Amy Carroll » Marketing Your Message » Answers to Your Questions: Promo Videos

Answers to Your Questions: Promo Videos

The question for the week…

Is a small time video (not a big crowd) better than no video? ~Kimberli

Yes! Every speaker should see a sample video as an essential part of your speaking ministry. A savvy event planner friend of mine said, “I’d never hire a speaker without seeing a video first.”

Thankfully, in our digital world, it’s not difficult to have a sample video. Here’s some advice I’ve received mixed with what I’ve learned along the way:

  • Sample videos should be short. Contrary to what I originally thought, three to four minutes suffices.
  • You should use the best snippets from your message(s), highlighting your range and strengths. Show some funny and some serious. Some Bible teaching and some story-telling. Some loud and some quiet. You’re trying to give event planners a feel for who you are as a speaker.
  • Get the best video possible. Shoot for having something with a high resolution. If it’s shown on a large screen, you don’t want it to wash out.
  • Crowd shots are something your videographer can purchase and add. I wouldn’t ever be deceptive about the size of crowds you’ve spoken in front of, but in my case, the camera was only on stage.
  • Let your creative person create. Both of my sample videos were done by the pastor at my church who produces video for our church. The first time we worked together, I tried to micro-manage him, and the result was dismal. The success of the two videos I actually use on my website is due wholly to giving him what he asked for and letting him go. You might want to provide things like– extra photos, focal scripture, quotes from your blog posts or books, ideas for focus. I ended up loving mine because of the story my videographer told.
  • Don’t worry if it’s not “slick”. Have it produced at the level where you are. If you’re a new speaker, a less produced video is fine. If you’ve been speaking for years, you probably need to save a budget for something a little more.

Here’s the video I just had done. It’s not perfect :), but I tried to put all these principles into practice.

Here are some other sample videos that I think are well done:

Chrystal Evans Hurst (it’s embedded in her home page)

Lynn Cowell

Dale and Jena Forehand

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10 Comments

  1. Great video Amy!!!! This makes me so excited to read about doing having a video done. I don’t know where to start but I’m excited. I have a Banquet I’ll be speaking at soon & am praying for more speaking opportunities after that event and this looks like a great way to share and give info on my websites. Thank you so much fo the great tips and for sharing your lovely video with us. Blessings, Shannon

    1. So sorry for the typos, my cell phone is not working right and didn’t show me my post until I entered my post. Lol.

      1. Thanks so much for your sweet comments, Shannon! Cheering you on as you work on a sample video.

  2. Amy — After giving some thought to what you said in your post about crowd shots, my conclusion was to find ones that matched (as closely as possible) the audience you spoke to. Am I correct?

    If so, and you can’t find any that do a fair match, I would probably skip them altogether. Although a quick shot of the audience enhances the presentation, I’ve seen videos without any crowd shots and they were perfectly fine.

    1. Absolutely on both counts! Neither of my sample videos have any crowd shots in them. My videographer and I talked through it this time, but in the end, he went a different direction. I am thrilled with it, so it was a non-issue. The kinds I’m thinking about show a tight shot of women listening or taking notes, but they are completely optional.

      Thanks for circling back around to this topic, Rose. I sure didn’t mean for this to become a controversial topic. I trust God to be big enough to prick our conscience with the Holy Spirit if we Speaker Girls are crossing any lines. As Lysa says, “He’s good at being God!” We’ll all agree to listen to Him and follow Him as He leads. Our job is just to point to Him. I Know we’re all on the same page about that! 🙂

      1. I just now watched your above sample video. It’s great!!

        1. Awww…Thanks so much, Rose! You know that working on anything like this is a labor of love. 🙂

  3. I’m saddened to read that you think it’s okay to purchase crowd shots.

    We are supposed to be representing Christ.

    1. I was careful to say that we should not over-represent the crowd. These are only to fill in gaps in the filming at our event.