How To Be Authentic, Yet Articulate On Camera

Tamika Bickham
3 min readSep 25, 2020

As you read the series of TB Media Group blogs this year about vlogging, you’ll see one very consistent tip I’ll be drilling into the heads of aspiring vloggers repeatedly. And, that is authenticity. Be you and let your personality shine through. Speak in a conversational and casual tone. This means you should not be perfect and polished.

Your vlog is not a serious news broadcast. Don’t attempt to emulate Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, or David Muir. You are not a professional news anchor and your audience doesn’t expect you to be. That’d come across as overly rehearsed. Online audiences want to see the real, raw version of you complete with flaws, blemishes, and hiccups. People relate to the imperfect.

To improve your articulation, re-record yourself presenting blogs you’ve already done or read an article from the newspaper or a magazine. See how you pronounce things and enunciate. Do you sound sing-songy or do your words mush together?

Do you sound like a Valley Girl by saying “like” a lot or do you say “um,” “yeah,” “so,” etc. too frequently? We’re all guilty of that! It’s good to become conscious of our bad habits, but I caution you not to become all too consumed with correcting this 100% for vlogging purposes. These verbal ticks add the essential sugar-coating of casual conversation and authenticity.

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Tamika Bickham

Tamika Bickham is the Founder and Chief Storyteller of TB Media Group, a visual storytelling agency. She is also a podcaster and an award-winning TV journalist.