There is an art to creating live content which many can overlook at times. Not everything goes to plan when you have to be a one-take wonder. Even the best talkers in the business can make these mistakes when they go live.
1. Poor Sound Quality
Just because we have the technology to make everything look beautiful doesn’t mean we’ve mastered sounding beautiful. If you’re going live make sure to test your surroundings for your audio. You may find a constant humming, an echo or a buzzing noise that throws away your live message because no one can hear you. You don’t need the perfect environment or a pitch-perfect studio.
Before going live in a new environment, take a quick video recording and make note of any background noise. If the noise is too distracting or loud then maybe you need to move along to a quieter spot or invest in microphones that can cancel out those sounds as much as possible.
2. Being out of frame
A simple one, but if you don’t have another person helping you with your content there can be several hurdles along the way. One is not framing yourself correctly. This means not having your whole face and shoulders in the shot. If you’re shooting Vlog style, you will probably have a front-facing camera to help with this, but if you’re going for a more professional look in front of a DSLR you’ll need to complete a dry run beforehand. Even the best technologically inclined people sometimes breeze through the simplest of elements and find out, later on, they only filmed a portion of themselves. So, double-check how you appear on the camera before going live. It’s the one mistake your audience can’t forgive, even when you go live.
3. Getting the timing wrong
There is always a brief moment, when you go live, where you’ll be left blankly staring into the abyss. Alternatively, you’ll be halfway through your sentence before your camera has a chance to catch up with you. Depending on your equipment and connection going live can differ, so make sure you’re actually live before beginning your live session.
Another issue when it comes to timing is the amount of content you’re planning to broadcast. I’ve seen the best trainers and coaches plan for an hour session with only 20 minutes worth of content and 40 minutes of questions and answers. Thankfully the questions flood in, but when they don’t it can be an awkward half-hour of time filling. A waste of time for everyone involved. So make sure you understand your content and how long it will take to deliver. Leave yourself a buffer room, but not enough for any awkward pauses.
4. Apologising too much for mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. So when you flub a line or don’t articulate a point to the best of your ability on that day, don’t continuously apologise. What that does is present you as uncomfortable or unconfident with what you’re saying. If you’re trying to win business and you seem unsure about your content, it can do more harm than good. So keep your chin up when something doesn’t go your way. Address a mistake once and move on.
If you’re looking to capture the magic of live content you have to accept all the failures that could come with it. You need to be a confident talker with the ability to improvise when something doesn’t go your way. This skill is gained through experience, so it’s better to start, then learn and grow. Everyone makes mistakes when they go live. It’s what you do afterwards that really makes the difference.
