How to prepare a CEO to speak on camera

There is a conversation I have on almost every corporate shoot. The CEO walks into the room, looks at the camera and says: "Let me know when you start rolling, I get nervous in front of a camera." This is someone who has presented quarterly results to a hundred people for twenty years without flinching. And they get nervous in front of a 50mm lens.

It isn't a weakness. It's a preparation problem. The CEO doesn't know exactly what happens once recording starts, what they will be asked or how long it will take. And when someone doesn't know what to expect, the body goes on alert. My job, before I turn the camera on, is to remove that uncertainty.

Why the camera is more intimidating than public speaking

Speaking to an audience gives you feedback. You see faces, you can adjust your pace and you can tell whether people are following. The camera gives you nothing. It stares back and doesn't react. For someone who hasn't filmed much, that lack of feedback is disorienting.

The other factor is permanence. A presentation gets forgotten. A video stays. That adds pressure. The CEO feels that every sentence will live forever, so they chase perfection in real time, and that blocks natural speech.

That's why preparation isn't only technical. It's also psychological: they should arrive on set knowing that mistakes are normal, that there's room for retakes and that the result will be good.

How I prepare a CEO before filming

The pre-shoot call

Before the shoot, I have a 20-minute call with the CEO or their assistant. Not to rehearse a script, but to go over the format: how many questions there are, what kind of answers we're after, whether they'll read from a teleprompter or speak off the cuff, and how much time we have on set. I also tell them what they don't need to worry about: slips in pronunciation get cut, long pauses get edited out, and if a take goes wrong there's time to do it again.

Posture and positioning before we start

When I get to the set, I spend 5 to 10 minutes positioning the CEO before rolling. I ask them to sit exactly the way they normally sit, not to adopt a "correct" posture that will feel uncomfortable after three minutes. We adjust the chair so there's no tension in the shoulders. I tell them where to look: if there's an interviewer, they look at the interviewer, not the camera. If they're speaking straight to camera, I give them a reference point at the right height so they don't lift their gaze.

Language during the shoot

Before the first question, I do a warm-up take. I ask them to say out loud their name, their title and what they did before they got that job. It isn't recorded for the final video. It lets the voice settle, gets the body used to speaking towards the camera, and shows them the world doesn't end if they make a mistake. After that, the first real question always comes out better.

Mistakes that ruin the take

• Sending them the full script the night before so they can memorize it. If they memorize it, it sounds memorized.
• Not telling them how much time is available. Uncertainty about the length adds unnecessary pressure.
• Going straight into the first question without a warm-up take.
• Asking them to "just be natural". It's the most useless direction you can give in front of a camera.
• Scheduling the shoot after a four-hour block of meetings. Mental fatigue shows on camera.
• Using a background the CEO feels uncomfortable with or that doesn't represent the company well.

Frequently asked questions

If you have a project that includes interviews with executives and want to talk through the format before stepping on set, you can get in touch through the contact page.