There's a critical difference between trying to be authentic and simply being it. The former is a performance, conscious of an audience. The latter is unselfconscious, achieved by focusing on the conversation or task, not on how you are being perceived. The goal is to forget the camera is on.

The fear of being on camera often stems from self-consciousness. Sending short, personal "video voicemails" to one person at a time shifts your focus. The act of creating a video for a specific individual forces you to visualize them, humanizing the interaction and replacing fear with a focus on connection.

To prevent guests from adopting a rehearsed, "idealized" persona, the podcast host starts recording as soon as they sit down. By eliminating formal cues like "Are you ready?", the conversation feels natural and unplanned, leading to more honest and unguarded responses that reflect the guest's true personality.

Start your video with another person filming you and saying, "Wait, tell them what you just told me about [your topic]." This point-of-view (POV) format creates an immediate sense of candidness and intrigue, setting you up as an expert about to share a valuable, unscripted tip and subverting the feel of a typical talking-head video.

Audiences crave authenticity, making highly polished videos feel unrelatable. Instead of investing in expensive gear, creators should invest in authentic storytelling, embracing a raw and imperfect style that builds more trust.

The pursuit of perfection paralyzes content creation. The polished, multi-take style of traditional media is obsolete on social platforms. Authenticity drives engagement. Don't re-shoot for a minor mistake; correct it in the video and post it. The more human and raw you are, the better your content will perform.

Instead of feeling intimidated by a camera lens or a potential mass audience, creators should visualize one specific person—their ideal client or a former version of themselves. This transforms the recording process into an intimate conversation, making content more authentic and relatable.

Andy Richter's technique for better interviews is to start recording the moment a guest arrives. This captures unguarded conversation before the formal "commercial vessel" of the show begins. Avoiding a stilted intro maintains a framework of real human interaction, leading to more authentic content.

To avoid robotic content, use “humanization prompting.” This involves uploading transcripts of your natural speech (from interviews or voice notes) to a custom GPT’s knowledge base, training it to adopt your unique cadence, vocabulary, and style.