If you’re not doing live videos, livestreaming, you’re missing out on an easy way to connect with your target audience.

Livestreams are a way for your followers to get to know you as a person and not just as the name behind a business. Lives not only build credibility but it's also a way for your followers to learn from you, be inspired by you, and be empowered by you.

Here are 5 public speaking tips for live video to make your livestreams unforgettable.

The great thing with Lives is you don’t need a fancy studio or green screen. Anyone with a smartphone and a Facebook account can go live on their personal profiles, their business page, or their groups. You can also go live on Instagram and YouTube.

Fans from around the world can see your energy and hear your voice on a livestream. This is the quickest way to build your know, like and trust factor. 

Livestreams are the perfect example of give and take. While your audience gets to know you, you get to know your audience better based on the questions and comments you receive while live streaming.

Engage With Your Audience During Your Livestreams

Keep eye contact You don't want to look crazy just staring into the camera and you don't want to look scary by not blinking but you don't want to have your eyes wandering all over. Make an effort to look into the camera and maintain eye contact naturally.

Keeping eye contact with your viewers builds trust with your audience and they will feel as if you’re speaking directly to them.

Talk to just one person Be conversation and pretend the person on the other side of the camera is your best friend (mentor, colleague, etc.) Don’t pay attention to the view counter, don’t worry about how many thousands of people may see it on YouTube. Instead, focus your attention to just one person so your message is clear and comes across naturally. Speak directly to your avatar. 

Bring High Energy Nothing is more boring than delivering your livestream presentation in the same tone of voice, with the same energy throughout. Instead, mix it up and bring high energy. 

Switch up the volume and change the pace of the presentation. Keep your livestream fresh and interesting. If you’re constantly changing it up, your audience won’t know what to expect next and that is what keeps them engaged.  

Be Prepared One way to be unforgettable is to be remembered as the person that forgets what they are saying, is all over the place or blanks out during the middle of the live. You want to be clear and concise during your live. 

You need to be able to talk directly to the audience, and you can’t do that if you’re constantly looking down at your notes.\

Know your topic. Use a script, an outline or bullet points to stay on track and deliver your speech confidently. The more confident you are, the more engaged your audience is going to be. Prepare well in advance, practice, and know your live presentation.

Keep videos short We all know people have ridiculously short attention spans so not too many will sit and listen to a 30-60 minute video. There are exceptions to every rule. If you are using livestreams to build an audience and reaching new people, it should be shorter than speaking directly to your clients or followers. 

Make the first 30 seconds count! You have just seconds to grab the audience’s attention. 

• Ask a question right away to grab attention
• Use storytelling
• Use humor
• Greet visitors by name (Treat those live viewers like gold)
• Don’t stall beginning your livestream waiting for people to tune in. Think about what your viewers want to see. (and think about the replay)

Avoid rambling. Again try to be clear and concise. Your audience will relate better to videos that have a clear message. If you start your message, then tell a cute story about your kids, then do a quick rant before getting back to your main message, chances are you’ll lose viewers who give up and stop watching. People do relate to storytelling but that’s very different from rambling about disconnected thoughts.

Ask questions You can ask your audience questions throughout your livestream, hold Q&A till the end or just host a Q&A session. Either way questions increase engagement and is a great learning opportunity for your audience.

Get your audience to share their ideas and thoughts on the information you’re providing. The more interactive you make it, the more memorable the livestream is going to be.

Questions are a valuable source of information not only for your audience but you as well. You can use questions in your content marketing - blog topics, video topics, livestream topics in addition to creating products and services. 

Give your audience a surprise free gift At the end of your live, you audience will most likely forget most of what you said and won't retain everything.  Why not offer them a free gift that is related to the information that they have to opt-in to get? You can offer a checklist, an ebook, People love free gifts. This can act as a thank you in addition to growing your list. 

More on How to Engage Your Audience with Livestreaming

Get Lighting Right During Your Livestreams

Put your light source in the front, not the back.  Stand in front of a wall (office, kitchen, etc. that doesn’t have a light source) and place your lighting in front of you. Your audience wants to connect with YOU, not your shadow. Light from the rear causes awful shadows and sunlight at your back will blind your audience.

Choose your lights carefully. If you’re on a budget, start with a simple ring light that attaches to your smartphone. As your budget grows invest in lighting.

Beware of the glare. Try to. minimize glare by removing objects that will cause glare in your livestreams. Anything with a reflective surface will cause a glare. Eyeglasses are the biggest  offender followed by metallic objects. Even the smallest thing can cause glare in your video. If you can’t remove the from the frame, try moving to a different location or adjusting your lighting.

Get More Viewers on Your Livestream

The more people who see your livestream, the better:

• better engagement
• increase followers 
• increase sales

Don't be afraid to promote your livestream:

• create a Facebook event and then publicize it
• talk about what you’re doing in your status updates
• run a Facebook ad or two to attract new viewers
• tag friends in comments
• broadcast simultaneously in multiple groups/on multiple pages
  

Scheduled your livestream during peak time when most of your followers are on. Not only will you get more viewers, you will also get more engagement and more sales when you use a call to action.

Be Consistent with Your Livestream Strategy

Try to go live at least once a week. Keep top of mind with a regular live schedule. You are easy to forget in today's crowded marketplace without a strategy. Plan out a video livestream calendar complete with exact topics and calls-to-action (always tell your viewers what to do next after watching your live). 

Don't Forget to Repurpose Your Livestreams

Old videos are not meant to gather dust on your social platforms. Repurpose those videos into new content for your audience. You can take a Facebook Live video and upload it to your YouTube channel. Optimize with keywords and you’ll get plenty of organic traffic.

You can also have that video transcribed and break it up into an autoresponder email course.

You can also create a bundle of livestreams with the same theme and package them as a course.

I love repurposing content as the possibilities are endless.