SWIVL helped me catch my teaching mistakes

Swivl help me catch my utter mistakes when teaching. My high school freshman football coach would always remind us, “the eye in the sky never lies” meaning the camera never lies even if we do. Years after high school football I still remember the quote and Swivl reminded me that I cannot lie about my performance. 

A few years ago I was introduced to Swivl, which is a portable device that lets you take control of your recording using a tablet or phone. I used Swivl to record one of my presentations, Financial Peak Series. The Series was a three part series focused on a particular personal finance topic: budgeting, credit score/report, and student loans. 

At first, I was happy with my performance, but after watching the video, I couldn’t believe how many times I kept saying, “right.” In the first two minutes, I say, “right” at least five times. 

If I had asked a member of the audience their opinion, they would have probably said it was good. However, Swivl, which is the eye in the sky, never lies. After watching the video, I worked on eliminating the word “right” after every other sentence, my posture, and eye contact. 

No matter how well we think, we are we can always improve significantly. Looking at our performance, you can pick up body posture and vocabulary that you can fine tune for the next presentation. Don’t always take someone’s work about your performance. Look at yourself, examine, and see what you can work on and continue to improve. 

Watching a video is not a waste of time. Professional athletes watch film of themselves and opponents because it’s how athletes get better at their craft. The same with you use Swivl and record your presentations and get rid of the bad habits.  

Dr. J Real Talk

Discussing business, ed tech, and life. Follow me on social media @DrJRealTalk