Prepare for the Benton Downs Conversation

We are excited that you are joining us for a conversation about photography! We’ll do whatever we can to make this an easy and enjoyable experience.

Below are some things we need, tips for a better experience, and frequently asked questions. Please reach out to Barry at barry@bentondowns.com if you need any assistance or have any questions.

Please send us:

Let’s Make You Look Good!

Please do what you can to have your face well-lit and your laptop a little higher than normal. You’ll want to avoid, if you can, looking down too far at your laptop. Close to eye level is great.

To improve the lighting, you can get creative and move lamps (etc.) to your area to ensure proper lighting. You can buy a cheap ring light if it real bad, but usually a combination of moving things works.

Position your head in the middle of the screen with the top of your head near the top of the frame.

Audio:

The sound is the most important part of the conversation. People will watch a grainy video but will turn something off if the audio isn’t right. 

Earbuds or headphones with a mic in them work best. This helps avoid a potential echo.

Note: when using headphones with a mic, please ensure you are not bumping your headphone wire. This can cause insane static.

Tips we have learned the hard way!

• It will be your instinct to look down at the host while recording. Please try to look directly into your camera as much as possible. This makes for a great, professional recording.
• Something will go wrong. Don’t panic. If the problem is on our end, we will fix it immediately and move forward. If it’s on your end (your mic breaks, etc.), please correct or Barry will help you troubleshoot the issues.
• Please close all applications on your PC/Mac that you do not need for the conversation. Please close all browser tabs that you do not need on your computer except for the Link in the previous screen.
• If you have any background processes like cloud backups, large file uploads/downloads, streaming services, etc. that can slow down your processor speed and cause a delay in the internet speed, please pause them! Sometimes, it’s best to reboot your PC/Mac to clean out any processes running in the background that you may not be aware of.
• If there are others in your household that will be using the internet during your interview, please ask them to hold off on any large file uploads/downloads, online gaming or other bandwidth robbing activities.
• Make certain you are as close as you can get to your internet router and/or are plugged directly into your router via Ethernet cable. The most frequent issue is slow WiFi which will cause your screen to freeze.
• We have found that disconnecting all other devices (iPads, cell phones, other computers, etc.) from WiFi can help increase your internet connection speed.
• Turn off any loud background noises. Try to make your environment as quiet as possible.
• We will be recording this interview in a relaxed, conversational style. No worries if one of us messes up…we usually do…we’ll just reset and start over and it’ll be all good.

That’s It! Except…Let’s Have Some Fun

When we start, let’s bring the energy and enthusiasm and have some fun!

If you have any questions, please email Truly@bentondowns.com and Barry@bentondowns.com.

We are looking forward to our chat!