020: The Energy Mistake That Turns Viewers Away | The VidConcierge Show with Dr. Walter Salubro
Episode Overview
Many health professionals are confident, expressive, and engaging when speaking with patients face-to-face. Then the camera turns on and something changes.
Their voice becomes quieter. Their facial expressions become more limited. Their posture stiffens. Their gestures disappear. What normally feels like a natural conversation suddenly sounds like information being read from a script.
In this episode of The VidConcierge Show, Dr. Walter Salubro explains why your natural energy may not translate automatically to video and how that can affect the viewer’s experience.
The solution isn’t to become louder, more exaggerated, or turn yourself into an entertainer. It’s to bring slightly more of your natural enthusiasm, expression, and purpose into your delivery so the person watching can experience the same professional they might meet in your office.
You’ll learn two practical techniques—the Energy Dial and the Passion Point—that can help you become more engaging on camera while still sounding and looking like yourself.
What Low Energy Looks and Sounds Like on Camera
Low energy isn’t always obvious while you’re recording.
One of the clearest signs is a flat or monotonous voice. Your pitch barely changes, your volume remains constant, and the words that matter most receive the same emphasis as everything else.
Low energy can also appear visually.
Your facial expression may remain almost unchanged. Your posture can become passive. Your gestures may become unusually small or disappear completely. Even your eyes can communicate less enthusiasm than they would during a normal conversation.
This creates a problem even when the information itself is excellent.
You can be highly knowledgeable about your subject and still appear as though you aren’t particularly interested in talking about it. And if the viewer can’t feel your interest, it becomes more difficult for them to maintain theirs.
That’s why on-camera communication involves much more than simply saying the right words.
Your tone of voice, pacing, posture, facial expression, eye contact, and gestures all contribute to the energy the viewer experiences.
Why More Energy Doesn’t Mean Becoming Someone Else
Once you recognize that your energy is too low, it can be tempting to overcorrect.
You might assume you need to become louder, use bigger gestures, smile constantly, or adopt a highly animated presentation style.
That isn’t the goal.
If the energy feels disconnected from your natural personality, viewers may sense that too.
You should still sound like the same doctor, chiropractor, therapist, or health professional someone would encounter in your office.
The objective is simply to allow more of your natural enthusiasm to make it through the camera.
That’s where the first technique comes in.
Technique 1: Use the Energy Dial
Think of your on-camera energy as a dial rather than an on-and-off switch.
You don’t need to switch into a completely different personality when you start recording. Instead, imagine taking the energy you naturally have during a great conversation with a patient and turning it up slightly.
If your normal conversational energy feels like a five, try recording at a six or seven.
That small adjustment might mean:
Slightly stronger vocal projection.
More variation in your pitch and tone.
Greater emphasis on the words that carry the meaning.
More visible facial expression.
Allowing your natural hand gestures to come through.
The key is that the change should be noticeable without feeling manufactured.
One easy place to practice is your voice.
Choose one sentence from your next video and record it twice. First, say it exactly as you normally would. Then record it again while projecting slightly more and emphasizing the words that communicate the key idea.
For example:
“If your back pain gets worse every time you sit, the problem may not be the sitting itself.”
Instead of giving every word equal weight, allow your voice to guide the viewer toward what matters.
You can do the same with facial expression.
If something is encouraging, allow yourself to smile. If something is surprising, let your expression react. If you’re making an important point, your face should help communicate that it matters.
You aren’t inventing energy that isn’t there.
You’re turning up what the camera might otherwise make more difficult for the viewer to experience.
Technique 2: Find Your Passion Point
The second technique begins before you ever press record.
Ask yourself one question:
Why do I actually care about this topic?
This is your Passion Point.
Genuine energy becomes much easier to communicate when you reconnect with the real reason behind what you’re teaching.
Imagine you’re making a video about sciatica.
You could concentrate entirely on anatomy, symptoms, exercises, and the information you need to deliver. All of those things matter, but simply thinking through the information may not create much emotional energy in your delivery.
Instead, think about the patient who couldn’t sit comfortably, sleep properly, or play with their children because pain was constantly shooting down their leg.
Then think about why you want the person watching your video to better understand what they can do next.
Your purpose changes.
You aren’t trying to sound enthusiastic about sciatica.
You’re enthusiastic about helping someone understand something that could improve their situation.
That difference can transform the way you communicate.
When you reconnect with your reason for teaching the topic, you don’t have to manufacture enthusiasm. Your voice, expression, and presence often become more engaged naturally because what you’re saying has meaning behind it.
Professional Doesn’t Have to Mean Serious
Health professionals sometimes associate professionalism with being extremely restrained on camera.
But being professional doesn’t mean removing your personality.
Video gives you the opportunity to take something you might normally explain to one patient and share it with hundreds, thousands, or potentially millions of people.
Allow yourself to enjoy that opportunity.
Smile when it feels natural. Let your personality appear. Have fun explaining something you know well.
Some of the most engaging professionals on video are the ones who clearly understand their subject while also appearing to enjoy the conversation they’re having with the viewer.
That is the balance to aim for.
You want enough energy that viewers can feel your enthusiasm, while maintaining enough authenticity that they still feel they’re meeting the real you.
Today’s Action Steps
For your next video, record the first 30 seconds twice.
In the first version, use your normal recording energy.
For the second version, turn your Energy Dial up slightly. Add a little more vocal projection, variation, facial expression, and natural movement.
Before you record that second version, also connect with your Passion Point. Remind yourself why the topic matters and who you could help by explaining it clearly.
Then watch both versions back.
Pay attention to your voice, facial expression, posture, gestures, and overall presence.
Don’t simply ask, “Which version has more energy?”
Instead ask:
Which version feels more engaging while still looking and sounding like me?
That is the level of energy you want to continue practicing.
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