How to create compelling YouTube and TikTok videos
Use these tips to make persuasive videos.
This Politics Girl video is important. You learn about the importance of voting in Nov 7th Virginia election, and get ideas on how to improve your own videos. Here are a few tips you can emulate from master communicators like Leigh McGowan. Find other resources on communicating better here.
Make your videos engaging
Start with a bang! Let your audience know right off the bat, what it's about and why it's important.
Explain the situation, the characters, choices, possible outcomes and finish with the call to action.
Keep your call to action specific along with URLs on the video.
Your video should be a conversation with one person rather than a formal presentation.
Use hand gestures for impact. Count off points on your fingers when you're making a series of points
Use pauses at key points that you want to emphasize.
Stand up while presenting rather than sitting. This let's you present better and makes your video more dynamic.
Keep eye contact with your viewers. Don't look down to read your script.
Fist prepare your script first. Use short phrases rather than full sentences.
How to prepare your video script
Record a draft of your video as if you were presenting it and upload it to YouTube. Then use the TRANSCRIPT feature of YouTube to get the text version. That's the three dots on the bottom right hand side of your YouTube screen.
COPY and PASTE your script in to a teleprompter like the BigStage Teleprompter, which also has a free version. Highlight the text that you want to emphasize and leave blank lines where you want to pause for emphasis. Use different colors to indicate different parts and the tone of voice to use. Adjust the font size and speed of the teleprompter on your laptop.
Place your phone camera between you and your laptop which has the scrolling teleprompter script. That way you can be looking straight at the camera while reading the script that's scrolling behind it.
TRY PRESENTING THIS SCRIPT IN A FREE TELEPROMPTER
TakeAway: "... give the Republican Party and their abortion restricting, book banning, voter suppressing, soft supremacy the double middle finger and say not this time, not on our watch" - Leigh McGowan. Polish your video skills!
Deepak
DemLabs
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Script of Leigh's video
NOTE: I don't know if Leight used a teleprompter or not, and have used her video to illustrate good presentation techniques.
Make a strong opening that explains what you'll be talking about
Hi I'm here to talk to you about the most important election in the countryright now and that is the upcoming election for the state legislature in Virginia
Explain what’s going on?
all seats in the GOP controlled house and all seats in the Democratic controlled Senate will be up for grabs Tuesday November 7th and these elections are all going to be held in freshly drawn districts
Describe the choices
Right now the governor of Virginia is a republican named Glenn Younkin who is basically a smart Ron DeSantis dressed in the Mitt Romney costume. he's an anti-vaxx, anti-choice far-right extremist disguised as a good-natured Suburban dad but it's an act he ran a Centrist campaign to appeal to Independence and swing voters but he kept getting caught on tape admitting his true plans
Provide details
he's pushed to make voting harder for Virginians. he's unabashedly anti-abortion. and anti-lgbtq. he believes that parents not teachers should dictate School curriculum especially when it comes to race and sex. and he believes that individuals should be able to veto any book they want even if that removes access to that book to everyone else in the state right
Explain why it matters to your viewer
now Youngkin is polling around 51% in Virginia. experts believe his polls are so high because he hasn't pushed as many extreme policies as other like-minded Governors like DeSantis or Abbott or Huckabee. but to be clear that's not because he doesn't want to it's because the Democratic Senate in Virginia keeps holding him back Virginia is one of two states in the nation with a split legislature with Democrats holding a slim majority in the Senate while Republicans hold a narrow majority in the house. which is why the upcoming legislative election in November is so important of the seats available there is a handful in each chamber that are enough to make a game-changing difference. not only to the future of Virginia but to the fate of the nation the GOP could take the Senate the Democrats could flip the house both parties believe they have a real path to controlling both Chambers
Layout the choices
If the Democrats win they'll have one more chamber to protect Virginians from the Republicans extremist ideology
if the Republicans win then Governor Youngkin will finally have the power to unleash everything the Democrats have been holding back like trans bans and abortion bans and voter suppression. Given the opportunity experts say Youngkin will be able to turn Virginia into Florida overnight. And I don't think I need to tell you that one Florida is enough which is why everybody who believes in Democracy in America needs to help the Democrats hold the Senate and flip the house
Call to action
Think of it as practice for the national elections next year Republicans think they can sweep both houses and turn a Biden plus State into a right-wing Trifecta potentially allowing Youngkin to ride that success all the way to the White House as the White Knight savior when the entire Republican primary clown show self-destructs and to be clear he wouldn't be any better than any of those people his ideas are just as extreme even if they come in Mr Rogers packaging.
Losing both State Legislative Chambers in Virginia would be a disaster with all the levers of government politically aligned there would be no checks and balances for the state to protect the voices of the voters or Virginia's electoral votes the presidential election could come down to one pro-democracy majority in one chamber so Democrats have to dominate in Virginia they need to win one or both houses to shut the Republicans down this is our opportunity you to tell the abortion restricting book Banning voter suppressing soft supremacists that we're not going to take it anymore. we need to win so they are afraid. not concerned. not worried …. afraid. we need to give them a preview of the election in absolute Technicolor.
we did it in Wisconsin. we did it in Ohio. and now we will wrap it up in a great big bow with Virginia. you don't have to live in Virginia to care about this election, but if you care about our democracy then this is where your attention goes.
Make your appeal specific
now if you live in Virginia, you talk to all your friends, your family. you make a plan to vote. you get registered. and you get out to the polls. the previous Democratic Trifecta major State very pro-voting use that to your advantage. if you don't live in Virginia go to swingleft.org, statesproject.org, or emilyslist.org and focus on MUST Flip or MUST save Virginia seats we are setting the tone going into and that tone is sure as hell not giving up one more state to the extremists.
Finish strong
so go out and shut them down!