CEO Group Call - Video Recording Tips
Discover essential video recording tips for CEOs to elevate personal branding. Learn content strategies, scripting, hooks, and editing techniques to create engaging videos. Maximize impact with expert advice and free resources for polished results.
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Video Recording Tips for CEOs
In today’s digital-first world, video content is a powerful tool for personal branding and leadership communication. During the latest CEO Group Call, experts shared invaluable insights into mastering video creation. This blog highlights the key takeaways to help you enhance your video recording skills and boost your personal brand.
1. Introduction to Video Recording and Personal Branding
The session began by emphasizing how videos can amplify your personal brand. As a CEO, creating authentic, professional video content is essential to connect with audiences and build credibility.
2. Pillar Content Strategy
A solid content strategy ensures your videos align with your broader goals. The pillar content approach involves creating a core video that can be repurposed into smaller, targeted pieces for social media and other platforms.
3. The Importance of Scripting Videos
A well-written script acts as your roadmap, ensuring your message is clear and concise. Scripts prevent rambling, maintain focus, and make editing easier.
4. Crafting Effective Hooks and Stories
Hooks are the first impression of your video—make them count. A compelling hook, paired with relatable storytelling, captivates your audience and keeps them engaged.
5. Video Setup Essentials
From lighting and camera angles to background and sound, a professional setup enhances the overall quality of your videos. Small investments in equipment can make a big difference.
6. Recording Techniques and Best Practices
Consistency and preparation are key. Practice speaking naturally to the camera and maintaining good posture. Take multiple takes if needed to ensure your delivery is impactful.
7. Editing Tips and Maintaining Flow
Editing is where your video comes to life. Focus on keeping a smooth flow, removing unnecessary pauses, and enhancing visuals with overlays and captions to improve viewer engagement.
8. Free Resources and Tools for Editing
Explore free video editing tools that offer great functionality for beginners. These resources can help you create professional-looking videos without breaking the bank.
9. Scripting and Brainstorming Techniques
Dive deeper into scripting by organizing your ideas effectively. Brainstorm with your team to create content that resonates with your audience.
10. Coaching and Recording Sessions
Role-playing and coaching sessions can refine your delivery. These practices help you appear confident and relatable on camera.
11. Planning Ahead
Plan content themes in advance to ensure a consistent message. The session also discussed preparations for the upcoming January meeting, showcasing the importance of forward-thinking.
Video recording is an art that requires preparation, practice, and the right tools. By following the tips shared during the CEO Group Call, you can create impactful videos that resonate with your audience and elevate your personal brand. Start applying these strategies today to build a powerful digital presence.
Ready to take your video recording to the next level? Start implementing these tips and watch your personal brand soar. For more insights, subscribe to our updates and join our next CEO Group Call!
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction to Video Recording and Personal Branding
01:21 Understanding the Pillar Content Strategy
02:23 The Importance of Scripting Videos
03:18 Crafting Effective Hooks and Stories
12:46 Video Setup Essentials
26:46 Recording Techniques and Best Practices
34:05 Editing Tips and Techniques
34:55 The Importance of Keeping the Flow
35:47 Challenges and Solutions in Video Editing
36:52 Enhancing Videos with Overlays and Captions
38:54 Using Free Resources for Video Editing
40:16 Deep Dive into Scripting
41:22 Brainstorming and Structuring Video Ideas
43:19 Coaching and Recording Sessions
45:08 Planning the January Meeting
48:22 Finalizing Meeting Details
54:39 Conclusion and Next Steps
Transcript:
[00:00:00] So video recording, a key part of the personal branding and inside of today's session. We will look into a little bit the background just to get everyone back to what this is about Then we look into video scripting video setup and video recording in all depths Now i'll show you a couple of examples of that just to get everyone back on understanding where video recording is If we look at the total system, I will not go into the total system, but a key part is the content production, because when we are recording video, video is audio, video, obviously, which is pictures and gives us the text with all the technology.
So that's the, the most. Easy and most efficient way in getting content because we can produce everything out of a video and then it goes into the system. [00:01:00] And then if we go back to the flow that we are creating, it's from video to blog posts, which is inside of our personal hub, then social media, and then leads generated or speaking engagements.
Can you just go back through the first bit of that again, Jens about the video to text or whatever you said, I didn't quite understand what you meant there. Yes. So it's called pillar content strategy. So you start with producing one piece of content and out of one piece of content, if it is a video, you can create the transcript, which is the text version of that video.
You can create, let's say the screenshot screenshots of the video, which is the pictures and you can create audio, but it's different formats out of one. If you start with writing. You can't, I mean now with technology it gets easier, but you have just text, you can't create videos. So if you have the video, you can create content based on all of that.
So what we're [00:02:00] doing, if we're looking into this, We are creating a video and from that video we have a blog post, we have picture posts and we have then obviously the audio version which goes into a podcast. So it just allows us to use all the variety of content rather than just text.
Scripting videos, that's, it's, it's the starting point. I mean the starting point starts really what you are about, what your brand is about and who do you want to reach. But from there on we look into scripting videos. Number one priority of videos that in the purpose of personal branding that goes towards business is value creation.
We're looking into creating values for our audience. And there are two things that work exceptionally well. One part is educating people. And the other part, which is part of education, is simplifying. And the [00:03:00] simplification part, which often is, How do you explain certain things in frameworks so that people can understand it and can repeat it?
So this is the starting point of scripting. Then we go into scripting. Um, let me just move this up. So we have the hook, the story, and the author that we go into. If we look at videos, so we have short form videos and long form videos. Long form videos is everything, let's say, above two minutes, I would say is long form video.
And everything below, mainly below even 60 seconds, because that's, uh, the, the old way of looking at the different social media platforms, the short form and reels and so on is always 60 seconds, but they're changing now a bit, but let's keep it simple and say short from a 60 seconds, when we look at this, the hook in short form needs to be between maximum five seconds, like three to five seconds, [00:04:00] which is very fast.
In a long form video, you can build the hook a little longer between 10 and 15 seconds, but that's maximum. Then you need to deliver content, which is the story part. And then the story, depending on how this is structured, if we look at short form, it's 45 seconds. And if we look at long form, it's one to two minutes maximum.
Like the utmost maximum is five minutes, but it's most probably not working. So that's why I'm writing one to two minutes. And in, and then in the offer part, which is the call to action in the end, it's three to five seconds on short form and five to 10 seconds. Again, on long book, the difference between those is obviously the length of this, but key part of a long form video, the long form, you could imagine.
As an attached small short form videos after each other, because what you need to do is we always loop that back. So if you talk for two minutes, you need to bring it back to [00:05:00] a certain hook so that you hook the people again into the content. For example, you're explaining a framework and you have five phases of the framework.
Every one of these phases should not be longer than five, uh, than two minutes. And then you loop back to the hook, which is let's go into the second part of the framework, which gets you to this, this, this. So that's, that's just the theory about this. And now we go into more details. So when we look into the hook, the easiest way to get started, um, I'm simplifying this.
Now the hook is the way that you drag people in the most efficient version for people that are starting out is with an eye statement because then you're not Showing that you're better than everyone in social media, you're showing that you have the experience of what you're talking about. So this is how I got to my first million.
It's, it's a hook. So [00:06:00] this is sharing that I got to one million and that not you, this is how you get to one million. That's like shows that you are better than the other person, which we, which we don't like, or which at least most social media, Do not recommend. So this is how I got to my first million.
Your one statement is that you have done it, which shows credibility. The other thing is that it is your way and it can be different than other people's ways. Because if you say this is how you get to 1 million, everyone starts arguing that it's not possible. And so on. And if you say it's me that did this, then you're taking all of this out.
And that's quite helpful in social media because there are a lot of trolls out there. I have this, um, happening in the past quite a bit. In the moment it's okay. The next section is the story part, which is the key part of the whole video. And I give you now these three examples. So, structuring it in a way that it is [00:07:00] Simple and the best case is always three topics because people can remember three topics.
You don't need to count this three three topics So the first thing I learned is that I have to give value You can as well just say I have learned to give value and that's the first thing The number one priority that I have figured out for myself. So you can phrase that in different ways. It's more that you organize your thoughts in a way that you deliver the experience and the content of what the video is about in an understandable way.
I just give you this three examples. I learned to give value and then I learned to the prospecting and I learned to the closing the sales. I can easily frame this around 45 seconds and go a little bit into more details on every of these three topics, so that you have an understanding of what I'm talking about.
Because if you're too short, like if I just would, would talk about this, then the video is just 15 seconds long. So you, what you could do is like [00:08:00] on every one of these points, you go into 15 seconds of explaining your perspective on how you learn to give value, how you learn to do prospecting, how you learn to do closing sales in this examples.
And then closing out is always a call to action or an offer. An offer can be a sales pitch or it can be just, I mean, it is a call to action as well, but it's more, let's change the way how value is created. It is like. What do you want the other person to do? What do you want the other person to think of?
And that can be, let me know in the comments what you think about this, this, this. Or it can be just, think about this, what this would mean for your life. It's just short statements that get the other person active and thinking about it. Because, Then the other person uses the trigger to go back into their way and thinking [00:09:00] about it so that they're engaging with you and with your content.
There are, of course, different other methods. I'm just using this because that's the easiest to understand and the easiest to do, especially when we are getting started with videos. So for those of you who are still doing the 30 day video challenge, try this with your videos from now on, where you always go into hook, story and offer.
What are you talking about? Give, give the content and then get everyone about thinking about it afterwards.
Questions to the hook story offer before we move on.
So on the, yeah, so you, um, you've always trying to do it. I have done this. So I, uh, I think you do this. So I, I, um, it's got to be. It's, it's not you should do this. So I think that you've really got, you've really got to work hard and get into a, [00:10:00] um, a mindset of how do I put that together? Right. It's, um, cause that's sometimes, cause are you, are you always talking from your experience?
Are you talking about, um, or are you talking about ideas, which is, um, you can do both. It's, it's more explaining it from your perspective, even if you don't use, I, this, what, what I think about this topic is A, B, C, D. So you don't, it can be an idea. It's more about that. You talk about your perspective, not about what they should be doing.
That's the key difference. You can explain stories from, from your experience in the, in the same way, without saying to someone else, Hey, this is what you have to do. That's, that's just what it is about. Frank, you have a question. Oh yes. A small comment, because sometimes the people think that you are speaking about relative, uh, absolute, absolute things, but [00:11:00] sometimes all this stuff is relative.
It's about your experience and you're trying, you're trying to build something. Like an ambient to to connect to the people with so common points, but some people is thinking that you are the absolute. Expert about something and then they start to criticize you because you don't need that, blah, blah, blah.
But they don't show the credentials, you know, that is always the stuff. That's why I'm saying as more you use it from your perspective as easier it is to to limit all of this. And it's, of course, if you look at, let's say if we talk about the different platforms, it's It's almost not happening on LinkedIn or it's very low.
If you go on TikTok and all the other platforms, obviously there are more trolls that are just giving stupid comments and it's, it's, it's just a good way. And the other reason for this is not just to avoiding the trolls and commenting negative things. It's also showing yourself as the [00:12:00] expert. As more you show it from your perspective, as more people see you as the expert.
So I hear sometimes that the, if the trolls are loving you, you are doing a great, because they don't like you, but they follow you and they hear all about what you say, but they are always the time, uh, keeping the mouth closed, you know, that is a good stuff. If you have a lot of trolls, you are doing it great.
It's better to be talked about than not to be talked about. That's true. That's true. The question is always if that drives business, but That's no. Yeah. Okay. Do you know that the trolls, they need to get money as well. That's true. Let's go to video set up. So video set up. Um, sorry, I just need to move this up here.
So we are talking inside of the video set up of quality equipment, framing, [00:13:00] lighting. And I think I forgot what one, one other year audio, I think is also part of this. So quality. When you're recording videos, try to record the highest quality with the equipment you have. Always go for the highest possible.
Example, when you're recording with your phone, you can set up your phone in the way that it is using the highest standard from that phone. Let's say if you have a phone and you can switch it to 8k, 4k, whatever it is, use the highest. You can always reduce it in the editing process, but you can't increase it properly.
I mean, there are now AI tools out there which help you to get up, but it's always easier to go lower from the original recording. So example, I'm using when I'm recording my daily videos stuff, I'm using like a specific camera for this, and this is eight K [00:14:00] I'm recording my. Footage in 8k. Most devices don't work with 8k and even the editing doesn't work properly with 8k So I need to reduce it then but I have the original Video in 8k, so that means I can use it in five years six years ten years from now Whatever you have available use the highest possible quality when it comes to videos Equipment.
There are many, many different ways how you can record video. The most simple one is the phone. I guess every one of you has a phone. A normal phone that is, let's say, 3 years old and can do 4K quality videos is good enough for the first 2 to 5 years of video recording. For everyone. I know YouTubers that are doing amazing videos just with the phone.
So you don't need to pay a lot of [00:15:00] money to buy fancy equipment. Then you can use action cameras like I have now, this is a specific action camera, not a GoPro because that's a, it's an 8k version and it's built for different things. I just use it because I can take it to different events. and using it for other stuff as well.
Then the thing you're seeing right now is through a DSLR. That's a really expensive camera, complicated to, to, to maneuver and manage, but that's the highest quality you can get from all cameras out there. And then you can have as well, just the simple clip on external webcam that you do on your laptop.
All of this is affordable. Let's say DSLR starts. I guess a proper one's 500 euro. It's cheaper than a phone. But of course it goes into many, many, many thousand euros. I would not invest [00:16:00] into any equipment. In the beginning, every one of you has a phone and that's way than enough for everyone.
Then additional equipment is helpful. Like I have here, if you have a selfie arm or something that you can put on the desk and you can just put it on a desk and it's easy, stable, and it, and you can record it. Obviously, if you use the laptop as recording, it's. It's then already, um, on the desk that you can use, like I have shown last time on one of my videos, you can use this easy, simple things.
I guess this thing was less than 10 euro, like super cheap, cheap things where I can just attach my phone and then I can record videos in different ways. So don't, don't do again the expensive thing. You can have camera stands that cost hundreds of euros or dollars. No need. In the beginning, specifically not, but it's always good to have something stable, which you can use and [00:17:00] move further away from you so that you don't use just the selfie version of it, because then it just looks more professional podcast or microphones.
You can have different versions of microphone. I have example, I have a real podcast microphone because I, I I'm doing real podcast as well. Um, this is an affordable version. It still costs roughly 300 euros. It's um, for some it's way too expensive, but what the difference is, the quality is way better when you do this as well.
When you do this compared to the normal, like let's say cable microphones, uh, a way more affordable version is the lapel microphone. So you can have a lapel microphone, which. You it's literally just a cable thing that you can attach to your t shirt or shirt or whatever which you can plug into the camera or into the phone so [00:18:00] this is like super affordable version that I think the the cheapest one is 19 euros and this this 19 euros is definitely worth investing in, if you record with, with the phone still works without phone.
If you don't have a proper microphone, it's not, it's not the game breaker, but just when we think about the system again, when you listen to podcasts and you only have it in your ears, then the audio quality matters. So just this 19, 20, 50, whatever you want to invest, um, it's definitely worth it to have here.
Can you, can you post up your stuff later, maybe in the chat or in the post or something that we can have a look at it because I'm not able to write down everything. Definitely. I have a whole list of all the stuff I'm using integrated into my [00:19:00] hub as everything. Uh, lights, lighting is one of the best things you can do.
The most affordable version, you sit in front of the window, important, never for video recording, never have a window back in behind you. You need to have the light source in front of you. So I will, I will show this now to you live. Um, I have, that's why I'm standing today. You will see later. So the difference of this lighting is now the normal lighting above me.
I will now switch this off.
So that's the first difference you see is the light color and the sharpness of, of me being visible. Light number one. Jens, can you, can you close the presentation because it's super small and it's Okay, sorry. Perfect. Can you see it better now? So [00:20:00] now, now you see the difference between light. Now I have light coming from the front.
And I have a shape shading here, which, which gives you at least a professional look, obviously background and everything counts as well. Now I'm switching on the next one, which is now giving me equal lighting. So I've now lighting from like 45 angle. Now, if I want to make it fancy, I will do this and switch on colors.
Can you see that? Yes. And this is just like cheap. LED lamps from the DIY store, like Hornbach. So this, this directly looks different. Of course, I'm not framed properly right now, because you see still a little bit from the ceiling. But if you, if you think about, I would be here, you see color in the background.
It directly [00:21:00] looks fancy comparing this to the first version, which is just yellow light from, from above. Lighting. is as well not that expensive. I mean this stuff, I don't know. I, I of course have invested in it because I'm doing this since years now, but I think you can get that as well below 100 euro or you can get it for zero when you sit in front of a window.
Super important for quality videos. Let me Get back to, where is it? So that also means, uh, don't go filming it in, um, at night, do it when you've actually got sunlight or when you've at least got, um, even if it, even if it's not sunlight, it's, um, natural light.
And outdoors is always best. I mean, from a light perspective, at[00:22:00]
least Frank has got the TikTok light going on there really well. It's, uh, it's almost the, um, you can see the, you can just feel the, uh, hip hop in the background. Exactly. Yeah. So obviously there are different versions of lights and led lights, ring lights, and so on. I mean, the internet is full of all of this and a lot of people want to make money with that stuff.
Um, again, the, the, the most affordable again is daylight. My window is here. For example, if I would be sitting that way, I just need to rearrange my, my room and it's definitely possible. I've done that in the past. Next thing when we are recording videos, framing the shot, super important. I have seen things like you can see myself now a little bit.
Um, I have now 16 by nine frame. When we are looking [00:23:00] at the normal, let's say, recording when we, when we look into, um, the laptop. What we need to make sure is that we don't have too much space about above our head and that we at least can see our arms for video recording. Super important. So let's say from the belly button to your head need to be visible and then a little bit on top.
That also means that. The camera, if you look at me right now, it's on eye level. It's slightly below eye level, so more on the nose. And I do this slightly below because that gives authority. That's one of these psychology tricks that I've learned from someone. Like, from a psychology perspective, if people look a little bit up to you, then you're more authoritative, authoritative, I don't know what it is in English, but you get what I mean, um, person.
And it's [00:24:00] just one thing I have just learned. Done in that way. So key part is almost eye level to your camera. For those of you that have seen our, our 30 day challenge, when I, when I said it, like, if you take your phone to your, to your eye level, it's directly different impression from the other person.
Same when we look at vertical. We look at vertical framing when you do like reels directly and you record them in real style straight away, then it says well frame yourself in a way that you have a little bit space on the top on your above your head, so that there's space available. And then as well around your arms and belly button is, is roughly what, what do you want to have for talking head videos?
Obviously, when do you, when you want to be totally in frame, your whole body, then it's, it's different. Still always think about it, that there's a little space on your above your head and that your head is not cut off. And so on lighting. I [00:25:00] mean, I've shown you already, it's like 45 degrees in front and, and, and one either in your back behind you, depending on how it is, Or it's directly in front, the window piece.
So the big one is always in front. But I have, I have done the cheap version now. I've done two that are 45 and they go to a white wall, which is directly behind the camera. And then it's reflecting to me. It's just a very, very simple way. I can, I need to look for it. There, there are amazing YouTube videos where experts of lighting experts from film explain this in better details and what it makes.
Next thing. This, I did very wrong in the beginning. Always connect your audio source, which is the microphone, to your recording source. So when you're recording, example, I'm recording with the podcast microphone, not right now, but if I would, [00:26:00] I connect this podcast microphone to the camera that is recording right now.
Because If you don't do this, you have sometimes audio delay. So like you're speaking faster from a, from a, from a picture perspective, and then your audio is delayed. And that's because your, your audio source is not connected to your camera directly. Just one of the problems I have had in the beginning and never found out directly connected with your audio source.
Like right now, you hear me through my, my Apple AirPods. And that's obviously connected directly to the laptop and the laptop is recording. So that's why it's working right now.
Video recording is the next one.
We're looking at three main topics, body language, tonality, and the content itself.
[00:27:00] Body language. This is body language. Again, important, look into the camera and not like, especially when you, when you do video recording where you see yourself. So on the phone, you see that with some people, depending on the phone manufacturer, you're looking at yourself at the selfie. And then you look at your face.
You're not looking at the lens. So right now, if I'm looking at you, I'm looking right now, you're on the right side of my screen. So this is now I look, I talk to you, but that's wrong. I need to talk to you because that's the camera. So when you're video recording, make sure that you always look into the lens.
And then another part is use your arms. That's the whole keynote speaking area is keep your arms above your belly button and between your belly button and your head. Everything between here gives you authority and shows that you're an active person. [00:28:00] It's kind of part of body language. And you use your hands and arms to explain things like you can do one, two, three.
You can do small, you can do big, you can explain things in different ways using your arms. And then, that's why I'm standing today, just to show it to you. Prefer do video recording in standing. Because when you're standing, you have more energy. Automatically. You're connected. What I'm always doing, I'm not wearing shoes right now.
I'm not showing that part, but the key part is you're grounded to the floor, which, which means you're connected to the floor in different way. When you have like barefoot or socks on. Um, if you do it internally, it's just way better from an energy flow. Um, if you do this sitting, then you're kind of locked into a position.
If you do very long videos, obviously that works, but if you do 30 seconds, 60 seconds videos, just one more energy when you're talking and you have more [00:29:00] flexibility. Like I have right now, like you're not doing keynotes on stage where you're sitting. The energy is just different when you're standing. And this is just the basics.
But if you do this, it's already 10 times better than anyone else. Tonality speak clearly as a starting point, pronounce the things. as clear as possible. And sometimes that means you do small breaks so that everyone understands what you're talking. Obviously, if you do this too much or too extreme, then it's not working.
But it also means breathe properly, that you have clarity in the loudness of your voice. But as well, that you have enough volume to speak to people and then speak with 10 percent more energy than usual. That's the thing that a lot of people don't understand. When you are recording videos, it kind of [00:30:00] slows your energy down.
So you need to pump up your energy by roughly 10 percent so that you, you're a little bit more energized when you're talking to the camera. Because then it's still going 10 percent down through the recording. Because if you're just talking slowly and it's boring for people, then people will switch off.
So you need to find a way that it is giving energy. You have proper breathing capacity, speak very clearly, use breaks in how you're speaking. And as well, not too fast and not too slow. You need to find the way that is natural to you. We'll get that automatically. I'm just putting it on the slide here so that you, it's a reminder for you.
Then key parts when it comes to the content, obviously we are scripting that, but a lot of people forget [00:31:00] is speak to your audience and speak to their pains and desires. If you know who your audience is in, in like CEO perspective, your, your target customers, your clients, your, the people that you want to engage with your videos, It's different if it is, let's say teenagers or CEOs from other companies, right?
So you speak different language, you use different words, you use different tonalities, you're addressing differently. And that's just important to understand this before you start recording, understand, okay, I'm now talking to CEOs. I'm not talking to, uh, teachers from high school and then stick to the script.
Use your script as a guiding post. I'm not writing every single word down for myself because I have found for myself, it doesn't work because then I'm, I'm not thinking, I'm not talking freely, but it's, you need to find your way of what is the [00:32:00] best way that you can stick to the script as close as possible.
Because if you do this, just hook story offer. It will convert you to be better speaker, better speaker over time, and it will be easier to record videos and then you drag people into, into your ecosystem, into your speech, into your video
questions. I know it was a lot today.
Do you have anything on editing? That's, that's like a whole nother call. Yes, of course I have. I mean, the, the, in, in the end, what, what, what the key part of editing, editing is. Starting from cutting from the back. That's what a lot of people don't do. We, maybe we do next [00:33:00] week one on editing, if you're interested, because it takes me an hour to explain it properly.
Key part is using the most simple tool that you can do if you want to do it yourself, like I use Descript, which is a tool that you can just edit the videos on text. When I'm editing or you find an editor, that's the fastest. Um, but if you, if you want to do it yourself, it's, it's really use, use a tool like Descript where you can use the text and then there are a lot of.
Techniques that we need to, we can go through in details. I can explain every, every one of them, but we need like an hour to go into that properly. So what do you then like, okay. If you're only doing a one minute piece, what do you just do it all in one take? the editing. No, just if you're doing a, so if you're recording a two minute or whatever, uh, would you generally just try to get the whole done in one take?
And if it doesn't work, restart or, um, [00:34:00] because it's just one minute, I would just go, go with the flow. Um, because then it's easier to edit. If you, if you stop in between, then it's very hard to edit. So I would rather go through it and record twice. And then you can move this to edits. To one edit even if you change but then you're at least in the flow if you record hook And then you, it still works if you have a good editing process, but it's just more difficult because you feel that there's a disconnect between it.
But sometimes I'm just talking for, for example, if you see my raw recordings, there's sometimes two minutes long and I need to cut it down to two 60 seconds. I'm just keep on talking. And sometimes I'm just repeating myself. Like sometimes I feel like this wasn't a good sentence. I'm saying the same sentence again, but keeping myself in the flow.
Okay, that's an interesting topic. That's that's quite a good idea. So you say the same thing again and [00:35:00] again, maybe with a pause in between just to make it even without pause without pause. Just, just, just keep on talking, just keep on talking because sometimes it, I mean, I'm thinking while I'm recording sometimes, and then I, I have, I have a better idea and I'm just keep on talking just as, as more fluent you talk as easier and better sounds afterwards.
And it's easier to cut as well. Because the editors can, can easily cut things across. That's, that's no problem. Um, and even if you edit yourself, it's easier because you hear the flow.
Frank, you have a question?
Oh, yes. Uh, related to this topic. So in my case, I discovered that I don't have the talent to do the cutting or editing process. For this reason, I was struggling with many [00:36:00] of my videos trying to do an addition. For this reason, I took the decision. What'd you say right now? Keep the flow, and I don't edit nothing, because it's one shot, and then if the shot is nice, I go ahead.
I post the stuff, and it's ready. Because I can't remember me from the beginning trying to edit two minutes video, one hour sitting over there, and I got the feeling, oh man, I'm wasting the time. For this reason, I took the decision, okay, I go ahead, what do you say right now, Jens? And while you are talking, you get better ideas and keep the flow.
And if you like it, you can pause it. That's the easiest version. I'm really fond of that. No, still there is a difference. If you post a video that is unedited, it still works, but you don't have, like, all the [00:37:00] techniques in that grabs the attention from the people. Like if you, if you look at my videos right now, we have like overlays with B rolls and different other pictures moving in and other videos going on top of it and so on.
And that's why I'm getting 100, 000 views. That's that's the difference. If you do this with a like normal recorded video, it's very hard right now to get above. Certain hundreds or sometimes you manage thousands of pure energy. It's good, but that's, yeah, it's difficult point because you are playing with the, with the angles, with different image, the small videos.
And then I saw the staff, when you say social media, and then come someone with a laptop or without a cell phone, yeah, that keeps, keeps you, uh, tracking what you are saying. That's great. But there's, there are always levels to everything. The starting point is. Have the video and at least try to add captions [00:38:00] because people are, let's say LinkedIn, people are not, not playing the videos because they're in the office and everyone would know that they're, that they're checking the internet or checking social media.
So have captions on top. That's the minimum requirement because it helps you to, to gain more audience and people see it. And then I would always as well do video, um, sorry, audio in the background. So that you have audio. So at least the ones that are listening to it, have a little bit ambient to it. So these are the two things I would at least do, even if you're not cutting and doing anything.
If you, if you, that's like the cheapest version, cutting the end and, and the beginning, at least that's, I think that's what everyone should do as well, and in the beginning, putting captions on top, which you can do with. Um, AI easily with different tools. And, and then putting music in the background and music is for free available [00:39:00] inside of YouTube.
If you have a YouTube channel and you go to, what is it? YouTube studio, they have like a YouTube video, a music library that you can use for free. It's like royalty free music. Great. Great. You can buy, you can buy stuff as well, but for me, it's always like YouTube has so much free stuff. Why? Why would I buy royalty free music and you can use it on other platforms too.
I hope nobody from YouTube is listening.
Yeah, but I mean, if you, if you guys are interested, we can do a deep dive into editing as well. That's an easy one. Yeah. So we do that next week.
Deal.
That's an easy one. And fun one as well.[00:40:00]
Any other questions?
So just going back in terms of then, um, scripting to start then. So how do you do your scripting? Do you, um, do you write it yourself? Do you, um, generally I, it, do you, um, um, do you throw some scrub letters in the, in the air and hope it all lands in the, in the, uh, in the right direction, um, I will show you that's always the easiest
and while you're doing the scripting, how do you, how do you put the script on the screen while you're recording? So you can see it in front of you, or do you just, [00:41:00] um, You've just done it and then you talk through it and then you, you do a dress rehearsal and then you, um, Exactly. Yeah. Okay.
So this is my life, our life document. Can you see that? It looks ugly because it's a working document. So what I do is, let's go somewhere below here. So what I do is, this is my brainstorming. So I have my, my pillars. And then whenever I got an idea, I'm just documenting the hook or a potential hook. And you see, this is not out formulated properly, but this, this are going to be the next videos that I'm going to record all of this once.
So what I do is whenever I read something, whenever I see something where I say, Oh, that's a cool video idea. That's a cool video idea. I'm just putting it in here.
Like inside of leadership. This is how I lead with [00:42:00] impact the power of silence. What reputation do I want to create? Like that's my brainstorming. So I have, I never run out of content, uh, because this is like three weeks, four weeks even. Um, and then what I do is, is this version. So I use that hook and then reformulate it.
So in the beginning I always did it like this to get into it, to be very clear of what I'm doing. Here's how I accelerated my career progress overnight. Then it was like this and then the, the, the closing was tried every evening and your life will, life and career will change. That's kind of the call to action.
Now, if you look at this versions, the yellow ones, I'm just using the hook. Because I've done it now so often, the daily videos. That I'm just using the hook for me. And then I know [00:43:00] what I'm going to talk about and I come up with it on the spot.
So I, I would not do that too complicated. It's just having the structure of you. Like I did this with, um, with one of my clients last week, what, what we did. was because he's in Silicon Valley and I was doing video recording, live coaching of video recording was like a zoom call. We didn't use zoom a different tool, but we set up his camera and everything like, like you see now me.
And then I was coaching him through the videos. So we had all the hooks. And then we said, okay, now let's start with the first video. He started to talk and then, no, stop. Let's do this again. Let's do this this way, this way, this way. And then we got to the flow. And after five videos, he, he had it. And then he just recorded 20 videos at once.
Just with me in his audience because it kept him accountable, me being [00:44:00] there. That's, that's something you can easily set up with someone else or even with me if you want. Happy to do that.
The easiest is really if you, if you take the first five videos and script them out just to get into your head of how, how you build the structure. And then if you're comfortable with it, just keep on going with the hooks.
Any more questions? Yeah, no, cool. Thanks. Next week we'll go, we will do video editing, but I need to be properly prepared,
but it's, yeah, it's, it's not that difficult with all the AI tools out there. I think video editing gets easier and easier and easier.
I still use external editors because it's, [00:45:00] it's still better than AI right now, at least.
Good. We still, still have one topic for January meeting point. Was in my email
and I have seen that Elma sent me an email. I think someone else, someone earlier, um, uh, one, one of the ladies said they had a space. Yeah, I think it was Joanne, but she has never shown up since that call. I've reached out twice to her and she has never answered. Does anyone know her? That's a good question.
18th
and 19th January. No, in Switzerland. Yes, I got the stuff. Um, Why not? Let's try together. But, uh, shall we go to a hotel and then at the lobby, we do the meeting or something [00:46:00] like that? Or shall we be creative to, to find something, uh, maybe I need to do a small call with different contacts. Maybe one of them.
And the others are all living, Frank, the others are all living in Switzerland and Elma has an idea he wants to pitch I've heard. From my assistant, Elmar. Yeah, I just sent you the link to the hotel I'm, uh, like, leading. We, um, like, we are renting the hotel since April. I mean, it's not like in the middle of Zurich or something, but it's in the mountains.
It's close to Stans. To the people I know, or it's just like 20 minutes by train from Lucerne. Um, so there will be some possibilities. We have a seminar room. Um, it's beautifully set in the mountains, really calm place. So if that would suit, I mean, I know it's not like so easy to reach like a bigger city, but it's yeah, not so far.
And the, the thing [00:47:00] is, the overnight states would not be so expensive. Like for example, in Twoish or, so
that's gonna be great because, can I say something J now I'm living in Berlin, . Mm-hmm. And for me, it's gonna be a little bit complex to go to, I dunno, to and after that, to Lucerne, after that to the hotel. But that's gonna work. No, no. Knowing the place I can do the, the Programmation, something like that.
Frank, I can pick you up wherever you want. In Zurich, Basel, whatever suits you best. Yeah, I'm coming with airplane as well. It's more about everyone else. Like, I love the idea. Holuk sent it to me on WhatsApp. I said, Oh my God, that's cool. But it's more that it's more a cost to everyone else that is in Zurich.
I mean, I'm traveling anyhow. I need to pay hotel anyhow. So it's more a question to the others. If needed, I go by car. That is [00:48:00] my big transport issue right now. So it's the car.
I just sent you the link in the, um, in the chat. So you can also have a look, doesn't not stress. Yeah. I still don't know who is now exactly joining. So that's something we need to figure out as well. But I, I love the idea because the cool thing is. Getting to your place is also like, we're, we're all not going home, which means we're spending more time with each other, which I like very much.
Yep. Yeah, I agree.
But we still need to figure out with the others is for us is maybe easier. I don't know. Adelina, will you join as well? Or will you be able to join?[00:49:00]
Just have the microphone thing on the bottom left corner.
I'll write it in the chat. Yeah, um, I had a lot, I had a lot of, uh, wind of someone, sorry. Yeah. I'm thinking to join. I need to be also in Romania and just, I checked the flights and I can be back on 18 in the morning. I can be back on Zurich and I, I, I also would like to, um, to join. Yeah. Yeah. Let, I will, I will write an email to everyone.
I think it would be amazing to do it at your space, Alma, if that's possible. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, sure. It would still be available. Would be great to welcome you there. Yeah, that would be amazing. [00:50:00] The room is for free. And of course we need to pay like normal stays. That's for me. It's fine. I don't know.
Seraphine. Yeah. All good. Chewing. All good. I'm sorry. I'm so busy. I have a lot of work to do. No, it's good. So is that we get you out of your busyness as well when we get into El Morsoto.
Is there, there are no dreams to climb on the photos, but, but then I will have to social and the personal assistant, institutional assistant, nice book you recommend is buy back your time. I love it. It's, it's so me. It's so me. I need to buy back my time.
Okay, so let's figure it out. Emma, to which date do you need to have? Clear bookings yesterday. No, actually, um, [00:51:00] I would say like before Christmas, I can also block it like, uh, like the rooms, there was still be some rooms available. I think it would be max like 15 people. Right. Yeah, if at all. No, I don't think we will get 15.
Yeah, yeah. So I can, for now I can just block like 12 rooms. That's no problem. And then we can also check if people want to stay together in one room. That's also possible, of course. And that's so we can make it easily until Christmas. That's no problem. Yeah. Maybe let's, let's try to solve it until next Monday.
I will reach out to everyone. But for those that are on the call,
I'm happy to join. Um, but unfortunately I have to be in Zurich on Sunday. Um, so I would not stay, um, the night, but then leave again in the evening. Okay. So we have Yvonne. Frank. Felix. Frank. [00:52:00] Elmar. Delina. Elmar,
I quickly checked, uh, on Google maps. Am I right that we need to take the cable car to get to the hotel? Yes, that's right. Can you need to take a look table there? The adventure? Yeah. It's really doing the adventurous, it's just like eight minutes. So it's also not far from From the bottom costs, like, yeah.
Do you know how long it runs? Usually they only run until like four on Saturdays. The last one will be at seven. At 10. Perfect. Oh, okay. Yeah. So that's easy. Okay, cool. So we are on, we are at least six. I am in. Whom do I miss? It's the 19th of January. Am I right?
18, 19. Yeah. Yeah. I think I can settle it.[00:53:00]
Whom do I miss? Myself, I miss. Okay. Yeah. I will. I will check with the others. I guess they're in as well. I haven't heard anything from Remco, Kevin, Joanne. No idea. No idea. Osna and Maria I talked with last week, so they're, they're pretty sure in as well. Okay. I will. I will figure out the rest. So that we, at least next Monday, we can say, yes.
Yeah. To start to receive the flights and to be, to be in. Yes. Yeah. We're definitely going, Frank. We're definitely going. The question is if we go to Elmas hotel, because it's a bit out. I'm fully up for it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm trying to go to Elmar's hotel. If the stuff is great, why not? No, it's available.
Okay, we are innovators. [00:54:00] We find a way to go over there. No question. Will there be also some possibility to sledding or so? We're working. Always working. It gives a good video. You're getting hurt again. You break your, your knee or your leg or whatever.
Just that, you know, there's actually a free riding area really close to the hotel. If you have walked up there, sledding is not so easy, but possible. We'll figure that out. Good. Let's, let's connect next Monday. I will, I will write an email to everyone. Then I have your names already written down and Adelina and Frank, I will involve you in the emails as well.
Yes, please. Good? Yes. Super. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for the time. Talk to you the next days. [00:55:00] See you. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you. Bye bye. Did you take the picture? Nah, next time. Do you have a minute? See you guys.
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Transcript:
Personal development masterclass. One of the topics that's dear to my heart, because of what I have seen over the last 15 years is that personal development is quite seldom in organizations. It's not really taken, uh, in a proper way, at least in my eyes. So that's why I'm really keen on sharing this today.
So we have two. main perspectives. One or two topics for today. One is personal development talk versus performance evaluation. And then we do a deep dive into how I'm doing personal development talks. And then we do questions in the end. Personal development. So we have one part, which is the personal development talk, and then we have the performance evaluation.
And a lot of organizations, focus on performance evaluation. And the difference between those two is that the performance evaluation, the main part they are focusing on, or the main source of that is the company. So the company is on the top. And from there, it goes into, the individuals and the different tasks that need to be done to accomplish what's happening in the company, what is required to do to be done in the company.
And the individual that is doing the task is the last point. And then inside of the performance evaluation, you're looking backward. So you look, how did this person perform in the past? The development talk is the opposite. So the most important part of the. Development talk is the future. Where does the person want to be in the future?
And it has nothing to do with the outcome of the company or where the company wants to be. The goal of this is, and why, why do this personal development talk? I believe that if we are developing people in organizations beyond what the organization needs, they will contribute more to the company. They will contribute better.
So the goal of what I'm doing with development talks is finding out what the people desire and going deeper into that. And we will have a look at that in the next couple of slides. And then look, what are the different tasks of the organizations that fit the person and what the person wants to be. And then you marry these two things.
And then it works as well from a performance evaluation perspective. So that's my perspective on development talk and performance evaluation. Let's go into personal development talk a couple of, I think it's almost two years ago or something. I've developed this in as, as a worksheet. So if anyone is interested in getting this worksheet as a PDF.
Happy to share that. So, the starting point of a development talk is really a setup of the atmosphere and the place. So you are going to do a development talk with another person. So you are the manager and the, the other person is like reporting to you and then you're meeting up. So what you need to make sure of is that you have, an appropriate place.
The best case is always doing this outside of the office environment in a. In a place where people feel well, the atmosphere is super important. The time of the day is important, not doing it on Friday afternoon, for example, when people want to go on the weekend, of course, you need to be aware of your relationship with the other person, depending on how deep your relationship is.
You of course have then a perspective on how deep you can go. And how much that is. And then what is important as well is that you put the note-taking responsibility to the person that is inside the room or is working with you. So me as a leader, I always give the note taking responsibility for the other person because then you see what they understand and what they get out of that.
And then I always do as well. A version in front of us so that people understand this. So printing out this worksheet as an example, if you do that in a physical space, then you print it out and then you go into the development talk. And the starting point of the development talk goes really wide.
Looking into what's the personal vision like. I always ask these as open questions without showing them the worksheet in the beginning. Who do you want to be? And that's very, very, very wide. Like, who do you want to be? What does it mean? Some people who have never had a conversation like this, struggle with this.
So they start with, yeah, I want to be a manager. I want to be something specific. So they go very, very, very specific and they don't really look into the future. So the first round of this, I just, Help them to find out who they want to be and they write down, they write down a manager. I want to be a good father.
I want to be whatever they come up with. And then I go to the next question and I show them the next question, not before. So why do you want to be that person? So then they're reflecting on the answers they have given and then they go back and refine who they want to go to be. And that's an interesting process because what.
You as the manager that is holding this development talk are doing, you're literally shutting up and just asking open questions to tell me more. How, how does that feel? What does that look like? What would that look like in the future? So you only ask open ended question when that gets the person talking and reflecting.
So if you're saying this, what does it mean? So, and then they're explaining, explaining, and they go in a loop between who am I going to be? And why do I want to be that person? So until they have clarity, and the first loop is always. The starting point where they don't know what's going to come, then who am I going to be?
They come up with high-level topics and then they go, Why do I want to be that person? Then they go back to Who am I going to be? And then they go deeper. And I always then give them a perspective. Okay, think about five years, 10 years from now, who do you want to be? And then they go more particular in all of these things.
And then we go, we don't close this, we keep it, we put it aside. And then we go to the next sheet, which is a personal development map. So I want them again to reflect on certain questions. And it doesn't matter in the order, I just take them clockwise right now. But it's really going and answering the specific questions.
What do I want to learn? So you're asking this, the person that is in front of you. So what do you want to learn to be that person? So linking it back to that person of the future. And then you're asking, what do you want to improve? And then they come up with things. So it's, it's like writing down the, all the different topics and then what do I want to leave behind?
And then they come back with topics that they want to leave behind. Another question is what excites you? Yeah. And then going deeper into this, who is important to them? And then what is important to them? And when you have done this circle, you go around it and they were deeper in this topic.
What quite often happens then if you ask them, so how, if we go back to the other one, is that still the same thing you want to be? Because they have now clarified what they want to be. and answer the question, they go back to this one and then clarify, no, no, no, I want to be this, I want to be this. What I always ask them, in this part is to paint a picture.
So when, when we have finished with this one, I go back to this one. And say, from a personal vision perspective, imagine a picture and describe the picture that you see on the wall. And then they describe to me who they want to be and who they are going to strive to be inside of a picture and explain everything that is around them.
I've had, for example, a person that told me where they are going to live, what, how it feels, um, in this picture, where the kids in this picture, where the wife or husband and, and going really into details and then linking this to. A job perspective as well, because in the end, we are at least this part is in a job environment.
So they are linking that to the job environment of who they're going to be working with as well. So these two are super powerful. And then you go into the next step, which is a goal perspective. So it starts with the staircase. So in the top right corner, we have what is the goal. And the starting point is really, um, defining that goal.
So if you want to be this person in five years, what is the goal for the next year for you to be very specific? And of course, you can do smart goal setting and all of that, but it's in the end, What does feel right for that person? What is the development goal they want to reach in one year from now?
And then they formulate that goal. And then you go to the bottom of this page where you look into where do you stand today on a scale from one to 10. So they're rating themselves on how close are they to that goal. If they're close, then they're at 10 or 9. If they're far away, then they're at 1. And what always happens is they're somewhere in between, obviously.
So when they have rated that, then you look into what are the things that get you closer to that goal, meaning moving your scale from 5 to 10. And that's what they are writing down above the stairs. So, above the stairs are the things that are getting them closer to their goal. And then they're defining this in bullet points and formulating that out.
And [you do that obviously all in a conversation. You ask the person who is doing the development talk, you are asking them questions to get them moving. You're asking them clarifying questions about the topics that are put, into the sheet. And then the next part is, what are the things that getting you further away from that goal?
So downstairs, if you think at it from a staircase perspective, and then they're writing these things down and then they have a clear picture of a goal staircase where they, they know they want, where they want to be linking that to the vision that's five years from now and the goal picture, and then they rate themselves.
And have then clear understanding of that are the things I need to do to get to my goal and that are the things I should not be doing. And then the last step of the development talk is getting specific. So now we zoom into one year and actionable goals that help them or tasks that get them towards the one-year perspective.
So what are the things they're going to do? When are they going to do this? What do they need to make happen to be able to do this? What are the things they need help with and how I'm, how they going to measure them? So it's a very, very simple setup where they write down literally the different steps that help them to get there.
And they're putting measurable goals towards the goal. And this is roughly. I would say one and a half hours, even if we go through this right now in a theoretical setting in, let's say 15 minutes in a real conversation, in a coaching style, where you ask the manager or coach the other person to find out what they are desiring and where they want to be.
It takes roughly one and a half hours if you do that well, sometimes it's faster depending on the relationship as well. The fascinating thing with this is it has zero to do with the company you work in and one hundred percent to do with who they want to be. And as well as zero to do with you as their manager, if you're their manager, like your perspective, your opinion on anything of that.
Um, just to give you a couple of examples, I've had people that told me that they want to be. building their own company in the next five years and they worked in the company and I was their manager they told me because they trusted me that they wanted to build their own company and we built a plan for how they were going to build their own company and I've had situations where people told me that they want to get married in the next five years and then we built a plan to get them towards marriage getting married and looked into how that does that work with the career perspective same with kids and all the other things so this is a development tool you That I use with everyone that is working with me over time because I believe that as further we as managers and organizations help people to develop as better it is.