I spent three hours today rehearsing with a client. She is doing 10 individual podcasts to support their benefits open enrollment. The video will be married with a handful of simple slides.
When I told her rehearsal would be necessary, she was doubtful. She’s a newbie – never done video before. And these pieces are tough because she must hit each 2- to 3-minute script with no breaks. The individual pieces cannot be edited.
She’s got to get through each one cleanly.
It’s important to note that she’ll be using a teleprompter tool. She will see the text as she reads it. She also knows her content really well.
While we rehearsed, we added places to pause. We added returns to draw her attention to different bits of text, or text she was struggling to get through. We bolded some text to prompt her to give it emphasis.
We changed some words, sometimes making it grammatically incorrect. She couldn’t say “contracted” so we used “negotiated.” She struggled with “benefits enrollment” so we dropped “benefits.” After the first 90 minutes she turned to me and said, “I am so glad we’re doing this.” She had wanted to just practice on her own.
We talked about her vocal tone, where to go down, where to go up, where to sound stronger or let the voice trail off. We timed her so she could be more conscious of her speed.
All in all, it was time well spent, and she had new respect for those who do video well. “It takes a lot of work and practice. I’ll practice more over the weekend.” Now, she knows how to practice.
Stacy Wilson, ABC, is president of Eloquor Consulting, Inc., in Lakewood, Colorado
