What to Say on Camera: A Framework for Experts and Creators

You know your subject. You could talk about it for hours over coffee. But the moment you open a camera app and see your own face staring back, everything you know evaporates. The screen is blank. Your mind is blank. You close the app and tell yourself you’ll try again later.

This is the most common failure point in video content, and it has nothing to do with equipment, editing, lighting, or which platform you post to. The real blocker is simpler and more frustrating: you don’t know what to say.

Not because you lack knowledge. Because the open-ended act of “making a video” gives you no starting point. This guide is a complete framework for solving that problem — permanently.

The real reason experts don’t make videos

Talk to anyone who has tried and failed to build a video habit, and you’ll hear the same story. They bought a ring light. They downloaded an editing app. They researched the best time to post on Instagram. Then they sat down to record and realized they had no idea what to actually say for the next 60 seconds.

All the preparation in the world doesn’t matter if you freeze the moment you hit record. And freezing is exactly what happens when you sit down with a vague intention like “I should make some videos about my business” or “I need to start posting content.”

Vague intentions produce blank screens. That’s not a motivation problem — it’s a structure problem. We cover the psychology behind this in depth in The Blank Screen Problem: Why Experts Freeze on Camera, but the short version is this: your brain needs a specific prompt to retrieve specific knowledge. “Make a video” is not a prompt. “What’s the biggest mistake first-time homebuyers make?” is.

The difference between those two starting points is the difference between staring at your phone for ten minutes and recording a confident, useful video in one take.

Start with what people already ask you

Here’s what most content advice gets wrong: it tells you to brainstorm topics. To think about your “pillars” and your “content buckets” and your “brand voice.” That’s fine for media companies with editorial teams. It’s terrible advice for a solo expert trying to record their first ten videos.

You don’t need to brainstorm anything. You need to open your inbox, scroll through your DMs, think about your last five client calls, and write down the questions people actually asked you.

Those questions are your content. Not topic ideas. Not general themes. The literal questions, in the exact words your clients use. “How much does it cost?” “How long does it take?” “What should I do first?” “Is it too late to start?” “What’s the difference between X and Y?”

Every expert has a version of this list. Most have never written it down. The moment you do, you’ll realize you have more content than you could record in a month. We walk through this entire process in Turn Your Most-Asked Questions Into Videos, including how to pull questions from places you might not think to look.

The beauty of starting with real questions is that you already know the answers. You’ve given them dozens of times. You don’t need to research, outline, or rehearse. You just need something to react to — and the question itself is that something.

One question, one video

Once you have a list of questions, the temptation is to group them. To make a “comprehensive” video that covers everything a beginner needs to know. Resist this.

The single most effective framework for expert video content is almost comically simple: every video answers exactly one question. That’s it. One question, one answer, one video.

This works for several reasons. It keeps your videos short and focused, which platforms reward and audiences prefer. It makes each video genuinely useful as a standalone piece — someone can find it, watch it, get their answer, and trust you more. And it makes recording dramatically easier because your scope is tiny. You’re not trying to deliver a lecture. You’re answering one question.

A real estate agent doesn’t need to make a video about “everything you need to know about buying a house.” They need thirty videos, each answering one specific question: “What credit score do I need?” “What are closing costs?” “Should I get pre-approved before I start looking?” Each of those is a 60-second video that’s easy to record and genuinely helpful to watch.

The full breakdown of this approach — including how to scope your answer and handle follow-up questions — lives in The One-Question, One-Video Framework.

Why prompts work better than scripts

When people decide to get serious about video, the first thing they usually do is write a script. It feels responsible. Professional. Prepared.

It also sounds terrible on camera.

Scripts make most people sound like they’re reading (because they are). The pacing is off, the eye contact breaks, and the delivery feels stiff. Viewers can tell immediately. The whole point of video — building trust through presence and personality — gets undermined by the very thing that was supposed to make you sound better.

The other extreme is pure improvisation. Just hit record and talk. This works for a rare few. For most people, it produces rambling, unfocused videos that take five takes to get right, if they ever do.

The middle ground is a prompt: a specific question or statement that gives you a clear starting point and a defined scope, but lets you respond in your own words, in real time. You’re not reading. You’re not winging it. You’re reacting to a question the way you would if someone asked you in person.

This is exactly how FAQ Videos works — it generates focused prompts from your topics so you always have something specific to respond to. But even without an app, the principle holds. A sticky note on your phone with a single question written on it will outperform a polished script almost every time.

We go deeper on the research and practical mechanics behind this in Why Prompts Beat Scripts for Video.

Build a content engine from questions you already get

The most sustainable content strategies aren’t creative exercises. They’re systems for capturing and converting knowledge you’re already sharing.

Think about it this way: every time you answer a question in an email, a DM, a consultation, or a meeting, you’re creating content. It just evaporates. The answer helps one person, once, and then it’s gone. Video makes that answer permanent and shareable.

Here’s a practical system that works:

Step 1: Start a running list. Keep a note on your phone. Every time someone asks you a question — in any context — add it to the list. Don’t filter, don’t edit, just capture. After a week, you’ll have more ideas than you need.

Step 2: Batch your recording. Pick five questions from your list. Record all five in a single sitting. This usually takes 15-20 minutes. Batching reduces the activation energy of recording and gets you into a rhythm where each video comes easier than the last.

Step 3: Use your backlog as a safety net. The reason most people quit making videos is they “run out of ideas.” With a running question list, you never do. Your clients and customers keep feeding you material, and you just keep converting it.

Step 4: Expand beyond FAQs. Once you’ve covered the obvious questions, branch into myths, misconceptions, “things I wish people knew,” comparisons, and industry hot takes. These are all just variations on questions, and they produce some of the most engaging content. We catalog dozens of these angles in Video Content Ideas When You’re Stuck.

This isn’t a content calendar. It’s a pipeline. Questions go in one end, videos come out the other. The input is automatic because questions never stop coming. Your only job is to capture them and periodically sit down and record.

Getting past the first recording

Everything above is a system. Systems are great. But they don’t help with the very first moment — the one where you’ve got your phone propped up, the question is in front of you, and you still feel ridiculous.

That feeling is normal. It doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for video. It means you’re doing something unfamiliar, and your brain is treating it like a threat.

Here’s what actually helps:

Record a throwaway video first. Tell yourself the first one doesn’t count. Say anything. Introduce yourself. Describe what you had for lunch. The purpose is to break the seal and prove to your nervous system that nothing bad happens when the red dot is on.

Talk to one person. Don’t think about “your audience.” Picture one specific person — a client, a friend, a colleague — who has asked you this question before. Answer it for them. This shifts your brain from performance mode to conversation mode, and the difference in your delivery is immediate.

Keep it short. Your first videos should be 30-45 seconds. Not because that’s the ideal length, but because a shorter target feels less intimidating. You can always go longer once recording feels normal.

Don’t watch it back immediately. Record it, save it, and move on to the next question. You can review them all later. Watching each video right after you record it is a guaranteed way to spiral into self-criticism and quit.

Lower your bar dramatically. Your first video will not be your best video. It shouldn’t be. The goal of video number one is to make video number two feel easier. That’s it. If you recorded something and it vaguely answers the question, it’s good enough.

The experts who build real traction with video are not the ones who make perfect first videos. They’re the ones who make imperfect first videos and keep going.

The framework in practice

Let’s put this all together. Here’s what the process looks like once it’s running:

1. A client emails you asking whether they should do X or Y.
2. You add the question to your running list.
3. On Saturday morning, you pick five questions from the list.
4. For each question, you prop up your phone, read the question, and record a 30-90 second answer.
5. You’re done in 20 minutes. You have five videos. You share them on whatever platforms you use, or you send them directly to clients who ask the same question in the future.

No brainstorming sessions. No content calendars. No scripting. No editing (unless you want to). Just questions you already know the answers to, answered on camera, one at a time.

That’s the whole system. The hard part isn’t understanding it — it’s starting. So pick one question. The one you get asked more than any other. Open your camera. And answer it like someone just asked you in person.

You’ll have your first video in under two minutes. And from there, everything gets easier.