One of the biggest problems professional speakers face when being video recorded is capturing the reaction of the Audience. Audience reaction, like laughter and applause, is important to video footage that will be used in a demo video because it helps the viewer gauge the success of the presentation. When a prospect meeting planner hears the laughter and applause in a demo video, it adds energy and is much more convincing than a video with a low volume reaction.

Being able to hear the audience reaction is very important for marketing purposes, as many clients who allow filming keynote presentations insist on keeping the audience faces out of the video. Some companies have a policy in place to avoid potential grievances. There is a solution!

In recent months, the pricing of Digital Audio recorders has gone down and the quality has gone up. This observation gave me an idea. Use a portable Digital Audio Recorder to capture the sound of the audience. This Tascam DR-05 Portable Handheld Digital Audio Recorder sells for about $80.00 and records in stereo.

Below, this Zoom H1 Ultra-Portable Digital Audio Recorder is also a great recorder and sells for about $100.00.

My recommendation is to place this recorder on the front of the stage or in the audience and record your keynote presentation. Because the recorder is very close to the audience, it will predominately pick up the sounds of the audience reaction. It will also record your keynote presentation from the PA speakers allowing us to sync both recordings and mix the audience audio. The goal is to layer this recording onto your video recording to have an enhanced audio track. The volume can be adjusted according to your preferences.

Plus, once you own the recorder, you can use it to create audio product as both of these recorders have external microphone jacks. Purchase an additional lavalier microphone and place the recorder in your pocket when you speak to record your presentation.

Competition is heating up in the speaking industry and prospects have expectations of quality when deciding on the professional speaker for their next event. Production companies do not always place audience microphones when recording video. Using a digital audio recorder as a backup will assure that you get a good recording of the audience reaction to help raise the overall quality of your video recording.