Kathi welcomes one of our favorite regular guests, Cheri Gregory, as they discuss how to be a great guest on Facebook Live! It is time to take this thriving media to the next level and make it work for you!
Sit back and enjoy as you hear the experts talk about what to do and not do on your next guest appearance.
In today’s episode, you will know:
- How to prepare for an interview.
- What tech is worth it and how to look and sound like a pro because of it.
- Kathi and Cheri talk “pet peeves” – do you do any of them?
- How to add value and insure an audience shows up.
PRINT A PDF of the DO’s and DONT’S HERE.
Get the BEST LIGHTING for your $$ (According to Roger, and we all know he’s the best!)
Writing at the Red House
https://writingattheredhouse.com/
Leverage Conference
https://www.communicatoracademy.com/leverage/
Cheri Gregory
https://cherigregory.com/
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Transcript of this Episode
Read along with the podcast!
Communicator Academy Podcast #171
How to be a Great Facebook Live! Guest
<<intro music>>
Kathi – Well hey friends! Welcome to Communicator Academy, where our heart is to equip and encourage men and women to become the communicators God has created them to be. Joining me today, live from The Red House. Okay, not live, we’re recording this.
Cheri – Well, I’m not dead.
Kathi – Okay, well, we’re both live. We’re both alive. Cheri Gregory. Hey, Cheri. Welcome back.
Cheri – Hey, Kathi. Thank you so much. As we sit here and dine on fresh red grapes at The Red House, with the sun shining, and the birds chirping in the background.
Kathi – It is kind of lovely. We saw a grey fox! Were you in my car yesterday?
Cheri – Yes! So cute!
Kathi – Yes! We saw a grey fox yesterday. We have a lot of turkeys around here. The baby turkeys are so ugly, they’re cute. They are the ugliest things you have ever seen, but you just want to squish their faces.
Cheri – I want to see a baby turkey!
Kathi – Oh my, gosh. They are hilarious. Then we saw a big deer as we were driving home last night from the Gold Vine Restaurant. Oh my goodness.
Cheri – And you know what I’ve seen this morning? I have seen writers writing.
Kathi – Oh my, yes.
Cheri – And mapping out their books. Then, I’ve heard them ringing the bell as they’ve hit their 500 words. It’s a great place to be.
Kathi – It’s even better than a baby turkey.
Cheri – That is better than a baby turkey.
Kathi – Yes. Well, today, we wanted to have a conversation, because at Leverage this year, we are going to be talking about, not so much how you get more speaking engagements, but how do you get engagement? How do you create your own speaking value so that you can do all the things? One of the things, it’s so interesting…
Cheri – Wait a minute. Are you saying we don’t have to wait to be invited to speak?
Kathi – Exactly. I want you to create your own value. I know, right? But here’s such an interesting thing: I Googled ‘how to be a great Facebook Live guest?” That was Google saying, “How can I help you?” Let me just say, I Googled it earlier, thanks Google, and there’s nothing out there on this topic.
Cheri – Whoa.
Kathi – Right?! That’s crazy.
Cheri – I bet there’s plenty on how to DO Facebook Live, but nothing on how to be a good guest. So, wait. We’re about to set our listeners up for being ahead of the curve once again.
Kathi – Exactly. If you’re doing Facebook Live, there are more guests coming on to Facebook Live when it’s a two person show, than there are actual shows. So, here we go, guys. We’re going to tell you how to do the amazing stuff. First of all, what we’re going to talk about are some of our pet peeves. So, let’s just talk about this. My first pet peeve is: You knew we were doing the interview. Cheri, you knew we were doing the interview. Why was there a pile of laundry sitting behind you?
Cheri – Well, we all know this is false, because I actually don’t do the laundry in my house, but it’s okay. I’m totally with you. These distracting backgrounds, especially a background that say, “Meh. I don’t care.”
Kathi – Right. “I’ve done nothing.” And we’ll talk about that in a little bit, but get that out of there. Shadowy faces.
Cheri – Why is that so important? Why is it such a problem if the face is dark? It’s not all about us, right?
Kathi – Okay, I don’t think a shadowy face say we’re all about Jesus. Let’s raise our standards a little bit. One, it says, “I don’t care.” Now, if you’re doing a live video, and you’re walking through a hall, that’s different. But if you’re sitting down to do an interview, get some light on your face. One, it makes you look healthier. Two, people are used to having good lighting when they’re watching a video. They’re used to watching TV and newscasts and things like that.
Cheri – And what do people need to be able to see?
Kathi – Your eyes! They need to be able to see your eyes. That’s such an excellent point.
Cheri – If they can’t see your eyes, they’re not going to trust you.
Kathi – Trust you! That’s really good. So, get some light on your face. You can buy little O-ring lights, if you have nothing else, but I’m actually going to tell you what you should do. I’m going to boss you around.
Cheri – Please do, because every time I see those O-ring lights, they reflect in people’s eyes and they look aliens.
Kathi – They do look like aliens, but I would rather you do that than nothing else, but here’s the interesting thing: We have a studio in San Jose that we built. We have to rebuild it because we’ve redone our house, but we also just told my mom…okay, we asked my mom, “You have a 3600sqft house. It’s you and the two cats. It’s about an hour from The Red House. Can we create a studio there?” So, we’re building a studio in my mom’s house. This is Roger’s favorite thing in the whole world, because I’m saying, “You have to go buy tech.” He’s like, “Okay, if you insist.”
Cheri – Go Roger! Go Roger!
Kathi – Let me tell you, we’re about to go do a cruise. I think he’d rather skip the cruise and go buy the tech.
Cheri – I’m sure you’re right.
Kathi – Absolutely. So, we’ll talk about that in a moment. Unprepared. You’re sliding into the seat with 0:00 on the clock. You need to show up and be ready. Show up early and work on your emails. Show up early and take a sip of your coffee. Because Facebook Live starts at 10:30, that does not mean you show up at 10:30.
Cheri – Well, and if there’s any tech problems, then your head isn’t in the game and you’re showing up and flustered, instead of showing up, ready to serve your viewers and listeners.
Kathi – Exactly. Okay, so, rocking. I would have never thought of this, because I don’t tend to sit on an exercise ball, but somebody we went to dinner with last night watched a video of herself on Facebook Live and she was on one of those exercise balls and she goes, “I realized I was bouncing and rocking.” Oh my goodness, yes. What you do in the privacy of your own home is your own thing, but when you get on Facebook Live, you need to be a pro.
Cheri – And we each need to be aware of our own nervous ticks. So, if it’s your first time on Facebook Live, do some practice runs. Well, we’re going to get to the how-tos, but be aware of those nervous ticks that you have because if you don’t know, everyone watching will know. I’d rather find out on my own, what the bad news is, than have everybody else know that the bad news is and me have no clue.
Kathi – Okay, so one thing people said is, “We’re just going to sit here and wait until people get on.” No. You let the people know, who showed up on time, and were ready to rock and roll, you give them the best stuff first. First of all, that doesn’t even make sense, because obviously, people are going to watch this on repeat. Hopefully, more people that watched it live. Don’t be dumb. Don’t be dumb. Give value right away. Don’t wait to give value. Then we have a split decision on saying ‘hi’ to people. I like to say ‘hi’ to people as they’re coming on, but people said, “Don’t interrupt your thought because you won’t go back to your thought.” I think that’s really good. Okay, so let’s talk about the equipment you need to be a guest. Basics. You need a computer. Okay, you just need a computer. You could do it on your phone, but you’re not looking like a pro, there. I’ve never done it on my phone, have you? With a guest?
Cheri – No.
Kathi – Me neither. You know what, things change between the interfaces of the phone and the phone so much. Just be someplace where you can be on your computer. You need internet access. I know that sounds so basic, but, you need good internet access. We’ve really been struggling. We’ve had some issues at my mom’s house, and I’ve had to go on the patio and prop my phone up in a planter where it dropped, and now my phone looks like it’s owned by a thirteen year old.
Cheri – Oh, that’s how it happened. Oh dear.
Kathi – Well, it’s one of the ways it happened, let’s just say. I normally have a case, but, anyway, nobody needs to hear this. I know about cases, guys. Don’t worry. It’s just been a situation. Okay, so you need good internet access, so check that out beforehand, and if you don’t have it, drive somewhere and get some good access. Webcam. You need a webcam. It’s so simple. It’s so you can reposition it. You’re not just stuck using your computer and trying to get that to work. If you’re going to be using your phone for that, make sure you have a great stand for it.
Cheri – And if you’ve just gotten either a new webcam, or a new computer, test it out. I bought a webcam and it would not interface with my computer. I had to return it. Then, I had a new computer, and it turn out, the camera is far worse than the old camera, and it makes me so sad. I, of course, wouldn’t have expected it. I would have expected “new computer, better camera”, so test first.
Kathi – Can I just tell you the craziest story? I have a black Samsung Galaxy tablet and I wanted to use it with Square. So, I’m looking up the specifications, ‘cause it’s just not working. It works with the white Samsung Galaxy tablet of the same code, same style number, everything. It doesn’t work with the black. My husband did not believe me. So, I said, “I would love for you to make this black Samsung Galaxy work.”
Cheri – Prove me wrong!
Kathi – He’s like, “It works with the white and not the black.” So, we posted this on Facebook and one of his friends from work says, “Samsungs don’t usually know what color they are.” So, we made Doug research it, and he’s like, “You’re absolutely right.” What?!
Cheri – That’s just crazy town!
Kathi – It’s crazy. So, yes. Try yourself out first.
Cheri – Even when you assume it ought to work, it might not this time.
Kathi – ‘Cause the white one worked!
Cheri – Yeah! I understand. And of course, you thought it was you for the longest time. You thought it was user error.
Kathi – Samsung! Have a pair of cheap headphones nearby. If you do nothing else. Because, if the host has feedback, and you have feedback?
Cheri – Oh, yes! It’s terrible.
Kathi – You need to be able to plug them in. That just happened to me today. I had a guest for something. Something was going on at their end and I plugged in. The way it helped me today, I plugged in, so I could guarantee that it wasn’t me on my end. It was them, on their end, getting feedback. They lowered the volume, everything was good.
Cheri – Great.
Kathi – But they didn’t have headphones right there. A good microphone. You need a good microphone. I know one podcaster who got so frustrated with people not having microphones that she would book people a month in advance, and send them a microphone in the mail.
Cheri – That is actually so smart, in terms of quality.
Kathi – Right? But here’s the thing. She said half of them wouldn’t use them. I can’t even.
Cheri – I’m speechless.
Kathi – So, I’m going to ask Roger just to give us a few tech things on this. There’s no use just you and I discussing tech.
Cheri – Just give us a shopping list. Oh my goodness.
Kathi – Just a shopping list. Amazon affiliate links, yes. I have to tell you, they are affiliate links. You may be donating, like, forty whole cents to the Communicator Academy podcast, so you’ve been warned. Lighting. I’ve got a great little kit here. It’s a continuous hair light kit. It don’t know why it’s called that. It’s about $129. This is good for video and photography and everything like that. I’ll send you the link.
Cheri – Oh, this is very nice.
Kathi – It’s a good kit. It doesn’t give you the ring lights. It doesn’t make you look…
Cheri – I got something like this for a photo booth at my dad’s 80th birthday party, and it worked beautifully.
Kathi – Perfect. I love it. Set up your room. Spend a couple of minutes. You’re setting a scene. It’s like you’re on TV. Even if it’s just white bookshelves with books on it. That looks better than the chair that has your jacket slung over it. Or a blank wall. It looks better than a blank wall. Set the scene, so that you know you look amazing. Okay, if you’re a guest, promote in advance, that you’re going to be on this. So, the host should be sending you a link that you can then share with your followers so say, “Hey! Come on and be with me at 10:30 that morning.” Then, understand that you might be going on with Facebook Live, or you could be going on with something like Be.Live. Be.Live is kind of a funnel. It makes it easier as hosts.
Cheri – Kind of a third party that integrates with Facebook.
Kathi – You’re able to do banners, and it’s a great tool, but you need somebody to be able to help you with that.
Cheri – And if the host has sent you this information ahead of time, the time to look at it isn’t 10:30am. 10:30 is a bad time to look at it and try to understand it. Because, with Be.Live, which we’ve used in the past, a lot of people are using something other than Chrome, and Chrome is the best browser to use with it. So, you know, we’d be busy stalling on our live, because they’re busy downloading Chrome and getting it up and running. All of that can be done and needs to be done in advance.
Kathi – Do you even want a guest who is using Internet Explorer?
Cheri – Is anybody?
Kathi – I don’t know.
Cheri – I wondered if you were about to confess.
Kathi – No! No!
Cheri – I didn’t think so.
Kathi – Oh, what book was it? I have to remember. They were able to predict, when they were doing job interview
Cheri – Adam Grant. Originals.
Kathi – Originals! That’s right.
Cheri – Are you using the browser that came with your computer?
Kathi – Or did you install a new one? If you installed a new one, you were going to be a better employee than the person who just used the browser that came with your computer.
Cheri – Because you take initiative.
Kathi – Right! Crazy.
Cheri – Absolutely amazing.
Kathi – That’s what I’m going to do with podcast guests and Facebook Live guests. What browser are you using? Internet Explorer? It’s been nice knowing you.
Cheri – I love it.
Kathi – Chrome, baby. Chrome. Okay, guys. This is your bonus tip. I love this tip. This is your bonus tip. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of telling you your basics. We’ve got a little checklist here. But Cheri, when people were saying they were frustrated because people were saying, “We’re just going to wait until everybody gets here to get to the good stuff.” And you totally flipped that on its head.
Cheri – Yes. I had a super-intendent years ago, a super-intendent of education, her name was Joyce Morse, and the way she would get people to show up on time, during teachers’ meetings, I’ll just call it that. Then it would be time for a break, and notoriously, it’s impossible to get teachers to come back on time.
Kathi – Ironic.
Cheri – I know. So instead of haranguing a bunch of adults, what she would say is, “We’re going to start exactly at eleven o’clock. If you’re hear five minutes early, I’m going to share something with you that’s not essential, but it’s awfully nice to know.” You should have seen grown adults flinging themselves in their chairs at 10:55. She would start exactly at 10:55 with some really fascinating thing that really applied to us, that would meet a felt need. It was always practical. We always felt amazing to know it and we knew exactly what we’d do with it. Then, exactly at 11 o’clock, we’d start the meetings again. It was just such a positive thing to do. So, I was thinking we could do that on our Facebook lives. Just say, “Hey! If you’re there five minutes early, I’m going to share something with you that’s not essential, but it’s awfully nice to know.”
Kathi – Here’s what I would say to that. I would say that, but with a twist. “If you’re there on time.” Because what most people do is, it pops up, and they join later. If you’ve taken the time to schedule this and say, “Hey! I want to go to that.” And you’re there when you say you want to go to it, I’m going to give you something awesome. We could say it’s essential. It could be essential, because you’ve shown up on time.
Cheri – Exactly.
Kathi – I love that. You guys, this is just a checklist for you to go through, for you to say, “Am I ready the next time I’m asked to be a guest?” and “Am I going to be a great guest that is invited back?” Cheri, thank you so much for hanging out with me and sharing your deep knowledge of all things Facebook Live.
Cheri – Thanks for having me.
Kathi – And thank you for joining us, friends. You’ve been listening to Communicator Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. You’ve been given the best message in the world. Now, go live it.
<<music>>
*see show notes in podcast post above for any mentioned item
Meet Your Hosts
Cheri Gregory
Author, Speaker, Podcaster, and Coach
Cheri Gregory is a teacher, speaker, author, and Certified Personality Trainer. Her passion is helping women break free from destructive expectations. She writes and speaks from the conviction that “how to” works best in partnership with “heart, too.”
Cheri is the co-author, with Kathi Lipp, of The Cure for the “Perfect” Life and the upcoming Overwhelmed.
Cheri has been “wife of my youth” to Daniel, her opposite personality, for twenty-eight years and is “Mom” to Annemarie (25) and Jonathon (23), also opposite personalities.
Cheri blogs about perfectionism, people-pleasing, highly sensitive people, and hope at www.cherigregory.com.
Kathi Lipp
Author, Speaker, Communicator Academy Creator and CEO
Communicator Academy founder, Leverage: The Speaker Conference creator and master instructor Kathi Lipp, is a national speaker and author of 17 books including “Clutter Free,” “Overwhelmed,” and “The Husband Project.”
She is a frequent guest on radio and TV, and has been named Focus on the Family radio’s “Best of Broadcast.”
She is the host of the popular podcast “Clutter Free Academy with Kathi Lipp.”
Over the past 10 years, Kathi has helped hundreds of people increase their platform through teaching and coaching. She is a frequent teacher at writer’ s conferences and has helped countless authors and speakers find their audiences.
Kathi’s desire to help fellow speakers and authors avoid the mistakes she made, increase their confidence and be the person God made them to be, inspired her creation of Communicator Academy. Her newest adventure, is The Red House where she offers writer’s retreats and Writers in Residence events. Learn more about the Red House at https:writingattheredhouse.com
Michele Cushatt
Author, Speaker, Mastermind Coach
As an experiened keynote speaker and emcee, Michele Cushatt’s speaking experience includes Women of Faith, Compassion International, and various retreats, conferences and events held across the country. She has also led radio, video and audio recording projects.
She co-hosted with Michael Hyatt on the popular This Is Your Life podcast. In addition, Michele serves as part of the Dynamic Communicators International leadership team, led by best-selling author and sought-after speaker Ken Davis.
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