[MUSIC, Title: "Teleprompters and Giant Frogs"] [David] We've been talking a lot about your on-camera presence, as well as when to get students to focus and when to allow them to... unfocus. So this is probably a good time to mention that when we recommend that you look AT your students when you're on camera, we're not suggesting that you stare unblinkingly at the camera. It's actually quite normal during a typical conversation for people to look away from the other person. This helps us focus our thoughts. That brings us to teleprompters. And now, to be clear, you don't HAVE to use a teleprompter to teach online. I know some of you heard me say "teleprompter" and immediately got nervous that we're going to start talking about fancy equipment. But I should mention as well that while a teleprompter does require a little more up-front investment, both to purchase it and to learn to use it, there are few things that are going to save you and your students more time down the road. Teleprompters let you produce good content in fewer takes with less editing after, and they result in a tighter, more efficient video for your students. So, we recommend considering learning to use a teleprompter, or at least experimenting with one. Don't get me wrong. Some people should NEVER use a teleprompter. If you're a good improvisational speaker with a near-photographic memory, you might not need one. In that case, the teleprompter can feel constraining. But in our experience, most people will benefit from using a teleprompter along with a tight, well-written script. I mentioned scripting a bit last week, but it's the combination of scripts and teleprompters that really makes filming more efficient. As a bit of context, perhaps two-thirds of the instructors we've worked with will THINK they'll do just fine without a teleprompter, but then they nervously fumble in front of the camera until they finally realize they would benefit from a teleprompter and a script. [Barb] Reading from a script, even if you're all by yourself in front of a teleprompter, but especially if other people are watching you in front of a teleprompter, can sometimes be oddly nerve-wracking. You can forget that in your ordinary speaking, you naturally pause to take a breath between sentences. And because you're breathing shallowly, only from the top of your chest, you aren't drawing in enough air. You could end up being so nervous that you squeak— which is of course, making you feel even more nervous. "Belly breathing" can help here. Before you begin speaking, take a few deep breaths all the way down, like this. Give it a try yourself. So, a few deep breaths... And you'll notice at first it's a little bit higher up. But as you relax, you'll actually feel the air going more deeply down into what almost feels like your stomach area. So, draw down as deeply as you can. So, it's almost as if your hand will start moving. And remember that it's okay, in fact, perfectly natural, to take little pauses to breathe between sentences. That deep "belly breathing," incidentally, is what helps you gain enough oxygen and air that you're able to speak without getting all squeaky as things go on. Keep in mind that when you get nervous, your vocal cords tighten. That means if you already have a high-pitched voice, your voice can become even higher pitched. This can inadvertently move your voice into a shrill, grating range. This is why some people whose profession involves public speaking take voice lessons, to help them keep their voice lower, even when they might be nervously speaking before millions— say, on television. If you do have this problem, it can be pretty difficult to correct it without coaching, because your voice is a procedural, habitual part of you, and you're often just not conscious of how you're coming across. One friend of mine, for example, who was asking for advice to improve her online teaching, simply couldn't believe it when I haltingly mentioned that her voice was shrill. Days later, she sheepishly admitted that when she unbelievingly told her family I had said her voice was shrill, they said, "Finally, someone told you about your problem." Some people find it difficult to look natural while reading from a script. Sometimes we think this happens because people read aloud without forming mental models while they're reading. They're mouthing the words without bringing the meaning to mind, which means their reading can be flat and emotionless. If you find it difficult to read naturally from a script, you might benefit from a "bullet point approach" on your screen or teleprompter. In this approach, you just put reminders of key points you want to be talking about. Like this. Or this. Or this. Incidentally, if you're reading from a teleprompter and you know something is going to be coming up on your side later on— like say, this gigantic frog—try to avoid pointing to it while continuing to just look straight at the camera. In real life, nobody does that. If you're pointing at something, you want to have your eyes naturally follow in the direction you're pointing toward. That said, nobody's perfect. If you happen to be using a teleprompter, either an impromptu or mini-teleprompter at your desk or a full-blown large one, taking your eyes off the teleprompter and then returning to the script to land at the right place is one of the most common places where people mess up during filming. It's a bit like a gymnast trying to stick their landing. All I can say is, you do get better at this with practice, although it's still not necessarily easy. [David] And incidentally, if you're shooting with two people at once while using a teleprompter, don't let your own eyes follow closely while the other person is speaking. The back-and-forth motions of your eyes, as Barb will demonstrate here, make you look untrustworthy. You don't want to be nodding constantly, doing a bobble head. Instead, just look at the camera, glancing occasionally to the side with an agreeable "Yeah, what they said" sort of nod. [Barb] Of course, the bigger your teleprompter, the farther away the talent can be. Industry, incidentally, calls the person on camera "the talent." It's nice to be further from the camera, because the closer you are to the camera, the easier it is to see your eyes moving as you're reading off the script. Let me show you the difference. Right now the camera is about five meters from me. We'll reposition the camera... So, right here, the camera is a little over a meter away from me. We're filming in 4K resolution, which means that we've got a horizontal display resolution of around 4,000 pixels. With 4K, we can go from full body to close up with ease. Our teleprompter is 24 inches on the diagonal. That's about six-tenths of a meter. Obviously, if you're not filming full body, you don't need to worry about these particulars. [David] Sometimes it's easy to trick yourself into thinking that reading off a white board or a screen that's right NEXT to the camera will allow you to have the benefits of a teleprompter without actually having to buy one. Here, I'm reading from a board Barb is holding right beside the camera. Can you see the difference in where my eyes are focused? You can think you're nailing it, but the problem is that your students will catch that you're just a little off. The closer you can get to looking directly at the camera lens, the better. Okay, I'm back. One last tip. If you're reading off of a word processing program on a monitor, make the margins of your texts more narrow, so your eyes aren't constantly going back and forth, again, making you look less trustworthy. So, let's go further now in online learning, to see how you, too, can become not just "the talent," but a star! [Barb] I'm Barb Oakley. [David] I'm David Joyner. [Terry] I'm Terry Sejnowski. [All] Learn it, link it, let's do it!