I was mid-rant on a Zoom call with comedian Adam Bloom (I highly recommend his book “Finding Your Comic Genius” by the way)
While I was complaining about how I needed to lug my giant red backpack around, he said:
“Do you know bands show up three days early with truckloads of gear to set it all up? And you’re complaining because you have a rucksack? Suck it up.”
Damn, he’s freaking right.
From that day on, I committed to bringing my backpack to all my performances, no matter how far.
In addition to bringing my backpack, I also bring all of my own camera gear to make sure I can capture my performances.
If you’re serious about scaling your speaking business, content isn’t optional.
Like Adam Bloom taught me, there’s no more excuses.
So let me walk you through my exact setup process.
Here is a list of all of the gear that I use.
I carry around the Tarion Pro Camera Backpack. In it, you’ll find a Sony FX30 Camera with a Tamron lens that goes from 28-75mm.
With this camera and this lens, you’d be fine to capture your own stuff for the rest of your life, and the material will look absolutely amazing.
Next, I mic myself up. I use the RØDE Wireless Go II Dual Channel with a lavalier mic which I stick under my shirt.
I make sure to arrive an additional 30 minutes early.
I set up the camera about 20-25 feet from the stage. Straight shot. No fancy angles.
I zoom in just enough to frame myself from the knees up so we can punch in for reels later.
I shoot in 4K and in S-Log. Filming in S-Log means that the colour of your footage can be played around with by an editor to make you look better.
I then test my audio.
I hit record, walk to the front, say a few lines, then play it back.
If I can’t hear it clearly, I fix it.
Five minutes before showtime, I find someone nearby and ask if they’ll hit the record button when I start speaking.
People always say yes.
After the engagement, the first thing I do is take the SD card from the camera. I pop it into my laptop, and transfer all the footage instantly to a hard drive.
This is to make sure we never lose content. It’s now in two places the same day we’re at the event.
When I get home, I’ll plug this into my computer and upload all of it to Dropbox.
That’s it.
From this moment forward, you can make the decision that no matter what, you’re going to film your stuff.
Sam
P.S. If you’re interested in more of the details of my gear and camera set up, please DM me on Instagram and let’s chat!
