Madalyn Sklar

Hosting Live Shows with Confidence

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Live streaming has been around for ages now. And yet, there’re so many of us that still hesitate when it comes to going live on social media. What does it take to be a confident speaker on a live show, and how can we achieve that? We invited Julia Jornsay-Silverberg, brand manager at NOW Marketing Group, to chat about being confident on live shows. Here’s a summary of our chat.

Guest: Julia Jornsay-Silverberg
Topic: Hosting live shows with confidence
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.

Q1: Why is video a powerful asset for a brand?

Video is powerful because it’s inherently human. Whether you’re a personal or corporate brand, you can use video to showcase your personality and resonate with your audience.

As Jim added, video is a great tool because it caters to multiple senses—you can see, hear, and feel when you’re engaging with a video. That’s why video is more powerful than text- or audio-only content.

Q2: Why should brands host live shows?

Hosting a live show is an excellent way to share your expertise, connect with your audience on a personal level, and built a community around your brand in real-time. The more frequently you show up and provide value to your community, the more they’ll want to engage with you.

Live shows are also a good opportunity to collaborate with peers in your industry. As our guest explained, she hosts her brand’s monthly live show, #NOWAndThem, and she often brings in guest speakers to liven up the conversation even more.

As Benjamin also pointed out, the real-time element of a live show is critical to building strong relationships with your audience. Live video is also great because it allows a brand to highlight its representatives on a global stage. This, in turn, helps humanize the brand, making it more relatable to the audience.

Q3: How often should you go live?

There’s no right answer to this. According to our guest, doing weekly live shows are an excellent way to build up your authority and reach a wide audience in a short time. However, in reality, it’s extremely challenging to sustain that pace. Unless you have the capacity to do weekly shows consistently, don’t jump onto it.

Instead, as our guest does, try monthly shows. It’s not important whether you do weekly or monthly live shows—what’s more important is that you follow it up consistently so that your audience will remember and tune in automatically.

Feel free to experiment with your schedule to see what works best for you and your audience. But once you’ve found a schedule that everyone can get behind, stick to it. It’s important to commit to a fixed timetable so that your audience can start to trust your credibility.

Q4: Share some best practices for live video.

The most important thing is to be consistent with when you go live. It’s also equally important to have a specific theme and plan for each episode. Focus on sharing valuable content, but also remember that it’s a chance for you to have fun, too. Share your personality throughout the live show.

Once you’ve got those fundamentals sorted, look around at your environment and fix any technical issues. For example, find a setting that offers the best light for your videos, and invest in high-quality audio and video equipment, and network connections. This is important because you should be prepared to manage the situation if things fall apart in the middle of a live show.

Christine shared an excellent idea as well: Repurpose your live shows as smaller audio and video clips. Or convert them into blogs, Twitter threads, or even infographics.

Q5: What skills do you need to host a live show?

One of the most important skills you need to host a live show is adaptability. Live shows are dynamic and unpredictable. You have to think on your feet and adapt to the changing situation quickly.

Listening and confidence are skills that complement adaptability. If you pay attention to what’s happening, you’ll then be confident enough to direct the show where it needs to go.

Another really important skill is speaking, as Madalyn reminded us. However, it’s almost impossible to speak flawlessly in your first live show. You hone your skills as you do more live shows—so as Madalyn said, don’t let a lack of experience deter you from hosting shows.

Q6: Share some tips for being confident on camera.

Most of us tend to think that we don’t need practice to speak about a topic we know. Even if you’re speaking about your expertise, facing a camera is a special skill. Thoroughly prepare and practice what you’re going to say.

Don’t underestimate the camera—you’ll look and sound different from what you expect. Take some time out to record yourself and play it back. This will help you become a confident speaker on camera. If you get opportunities to speak to an audience, grab them with both hands. Public speaking improves your ability to hold an audience’s attention.

Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up over small mistakes. Perfection is a myth, so don’t chase after it. Instead, focus on learning from every mistake and growing as you go.

Q7: What kind of equipment do you need to host a live show successfully?

For starters, any camera and microphone will do the job. Our guest uses a Logitech web camera and a ring light. Along with some natural light, it’s an ideal setup.

Don’t forget the basics, as our friends from Social Media Pulse reminded us. Make sure you have a stable internet connection and a good plan for what you’re going to say.

Q8: What are some ways to repurpose your live videos?

A live video is a perfect resource for multiple short-firm videos. Edit and publish them as YouTube Shorts, TikToks, and Reels. You can also embed the video and summarize it in a blog post, pull out quotes and create social media posts.

If you want to take it further, re-use your live videos as podcasts or use the content for your email campaigns. When you start thinking about it creatively, you’ll realize that there’re countless ways to repurpose your live videos at every stage of your customer’s journey.

Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading through and for more great insights from our chat with Julia have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together for us. If you like this summary, you’ll love the real-time chat. Join us next Thursday at 1 pm ET for #TwitterSmarter. We also have an after-chat on Twitter Spaces at 5 pm ET. See you there!

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About me, Narmadhaa:

I write all the things—marketing stuff to pay the bills; haiku and short stories so I feel wholesome. A social media enthusiast, I hang out with the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and am always happy to take on writing gigs.

Say hello: The Opinionated Copywriter | LinkedIn | Twitter

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