If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that I had a huge hang-up about my severe squint and the (ugly) glasses that I had to wear until the age of 18. Although I usually wear contact lenses now, I need glasses as well for close up vision and to rest my eyes sometimes. Thankfully, my husband Dave has been amazing in helping me to accept my squint, which he says makes me that much more human and lovable. Bless his beautiful soul 🙂
I posted the below pic on Instagram and Facebook recently and asked my friends and followers if they thought I should wear my glasses to present some of the videos in my online courses. Their responses were fascinating. Much of the feedback was based on their preference about how I looked, with some people providing additional insight relative to the context, in terms of me appearing more professional, for example. Among the women who commented, about 54% voted for me wearing my glasses, 16% against, with 30% being neutral. Just over 80% of the men were in favour of me wearing my glasses, with the rest split between neutral and against.
Some of my friends shared eye-opening insight about relevant studies on human behaviour. One apparently focused on twins, stating that 100% of participants felt that the twin who was wearing glasses inspired more trust than the one who wasn’t. Another study reportedly found that in the consulting arena the majority of clients valued and took in more of the information supplied by someone with glasses than the same information from consultants without glasses. However, an alternative report apparently indicated that glasses can create a barrier between you and your target audience. How’s that for a thought-provoking combination of feedback?
A few of my friends suggested that I wear glasses in some of my course videos and not others, to demonstrate different looks and styles while emphasizing that confidence comes from within and is all about feeling comfortable in whatever you wear. I whole-heartedly agree with this, so am wearing my glasses in 3 of my 21 content videos, 1 in each sub-course. The top pic on this post is a frame grab from one of the videos, to give you a sneak peek into one of my settings.
The point is that we can all be confident on camera, with or without glasses. This is increasingly relevant for many of us who need to wear them as we get older in order to see our computer screens clearly while we host webinars, for example. I hope that this input helps if you’re wondering whether or not to wear glasses on camera, and that it helps to boost your confidence if you feel camera shy because of glasses or any other reason for that matter. Big shout-out to everyone who generously participated in my opinion poll! How about you? For or against?
P.S. Stay tuned for exciting launch news about my online courses, which will be coming soon!
