Learn to tell your stories by actually telling them.
1. Choose what you want to talk about
Pick a main topic, then a more specific one.
YapYap gives you a question.
Read it and see what comes to mind.
If nothing comes up, hit New question.
Keep going until you find a question that brings back something you actually want to talk about.
2. Record yourself talking about it
In the beginning, don’t even think about posting.
Record yourself answering five questions. Record ten if you want. Some will be good, some will be awkward, and some you’ll watch back and think “Yeah… definitely not posting that.” and that’s fine. This is training.
The more you do it, the easier it becomes to remember your stories, explain them clearly and feel comfortable on camera.
3. Use SPARK if you need structure
Under every question, you’ll see five smaller questions. That’s the SPARK framework.
S
Situation – Give us the context.
P
Problem – Explain what was going wrong.
A
Action – What did you do about it?
R
Result – What happened next?
K
Key Takeaway – What do you see differently now?
You don’t have to use it every time. If you can already tell the story naturally, just tell it.
4. Don’t record the whole story in one take
This makes it much easier
1
Read the first SPARK question.
2
Think about what you want to say.
3
Turn your camera on, answer it, and stop recording.
4
Open the second question.
5
Record your answer, stop.
6
Do the same with the third, fourth and fifth.
You end up with five small clips instead of trying to remember an entire story while the camera is running.
5. Write a few bullet points
If you’re just starting and you’re worried you’re going to forget what you wanted to say, write a few bullet points before you record.
Example:
Trained way too much
Started getting constant pain
Ended up having a surgery
That’s enough. Look at the points, remember what you wanted to talk about, then explain it in your own words.
6. Use the timer as a guide
It’s there so you can start seeing how long it takes you to tell your stories.
1 – 1½ min
Target
Try to keep most of your stories somewhere around 1 to 1½ minutes. Going a little longer is fine. But once you start getting closer to two minutes and beyond, ask yourself if every detail really needs to be there.
7. Put it together in Edits
Use Edits to put your clips together. It can generate your captions, you can remove parts you don’t want, clean up the pauses, add music if you like and do a little editing before you post.
8. Natural doesn’t mean bad quality
Make an effort with how your video looks and sounds:
Good audio
Nice background
Clothes you feel good in
Enough light on your face
A camera angle that looks good
9. Don’t post everything
Record ten, post one. Focus on training.
Share the one you feel inspired to post.
