and we think with video that it's completely different to writing.
Ian:
00:10:00
I think you do need to do that planning.
Ian:
00:10:01
That planning stage is so important.
Ian:
00:10:03
And thank you for being honest, because I think most of us still
Ian:
00:10:06
have that level of anxiety.
Ian:
00:10:08
I still have that today, even though it's a lot easier because I'm doing it
Ian:
00:10:11
more often and I'm more experienced.
Ian:
00:10:13
And perhaps We're just mad, Mike, because, I can only speak for myself
Ian:
00:10:18
here, but you'd think we, we would just hire somebody to do all the the
Ian:
00:10:22
producing for us, so we don't need to worry about the RTMP going down.
Ian:
00:10:26
But no, we do it all ourselves, don't we?
Ian:
00:10:28
Because we love the stress.
Ian:
00:10:29
So you do have the option you could like, you could get somebody else to do
Ian:
00:10:34
that, but on the other hand, I think it's important to, to understand all the nuts
Ian:
00:10:38
and bolts to understand how everything is working in the same way that I think
Ian:
00:10:42
it's a good idea to edit your own podcast to begin with before you farm it out
Ian:
00:10:47
to somebody else so that you understand what it is that you're wanting to do.
Ian:
00:10:50
To do.
Ian:
00:10:51
I know I've said a lot of things.
Ian:
00:10:52
Am I any thoughts on what I've just said?
Mike:
00:10:54
No, I couldn't agree more.
Mike:
00:10:55
I would rather not be doing all the live production when I'm also the one
Mike:
00:11:00
hosting and moderating and speaking.
Mike:
00:11:02
In fact, when we had a previous show at Agorapulse, I volunteered to be
Mike:
00:11:06
the remote live producer for that show so that the host could focus on being
Mike:
00:11:09
the host and interviewing the guests.
Mike:
00:11:11
But now that I'm doing most of the video shows at Agorapulse and most
Mike:
00:11:14
of the podcasts, I just do it all.
Mike:
00:11:17
I do find that it's a little bit easier where I know what I have,
Mike:
00:11:20
Control over, not just in the live setting but in the setup.
Mike:
00:11:24
And that gives me a bit of additional confidence, right?
Mike:
00:11:27
I'm not doubting that A, B, and C have been done.
Mike:
00:11:30
I've got a checklist.
Mike:
00:11:30
I know personally they've been done.
Mike:
00:11:32
I'm the one who set them up.
Mike:
00:11:33
I know that I set up the RTMP servers and I know what those are, which is
Mike:
00:11:37
an important part of going live today.
Mike:
00:11:39
You may not always be live streaming directly to a social
Mike:
00:11:41
platform that accepts it.
Mike:
00:11:43
Sometimes.
Mike:
00:11:44
Particularly in business, we have situations where we need to think
Mike:
00:11:47
about a creative solution to a problem because maybe the tools
Mike:
00:11:50
don't do exactly what we do.
Mike:
00:11:52
And this is a great example.
Mike:
00:11:53
The webinar platform that we're using has a studio and I tried it once and it
Mike:
00:11:58
didn't do everything I wanted it to do.
Mike:
00:12:00
I wasn't able to replicate a lot of the things that I wanted to
Mike:
00:12:03
be able to do to make the kind of content that I wanted to create.
Mike:
00:12:06
Bringing in videos on the fly and changing camera angles and doing these kinds
Mike:
00:12:10
of things that I'm used to be doing.
Mike:
00:12:11
Cause like I said, I've been doing video production now for many years, but I knew
Mike:
00:12:15
that I could use a different live studio.
Mike:
00:12:18
Platform in that case, StreamYard and broadcast it in via RTMP.
Mike:
00:12:22
Ecamm could do the exact same thing.
Mike:
00:12:25
So having that knowledge gives you the ability to troubleshoot the ability
Mike:
00:12:30
to create creative workarounds, but also that confidence to know that
Mike:
00:12:34
things are actually going to work the way that you intend them to work.
Mike:
00:12:38
Most of the time.
Ian:
00:12:39
Yeah.
Ian:
00:12:39
Most of the time.
Ian:
00:12:40
And that's the key, isn't it?
Ian:
00:12:41
So what is the difference between Mike back in, say, when was it?
Ian:
00:12:44
2012, 2013, whatever it was that first time getting in front of the camera.
Ian:
00:12:48
This might not be the case.
Ian:
00:12:49
Has there been like a pivotal moment or a decision that's helped you
Ian:
00:12:52
with your confidence or has it just been, you've just kept on going,
Ian:
00:12:56
you plodded along and now modern day Mike is a lot more confident.
Ian:
00:13:01
Yeah, there's still that level of anxiety, particularly when things go wrong.
Ian:
00:13:04
But yeah how would you compare yourself and has there been any kind
Ian:
00:13:08
of pivotal moments that has helped you with your confidence journey?
Mike:
00:13:13
There's three things that I'm thinking about as
Mike:
00:13:15
an answer to this question.
Mike:
00:13:16
One difference, not a pivotal moment, just one difference between now and back
Mike:
00:13:21
then was that I'm able to convey and broadcast confidence far better than I
Mike:
00:13:27
ever was, whether I'm feeling it or not.
Mike:
00:13:29
I convey Confidence and I do that on purpose because most of the time I'm
Mike:
00:13:34
the one doing the interviewing and I want my guests to be calm and most
Mike:
00:13:38
of the time my guests are not calm.
Mike:
00:13:40
Most of the time I'm interviewing people who have never been interviewed before.
Mike:
00:13:44
That's their first time coming onto a live show or a podcast and
Mike:
00:13:47
they're understandably anxious.
Mike:
00:13:49
I have been in their shoes.
Mike:
00:13:50
So I have trained myself To be calm, to speak with a low, slow
Mike:
00:13:54
voice and to convey confidence and not freak out even if something is
Mike:
00:13:59
going wrong because I know better.
Mike:
00:14:01
And it was funny because I do that so well.
Mike:
00:14:04
I have a cohost on the Martech show.
Mike:
00:14:06
Robin diamond, who's fantastic.
Mike:
00:14:08
She had no idea until recently that.
Mike:
00:14:10
I feel stress and anxiety going into these live broadcasts still to this day.
Mike:
00:14:15
She's you don't look at, you don't sound it.
Mike:
00:14:16
I'm like thank you.
Mike:
00:14:17
I don't want to sound freaking out when I'm bringing on a new guest to this show,
Mike:
00:14:21
because how's that going to make them feel they're going to be freaking out.
Mike:
00:14:25
So that's one big difference.
Mike:
00:14:26
I think over time,
Ian:
00:14:27
Yeah.
Ian:
00:14:28
Yeah it's so just to interrupt that it's almost treading water, like
Ian:
00:14:32
you're in swimming, you might seem like you're not doing any, there's
Ian:
00:14:35
no stress there, but underneath you can go, ah, it's a bit like that.
Ian:
00:14:38
Maybe I don't know.
Mike:
00:14:38
Like that.
Mike:
00:14:39
There's definitely that, duck treading water, whatever that analogy is.
Mike:
00:14:43
Cause there's a lot going on, whether you're just doing an interview
Mike:
00:14:45
or just doing a recording, or you're doing a live broadcast, the
Mike:
00:14:48
complexity goes up and up each time.
Mike:
00:14:50
The stress level goes up accordingly.
Mike:
00:14:52
So I still feel stress and anxiety when I'm going into those scenarios.
Mike:
00:14:55
Another thing that's changed over time is as I've gotten more
Mike:
00:14:59
experience speaking to people, whether it's on camera or in person.
Mike:
00:15:04
It's given me an awareness that this is something that I can do well.
Mike:
00:15:09
And it's not necessarily something that I trained for.
Mike:
00:15:13
I have to be transparent here.
Mike:
00:15:14
I have some innate skill in being able to speak to people clearly.
Mike:
00:15:19
I'm able to enunciate.
Mike:
00:15:21
I'm not feeling every sentence with ums and ahs and other kinds
Mike:
00:15:23
of filler words, as I'm thinking, I have some skill at being able to
Mike:
00:15:27
communicate in a relatively clear way.
Mike:
00:15:30
And.
Mike:
00:15:30
The recognition of that fact has given me confidence to be able to Come on camera
Mike:
00:15:36
or go on stage and know that I will be able to do that kind of thing again.
Mike:
00:15:40
And that was the final key point for me was I don't remember what year,
Mike:
00:15:44
but I was in Lima, Ohio at Jessica Phillips event, social media week Lima.
Mike:
00:15:50
And I went on stage for that event, big stage, hundreds of people in the
Mike:
00:15:55
audience and delivered what I was told was a fantastic presentation.
Mike:
00:16:01
Months later, I went through a training exercise that where you think about what
Mike:
00:16:08
makes you nervous in this case We're talking about coming on camera or speaking
Mike:
00:16:11
or both and you think about a time in the past when you've done it really well.
Mike:
00:16:15
So my case it was social media week Lima.
Mike:
00:16:18
I delivered a flawless presentation Received a fantastic ovation.
Mike:
00:16:23
It was not just audience of marketing professionals, there were peers and
Mike:
00:16:27
colleagues in the audience, other speakers, in the back watching and
Mike:
00:16:30
cheering me on and, congratulating me afterwards, that sort of thing.
Mike:
00:16:33
So you think about that thing that you've done in the past, that
Mike:
00:16:35
instance where you did it really well.
Mike:
00:16:38
And you go through this concept and this exercise called anchoring, where you
Mike:
00:16:43
program yourself when you get nervous doing a similar thing in the future to be
Mike:
00:16:48
able to think back to that time and to be able to channel that success and turn that
Mike:
00:16:53
into confidence for the next time you're going to, in this case, come on camera.
Ian:
00:16:58
That's fantastic advice.
Ian:
00:16:59
Because so often that, that part of the brain can Just feed us lies.
Ian:
00:17:04
So if you're saying to the, saying to that part of the brain, actually look,
Ian:
00:17:07
I did a really good job back then.
Ian:
00:17:09
It's you're channeling that confidence that you had back then.
Ian:
00:17:12
I've I had some advice a while back about personifying or coming up
Ian:
00:17:16
with a personality of your anxiety.
Ian:
00:17:18
So for me, my anxiety is a librarian called Lawrence and he
Ian:
00:17:23
wants the best for me, but he.
Ian:
00:17:25
He wants to protect me and for example, I was speaking at an event this week and
Ian:
00:17:30
I was having all this anxiety thinking it was going to go really badly and all
Ian:
00:17:33
this kind of stuff, imposter syndrome, and I realized that all I needed to
Ian:
00:17:37
do is say to Lawrence, it's all right, we've done this before I've spoke at
Ian:
00:17:41
events and they've gone really well.
Ian:
00:17:42
And it's the same in front of the camera to we've done this before.
Ian:
00:17:46
And what's the worst that's going to happen?
Ian:
00:17:48
So it's I think, I think that's really important, thinking about what you just
Ian:
00:17:51
said, thinking about a time in the past when things have gone well, and you've
Ian:
00:17:55
been told, so you've been told by people that was an amazing speech that you gave.
Ian:
00:18:01
Yeah, I think that's a really important thing.
Ian:
00:18:03
Now, you mentioned before, Mike, that you would call yourself an introvert.
Ian:
00:18:09
I want you to talk about personality, because we've all got different
Ian:
00:18:12
personalities And perhaps introvert, extrovert, bold and shy, those are
Ian:
00:18:16
very we're putting people in boxes and I think it's a sliding scale.
Ian:
00:18:19
But how does your personality affect the way you turn up on camera?
Ian:
00:18:26
And what have you learned about yourself through this process of
Ian:
00:18:30
getting in front of the camera?
Mike:
00:18:31
Oh, this is a great question.
Mike:
00:18:33
Because.
Mike:
00:18:34
One of the key truths about presenting, whether you're in person or on camera,
Mike:
00:18:40
is that you have to exaggerate everything you have to exaggerate your voice, your
Mike:
00:18:45
body language, your energy, you have to deliver more energy because this
Mike:
00:18:49
is going to sound a little woo woo, but the energy that you're projecting
Mike:
00:18:52
needs to go into the audience so that they feel it and they intake it.
Mike:
00:18:56
And that's going to get them to pay more attention to you.
Mike:
00:18:59
And the words that you're saying, if you come on camera
Mike:
00:19:02
and you're just Soft spoken.
Mike:
00:19:04
You're not even necessarily making eye contact and you're just
Mike:
00:19:07
delivering some interesting words.
Mike:
00:19:09
I might put you to sleep.
Mike:
00:19:10
This could be a great AMSR video, but it's not going to impact the audience
Mike:
00:19:16
the way that I might want or the way that you might want if that's your intention.
Mike:
00:19:20
So that means you have to realize, understand that you have to show
Mike:
00:19:24
up with more energy than you Normally would in real life.
Mike:
00:19:27
And that's been a real shift in my personality.
Mike:
00:19:30
If you and I are hanging out at the Hyatt bar, this is not how I talk.
Mike:
00:19:33
I am a little bit more reserved, right?
Mike:
00:19:36
I'm not quite so outspoken and energetic, and I'm not quite so energetic with my
Mike:
00:19:40
hand motions and that sort of thing.
Mike:
00:19:42
It's something I've trained myself to do.
Mike:
00:19:44
It's something that I'm very aware of when I, and this is really interesting.
Mike:
00:19:48
I don't know that people notice this but if you're trained in public speaking and
Mike:
00:19:51
in these kinds of things, you would be aware when I am interviewing somebody
Mike:
00:19:54
for a podcast, it's very important to me that I start the podcast out with my
Mike:
00:19:58
introduction and that I introduced them.
Mike:
00:20:00
I do not ask them to introduce themselves.
Mike:
00:20:03
I might ask them to say a little bit more about themselves to get
Mike:
00:20:05
them more comfortable, but I don't.
Mike:
00:20:07
Let them introduce themselves.
Mike:
00:20:08
I do that.
Mike:
00:20:09
And I'm probably just reading the bio that they gave me.
Mike:
00:20:12
I will have read it first and I may have edited it because I'm going to
Mike:
00:20:14
read it with as much power and energy and inflection as I possibly can.
Mike:
00:20:19
Folks, this is Ian Anderson Gray coming to you from the United Kingdom.
Mike:
00:20:22
He just got off the stage at TubeFest and he is going to be telling us
Mike:
00:20:26
all about how to be confident.
Mike:
00:20:27
And empowering in the words that we use and the presence that we have on
Mike:
00:20:31
camera and on stage, I am creating a very powerful moment for you.
Mike:
00:20:35
I'm creating a lot of energy and I want to hand that off to you as the
Mike:
00:20:39
next speaker, the people are going to hear, and you're going to come over
Mike:
00:20:43
the way that you're going to come over.
Mike:
00:20:44
And it might not be with a lot of power and energy, particularly if you're not
Mike:
00:20:48
comfortable and you're not accustomed to being on camera or on stage, but.
Mike:
00:20:52
I'm going to set you up for as much success as I possibly can.
Mike:
00:20:55
I'm going to bring that energy.
Mike:
00:20:56
I'm going to try to pull that energy out of you as the guest.
Ian:
00:20:59
Yeah, I think that's so important stuff.
Ian:
00:21:02
I call this heightened authenticity, because the thing is and obviously
Ian:
00:21:06
we've hung out quite a few times over the years I can guarantee people
Ian:
00:21:10
who are watching and listening.
Ian:
00:21:11
This is not an inauthentic Mike that we're seeing currently, it might
Ian:
00:21:15
be more energetic than if you meet him in the Hyatt bar in San Diego,
Ian:
00:21:20
but it's still you, Mike, isn't it?
Ian:
00:21:21
And I think that's really important that the authenticity is still there, because
Ian:
00:21:26
I've seen some people who, Put so much energy into it that they become less of
Ian:
00:21:31
themselves and that's not good because particularly you know, one of the powers
Ian:
00:21:35
of video and live video in particular is that You are giving yourself.
Ian:
00:21:39
It's a raw and authentic expression of you and then if people if your clients
Ian:
00:21:44
potential clients meet you in person after later on and they think Meet
Ian:
00:21:48
you and you're completely different.
Ian:
00:21:50
That's not a good sign, is it?
Mike:
00:21:51
Yeah, personally, particularly in a social environment, I am
Mike:
00:21:55
a quiet, soft spoken listener.
Mike:
00:21:58
I don't necessarily ask a lot of questions.
Mike:
00:22:00
I don't necessarily talk a lot about myself.
Mike:
00:22:01
I'm not going to carry the conversation very well.
Mike:
00:22:04
That's not really my style.
Mike:
00:22:05
But, I do feel like I have a sense of humor, so I like to smile and joke around
Mike:
00:22:09
and inject some sarcasm here and there.
Mike:
00:22:12
So this is definitely me.
Mike:
00:22:14
This is how I am, but definitely if you meet me in person, it's a
Mike:
00:22:17
much quieter version of myself.
Mike:
00:22:20
And that's where the introverted part, particularly if it is in a busy
Mike:
00:22:23
social setting with a lot of people, although Similarly, I have also trained
Mike:
00:22:28
myself in some of those situations to become more extroverted, often refer
Mike:
00:22:32
to myself as an ambivert where I know when I'm on camera or I'm in a social
Mike:
00:22:36
situation, a networking situation, which is really what I'm thinking of in
Mike:
00:22:39
this particular example, I know I need to step up, I know I need to be more
Mike:
00:22:43
energetic, I need to be more active and engaged to the people around me.
Mike:
00:22:47
I can't necessarily sit in the corner with a drink and focus on one person.
Mike:
00:22:50
That's not why I'm there.
Mike:
00:22:52
Afterwards, I can go to my hotel room and I can relax and just chill
Mike:
00:22:55
out in, in, in quiet, dark solitude.
Ian:
00:22:58
and that's the thing.
Ian:
00:22:59
So I think we're probably fairly similar with this.
Ian:
00:23:01
I would definitely class myself as an introvert.
Ian:
00:23:03
It's not that I, I can put a lot of energy into these and into
Ian:
00:23:06
talks and into conversations, but I find that there are consequences.
Ian:
00:23:11
So again, I was at this event TubeFest in Birmingham and I became an extrovert
Ian:
00:23:15
for a day with, but then there's payback time, like this weekend I've had to
Ian:
00:23:20
have a few afternoon naps and rest and recoup that energy that I put out.
Ian:
00:23:25
And again, I find that With video and live video in particular.
Ian:
00:23:28
I've actually this year I'm doing fewer live videos than I have in the past
Ian:
00:23:31
because It's just a busy time in our lives and I'm wanting to create a lot of
Ian:
00:23:35
other content and I just know Personally that I don't have those energy reserves
Ian:
00:23:40
to be able to do that So I think it's really important and it's great that
Ian:
00:23:44
you've been able to realize that about yourself and you've developed those
Ian:
00:23:47
tips those kind of You There's ways to present yourself in front of the camera
Ian:
00:23:53
where you're still being yourself, but you're putting more energy into it.
Ian:
00:23:57
So as we finish, Mike, what advice have you got for somebody watching or listening
Ian:
00:24:02
who they feel they've got so much to say?
Ian:
00:24:06
Or maybe they don't even think they've got enough to say because there's this
Ian:
00:24:09
barrier of getting in front of the camera.
Ian:
00:24:12
They're worried about them maybe being shy or introverted
Ian:
00:24:16
or making a fool of themselves.
Ian:
00:24:18
What would you say to them to just make that first step or the second
Ian:
00:24:22
or third step because they've done it already and it didn't go very well.
Ian:
00:24:26
What would you say to them?
Mike:
00:24:27
The first point I want to make is just to underscore
Mike:
00:24:29
something you just mentioned.
Mike:
00:24:31
The reason I said that we're bringing more energy was very.
Mike:
00:24:35
Specific.
Mike:
00:24:36
I didn't say be excited.
Mike:
00:24:38
I didn't say be emotional.
Mike:
00:24:39
I used the word energy and then you really touched on it.
Mike:
00:24:41
Cause you talked about energy reserves and that's why we talk about
Mike:
00:24:44
energy because it is a finite thing.
Mike:
00:24:48
We only have so much energy.
Mike:
00:24:49
Just think about your car.
Mike:
00:24:50
You only have so much gas that you can get to a certain point
Mike:
00:24:53
before you need to refill.
Mike:
00:24:55
And that's something that as a presenter on camera or on stage, that's
Mike:
00:24:59
something you need to be mindful of.
Mike:
00:25:00
You only have so much energy that you can expend.
Mike:
00:25:03
And that's something You need to expand a lot if you're going to show up and
Mike:
00:25:06
deliver, but then you also need to allow for time afterwards to replenish that
Mike:
00:25:11
energy, whatever that looks like for you.
Mike:
00:25:13
And that's something you'll have to learn for yourselves as to
Mike:
00:25:15
what that really means for you.
Mike:
00:25:17
How much energy am I going to expend on a live video or recording
Mike:
00:25:21
or something along those lines?
Mike:
00:25:22
And what does replenishing that even look like for me?
Mike:
00:25:24
Maybe that's watching some TV or reading a book or listening to
Mike:
00:25:26
this music or going for a walk.
Mike:
00:25:28
I don't know.
Mike:
00:25:29
You'll have to figure that out.
Mike:
00:25:30
Okay.
Mike:
00:25:30
While you're doing that, you also need to be thinking about what it is that you want
Mike:
00:25:36
to say, and I'm not going to be one to sit here and say, Oh, just push the button and
Mike:
00:25:41
start talking because for an introvert.
Mike:
00:25:42
No, that is.
Mike:
00:25:43
That is not a good answer.
Mike:
00:25:45
That never worked for me.
Mike:
00:25:46
At least hearing that from other people.
Mike:
00:25:48
No, thank you, sir.
Mike:
00:25:49
I am not going to just hit the button and start.
Mike:
00:25:51
Talking I need to know in advance what it is that I want to convey now.
Mike:
00:25:56
Maybe that's entirely scripted Maybe it's an outline.
Mike:
00:26:00
Maybe it's just a topic.
Mike:
00:26:02
It depends on the use case I think I would probably recommend that people just
Mike:
00:26:06
start small start with a short 60 second video that you can post to Instagram
Mike:
00:26:12
reels or Facebook reels or YouTube shorts or tick tock start with a reel For 60
Mike:
00:26:17
seconds or less where you're talking about a topic that is important to you
Mike:
00:26:21
that you know a lot about if you want to script it out in advance, script it
Mike:
00:26:24
out in advance, no one's commenting on other people's videos saying, I think
Mike:
00:26:29
you had this written out in advance.
Mike:
00:26:30
Nobody cares.
Mike:
00:26:31
That's a story we're telling ourselves.
Mike:
00:26:33
So think about something that you want to talk about.
Mike:
00:26:36
That's either related to you personally or your business.
Mike:
00:26:39
It's a lot of it's up to you.
Mike:
00:26:40
Depends on the channel.
Mike:
00:26:41
Maybe if you've got an Instagram account, that's for your business.
Mike:
00:26:43
Then think about a topic that's tangential to your business that
Mike:
00:26:46
you want to share an opinion on and create just a 30 to 60 second video
Mike:
00:26:51
about that topic and then publish it.
Mike:
00:26:54
And then move on to the next one and the next one and the next
Mike:
00:26:57
one, because that's how you'll start to develop this confidence.
Mike:
00:27:00
I know.
Mike:
00:27:00
And I'm sure this is something you've talked about many times that repetition
Mike:
00:27:03
is what we need to develop these muscles to develop that confidence.
Mike:
00:27:07
So start small.
Ian:
00:27:08
That was amazing advice, Mike.
Ian:
00:27:09
Wow.
Ian:
00:27:10
Thank you so much.
Ian:
00:27:11
That is, that's what we need to do.
Ian:
00:27:13
And just keep going.
Ian:
00:27:14
And I hope that you feel encouraged to get started or just to carry on
Ian:
00:27:19
with your video creation because it is tough, but we've all been there.
Ian:
00:27:25
Haven't we, Mike?
Ian:
00:27:25
As we finish how can people find out a little bit more about you and.
Ian:
00:27:29
Tell us a little bit about what you're working on at the moment.
Ian:
00:27:31
So obviously you've got these podcasts you're working on as well.
Ian:
00:27:34
What else are you doing?
Mike:
00:27:36
Yeah.
Mike:
00:27:36
What I'm going to tell you folks is to go to the social media hat.
Mike:
00:27:38
com.
Mike:
00:27:39
And start going through my site and looking for some content that might be
Mike:
00:27:43
helpful to you, whether it's setting up your studio, whether it's being aware of
Mike:
00:27:48
what it is that you want to talk about, there's resources and guides there.
Mike:
00:27:51
I talk about NLP, neurolinguistic processing and exercises that
Mike:
00:27:55
you can do to help train your mind, train your thoughts, train
Mike:
00:27:57
the things that you want to say.
Mike:
00:27:58
Personally, I'm working on a lot of podcasts for Agorapulse and I just
Mike:
00:28:01
launched AI and marketing unpacked a personal podcast, a personal journey to
Mike:
00:28:05
discover how AI is impacting all of us.
Mike:
00:28:08
As marketers.
Ian:
00:28:09
That sounds awesome.
Ian:
00:28:09
And is that a solo podcast or you bringing guests on?
Ian:
00:28:13
How's that working for you at the moment?
Mike:
00:28:14
I'm doing that both.
Mike:
00:28:16
So I decided very intentionally to launch with four initial episodes that
Mike:
00:28:20
are a bit of a primer for marketers.
Mike:
00:28:23
So the first episode just okay, what is a I today?
Mike:
00:28:25
What does that mean?
Mike:
00:28:26
Really?
Mike:
00:28:26
How is a I impacting social media?
Mike:
00:28:28
What are some tools and technologies that are kind of part of this a I?
Mike:
00:28:33
Revolution that we're going through.
Mike:
00:28:34
And then the fourth episode was, Oh, how do I build my first campaign using AI?
Mike:
00:28:38
So I went through all that and now we're going into a period of guests
Mike:
00:28:42
and every once in a while, I'll come back on when it's just me.
Ian:
00:28:45
That's great.
Ian:
00:28:45
Great stuff.
Ian:
00:28:46
I think that's having a mixture of guests and solo episodes
Ian:
00:28:49
is how I like to do it too.
Ian:
00:28:50
So thank you, Mike.
Ian:
00:28:51
It's been great to have you back on the show.
Ian:
00:28:53
We are out of time.
Ian:
00:28:55
I don't know how that, how we managed to, that to happen because
Ian:
00:28:58
it just feels like it just It was five minutes, but it hasn't been.
Ian:
00:29:01
Thank you so much for plugging us into our into our ears?
Ian:
00:29:04
Into your ears?
Ian:
00:29:05
That's how it works, isn't it?
Ian:
00:29:06
And or watching us on YouTube.
Ian:
00:29:08
Thank you so much.
Ian:
00:29:08
And we'll be back next time with another confidence and communication story.
Ian:
00:29:12
And until next time, I encourage you to level up your impact,
Ian:
00:29:15
authority, and profits to the power of Confident Live video.
Ian:
00:29:18
See you soon.
Ian:
00:29:19
Bye!
Ian:
00:29:20
Thanks for listening to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast with Ian Anderson Gray.
Ian:
00:29:25
Make sure you subscribe at iag.me/podcast so you can continue to level up
Ian:
00:29:31
your impact, authority and profits through the power of live video.
Ian:
00:29:35
And until next time, Toodle