When I was vlogging the other day with a friend he actually asked me how I got the confidence necessary to record my self around other people, wherever I want, whenever I want, so I really thought about how I got there.

Here are my best tips to improve your public vlogging experience!

So, how to vlog in public?

• Start once a week. (doesn´t matter how awful it feels! Just do it)
• Make short clips.
• Choose a location.
• Events are the Bomb! (take advantage of opportunities)
• Vlog Before Being in Public.
• Practice Makes Perfect. 
• Turn Awkward moments into Fans!
• Decide for your Viewership.
• Get better by Interviewing people.
• People don´t care.

Talking to a camera in public can feel really uncomfortable (and even nerve-racking), and that is why I gather some of the best tips I´ve learned to help you to get started in your vlogging journey.

Start Once a Week

If you are dealing with the fear of speaking in public like a maniac then you just start with baby steps.

Limiting your outside vlogging to once per week can give you enough time to practice, write a good script so you don´t ramble too much about your topic, and lets you get your mindset right before taking things outside.

Also, it is a much more suitable challenge for somebody that is just learning about how to make a proper vlog and carry around with a selfie-stick, keeping the camera steady, and worrying about good framing and light exposure. (among other things)

Pick one day of the week and make a plan that helps you to stay consistent and that you have to follow through! 

TIP! Recording yourself while walking is easier than standing in the spot to talk to the camera. Don´t run or walk too fast, you need to keep a pease step and talk with calm but confidence. 

Make Short Clips

Get to the point and use short paragraphs that you can repeat a couple times right before recordings, that will help to boost your confidence when you actually say it.

You´re going to be more comfortable with every word you say instead of dealing with the uncomfortable situation of thinking what you are going to say next.

It will make things simpler and much more effective and you´ll audience will thank you. Nobody likes watching somebody think about what to say. They want fast, accurate, and entertaining content delivery, period.

Think about it, a 5 to 10-minute monologue or conversation with yourself is crazy and pretty hard to do when you´re in the very beginning.

Say it, repeat it, record it and you´re done with it!

A Good Place to Start

A good way to get you fired up and more confident little by little is picking the right location to get started.

Maybe is about the place itself, a park that you´re already familiarized with or the road you take to go to work, or it is the fact that at certain hours the location you´ve selected is not that crowded, whatever it is go with it.

Take advantage of time and place by choosing a location with good light.

Remember! In the beginning is all about convenience and getting out of your comfort zone taking one step at a time.

Events & Social Gatherings

Vlog in places where people already like what you´re talking about or can be interested in participating in your videos.

For example, if you´re vlogging channel is all about cars you can go to Car Shows Events and make conversation with people around certain subjects. And trust me, if people engage with you and your content it´s more likely that you end up with a longer and better video.

You´ll find there are plenty of opportunities that you can exploit and take advantage from. Birthdays, Christmas, parties, a drink with friends, music festivals, etc.

You can build relationships, actually, connect with people, and create a possible viewership.

Practice Makes Perfect

Make as many videos as possible around your house, show your room, what are your favorite places or gadgets, maybe your film equipment.

By practicing your speaking abilities in front of the camera you´ll start to film more and more comfortable with it, eventually, it will be pretty easy to do.

Almost nobody starts its vlogging journey by taking off the camera and start recording their day like if it was the most normal thing. 

That´s why you have to practice before going out and/or even before making a single video that it´s worth uploading.

A lot of practice will make you look (and literally feel) more confident, you will talk better, you will look better, you will express yourself in a better way, and therefore that will result in people relating to your content.

It is really hard to watch and listen to a guy (or girl) that is too shy, or that speaks with the mouth closed, or doesn´t even where to sit or stand when talking to the camera.

Nobody is born with the ability to vlog, it is a learning curve, I´ve heard a lot of people that say vlogging is really easy and that anybody could do it, and it´s true. But, what they don´t say is that vlogging is in fact pretty hard and frustrating at times.

You must treat it as it would be any other major goal you have.

Turn Awkward Situations Around

Let´s face it, you´re gonna live awkward, and even sometimes kinda weird, situations, it is going to happen eventually if you´re going to dedicate part of your life to vlogging.

But, what I want you to realize is that there are going to be moments of great joy if learn how to deal with them properly. 

For example, if people are looking at you wondering what the hell you´re doing you can approach to them once you´ve finished your clip and may be asked them to join your video if they´re nice enough they´ll comply. It can be very interesting.

You can also turn the conversation into an interview if the topic allows you to do that, or even talk about some other idea you´ve been rumbling about for your channel.

If people ask you what you´re doing you can have a short prepared answer like: “I´m filming a series of travel videos for YouTube” and hand them over a business card and/or name your channel to build rapport and maybe turn them into subscribers.

Get Better by Interviewing

One great way to get things to the next level is by interviewing others.

As I´ve said before you can begin by taking baby steps. Maybe just one interview or two the very first day, two or three for the next, and so on.

A good tip you should apply is choosing a good topic to ask about, a trending topic would work great, something that is currently on people minds.

That way you´ll create engagement with much ease if you ask the right questions. And that´s the second tip, give a good thought to your questions.

A good line of questions should get people involved in the subject by just making it.

Do your research first and then write down conversational and open-ended questions to make people talk, after those you can ask things that you already know the answer for, that way once people respond you can ask them more questions in order to build more rapport.

Another great tip, once you´ve grown bolder, is to ask questions that elicit an emotional response to the person. That way you can film their reactions in the spot! 

Vlog Before Being in Public

It´s all about being bold and have confidence. You should start your vlog video before entering a public situation or scenery, that way you´ll get into motion right before you can even realize that somebody is even looking at you.

Eventually, you´ll find that is easier to be bolder and make obvious that you´re vlogging than trying to hide the fact that you´re recording yourself for your YouTube channel, speak loud and interact with people.

Decide for your Viewers

At the end of the day, the thousands and thousands of people that form your audience and are really interested in what you have to say are the ones that actually count.

So, decide to not care about the people that are looking at you funny, decide to commit to the process, get better at it, and deliver great content no matter what!

Decide to film and record for the main purpose of help, teach, or just entertain your audience, the people that you´re building this for.

That´s your WHY. That is why you´re building confidence, that´s why you´re going to that concert, that social event, that´s why you´re engaging with people. For your audience, your viewers.

The community, your community has priority. Commit to your audience and take action!

People Don´t Really Care

People don´t actually think or look at you as much as you usually think. They are involved in their own worlds, their own lives.

We tend to obsess about what another person may think about us or the way we do or don´t do something when the reality is that they are dealing with their own stuff.

Maybe for a second or two, they will look at you but in most cases that´s it. Less than that if they´re really busy. Try to keep that in mind.

Don´t let the judgments or prejudices of people keep you from delivering the best content you can, the best way you can.

¡Bonus! Feel your Fear

stage fear, maybe you´ve heard this before but there is a common phrase used to conquer fear and that is: “feel the fear and do it anyway”. The trick is to not run away from it, engage with it and confront your fear, Do-It-Anyway!

Develop a relationship with your fear where you can actually enjoy the anxiety sensation you tend to have once you know is time for public vlogging, go through it, your body and mind will learn subconsciously that you´re not in any sort of danger when you expose to those situations.

This is just a simplistic way of saying, just go out and do it!