Greetings from Barcelona☀️
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest, your weekly round-up of tips and insights to help you design and lead exceptional virtual sessions that your group members will love.❤️
When I started my virtual facilitation journey I didn’t give much thought to my home studio setup.
I thought the production side of virtual sessions was superficial. I was more focused on how to bring my facilitation tools to Zoom. “Besides”, I told myself, “no one cares if the image is a bit blurry and if the sound is fuzzy right?” Conveniently, the story I told myself meant that I didn’t need to do anything about it. That was a relief because I didn’t consider myself a tech person.
Then I realized that production quality does matter.
I started taking part in other people’s online webinars and events. I noticed how the crystal clear sound made me feel closer to the presenter. How the right lighting made them shine on camera. Good production made me feel as if I was in the same room as the host. As if the screen was melting away. That’s when I realized that production quality impacts on your connection with the group.
But I didn’t know where to begin.
The world of video production felt intimidating. I started watching YouTube Videos. I went down several rabbit holes on hyper-specific specs of different DSLR cameras, tripods, and mics. I was drowning in options. I felt completely out of my depth.
Setting up your home studio doesn’t need to be overwhelming (or expensive).
I set a budget (that ruled out the high-end complicated equipment). I asked course creator friends for advice. And over the course of a year, I slowly transformed my home studio into something that helped me level up my on-camera presence. I learned that you can take small steps to improve the quality of your sound, light, and image. And you don’t have to break the bank to do it.
How can you improve your home studio without breaking the bank?
That’s our Quest for this week🔎
👉Home Studio Essentials – Pro-tips from photographer and course creator Karaminder Ghuman
👉How I improved my home studio for less than $300
Let’s jump right in!
Home Studio Essentials – Pro-tips from photographer and course creator Karaminder Ghuman
Just when I felt like I would never figure out how to improve my online production quality, I had a chance conversation with my friend and colleague Karaminder. He set me straight on the basics of sound, light, and image which helped me transform my home studio.
If you don’t know Karaminder, he is a professional photographer, cinematographer, and go-to on all things production in the online course community. He founded an online community called Teachers of the Internet. He is an alumnus of my course Breakthrough Facilitation and a loyal Quest reader. And he is preparing to launch his first online course called Course Charisma.
We jumped on Zoom last week and walked through the evolution of my home studio. He offered valuable advice and tips for other virtual facilitators who are looking to level-up their on-screen presence. We talked about everything from mics to whether you should blur your background and more.
Here are the main takeaways:
🎙️Sound
- Sound is the most important element of home studio improvement. It has the effect of accelerating connection.
- Poor audio is a bigger cognitive load for your participants – it requires more of their brain power
K’s Tips:
- The most inexpensive sound solution is white headphones with a mic
- Invest in a decent microphone if you can
- The closer the mic is to your mouth the better it sounds
- A good distance from mouth to mic is about the length of a banana
💡Light
- Common lighting mistakes are that there isn’t enough light, or the light is too harsh. You want to aim for a diffuse light that decreases shadows (that will decrease lines and wrinkles).
K’s Tips:
- Always harness natural light
- If you don’t have natural light, invest in a softbox light
- Light should come at your side never behind you
🎥Camera
- You want to aim for eye-to-eye contact. The problem with most laptops is that you are looking down at the screen
- Aim to have 2-3 fingers of space above your head on the screen
- Avoid “close talking” i.e. when you are too close to your screen
- Give yourself space so you can communicate with some body language
K’s TIps:
- You don’t have to buy an expensive DSLR camera to get good-quality image
- Go into Zoom settings and set the video to “adjust for low light” to improve the picture
- If you have an iPhone you can attach it to your computer with a Belkin mount for $30
🌴Background
- When you add a background you add a story. It gives your group some more information about you.
- You can choose to have a wall behind you (like I do) or an open room (like Karaminder does)
- You can use background images in fun and creative ways
- For increased privacy you can blur your background
K’s Tips
- Plants, artwork, and bookshelves all make for an interesting background
Check out the full video here👇
Check out Karaminder’s upcoming course Course Charisma 👉here.
💰How I improved my home studio for under US$300
With a few intentional choices, you can level up your production quality without breaking the bank. Over the last couple of years, I went from using only my laptop to add a few elements that have vastly improved my production quality. There are much more sophisticated (and expensive) setups. These are a few things that have worked for me as a virtual facilitator.
Here’s my home studio set up with links to my equipment and costs.
1/ A Second Monitor
This was one of my first purchases (thanks to my husband) and a complete game-changer. I no longer have to cram slides, zoom gallery view windows, and documents onto one tiny screen.
What I have: BenQ GW2480 24-inch Monitor $119.00
2/ A Decent Mic
I bought this after taking Seth Godin’s podcasting course. It’s a big improvement on my MacBook Pro laptop mic.
What I have: FiFine K669 USB Microphone (similar – mine is out of stock) $32.99
3/ A Softbox Light Set
I bought a ring light and two desktop lights that turned out to be a waste of money. On Karaminder’s advice I bought two soft box lights that are easy to position and portable! I also have a $10 round ball light from Ikea that I use as background lighting.
What I have: OMBAR Softbox Lighting Kit 24″ x 24″ $69.99
4/ A Webcam
This summer I finally bit the bullet and invested in a webcam. I thought my MacBook Pro camera was pretty decent. But people remark on the better quality image when I switch to my webcam. And I notice the difference in my Zoom recordings.
What I have: Logitech C920s Pro HD Webcam $69.99
💰Home Studio Improvement Grand Total: $291.97
Here’s what it looks like:
What improvements have you made or would you like to make to your home studio setup?
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Creatively yours,
