If you’re not in the Green Room yet:
This replay is public through Monday night. Then it goes into the paid subscriber vault with the rest. I opened it up because a couple dozen of you watched the live on Substack today, and I'd rather you see the whole thing than the first ten minutes. Watch it. The door's at the bottom.
Well, friends. Round two. Our second Green Room Setup Clinic is in the vault. Thirty-three of you came onto Zoom, nineteen were still there when I finally stopped talking, and we streamed it live on Substack too, so a couple dozen people who aren’t in the room yet got to watch what actually happens in here. Some of them are in the room now. Welcome.
The full replay is above. Here’s what got fixed, and then, in writing, the four things I announced at the end, because two of them have dates on them.
What happened in the room.
Shari came up first asking about her background, and I told her the truth: it’s beautiful, don’t touch it, maybe one little glow behind the elephants. Then I sent her off to put her iPhone back on the clip, because if you’re on an iPhone and a Mac you don’t need any app at all, you just need Continuity Camera. She came back, we pushed her back from the lens, and there’s a Nikon in her closet she’s been traveling with for years. That one’s getting solved in the Squad.
Esther, from the Netherlands, had a strip light I could see reflected in her glasses. Full round light, up and a little out of her eyeline, and my rule stands: if you can’t sit in front of it for four hours, it’s too bright. Then we flipped one Zoom setting, background noise suppression from Auto to Low, and her mic went from a 7 to a 10 in real time. You can hear it on the replay.
Susan took last month’s notes and got out of the cave. Her new background is clean, intentional, warm, exactly what she wanted, and the only thing I could find was one empty wall that wants a little sconce. (I showed everyone the one we found at HomeGoods for Gwendolyn’s GlamCam in Denver.) Her face was reading red, and that’s not her, that’s the Dell webcam. She’s applied for the Squad. Good.
And then this, about half an hour after we hung up. Susan posted in the paid subscriber chat:
“Thank you for another incredible clinic today. I used chat to help me find the right style and size sconces. Ordered them and they will be here tomorrow!”
With a ChatGPT mockup of her wall, the sconces placed, measurements and all. From “maybe one thing on that wall” to ordered and arriving in under an hour. Sarah Grace, that’s the exact move I described for your closet doors. It works.
Susan, screenshot when they’re up. The whole room wants to see it.
Linda dialed in from the lake house in the Upper Peninsula, and gave everybody the lesson of the day: her wall is lavender. Her webcam made it green. If you have a purple wall behind you, a webcam will turn you green trying to fix it. A real camera negotiates that color honestly. Also, tighter lens, no puppy kennel in the shot. I’ll see her for her audit next week, on her birthday.
Mariska, also from the Netherlands, at half past eight at night, got her real camera set up as her webcam since we last talked, and it was hunting for focus. Turns out pressing the shutter button kicks the autofocus in. Then we turned off Zoom’s portrait lighting, because her camera blurs the background on its own now, and tipped her mic up. She was miking her sternum. Aim it at your mouth. Instantly better.
Bridget’s mic sounded like it was down the street, and it was a Yeti. She was talking into the back of it. Flip it, aim the blue logo at your mouth, thumb on your lips, pinky touches the mic. She’d just been told on someone’s podcast that her audio was off. She will never face that mic the wrong way again, and neither will you now.
Sarah Grace thought her guest-room closet doors were a problem. They’re not. They’re wood, they flatter her coloring, and they could be decorated with command strips, or, if she wants to go big, custom painted. Screenshot yourself in the frame, describe the mural to ChatGPT, get a mockup, post it, and an artist will emerge. Her audit’s in November.
Jen had the round light I recommend and glasses glare. Her laptop was floating; it needed to sit on the light’s own foot with the light smashed up against the lid. Lighting fixed. Then the real culprit showed up: her webcam was exposing for the window behind her and making her gray. A pillowcase over the glass, or, better, her $1,200 Samsung as the camera through Camo. I asked her to screenshot the result and drop it in the chat before the next clinic. Jen, I’m holding you to it.
Gina updated Zoom and suddenly looked far away. Her iPhone had switched to the wide lens. Switch off the phone camera in Zoom, switch back, done. Then I caught her holding her Yeti like a singer’s mic. They pick up from the front, not the tip. Once it was set down and aimed, I told her the truth: she sounds like she’s hosting her own radio show. And she was, for about three minutes. We’re doing a Green Room happy hour and Gina’s doing a set. Erica’s note in the chat: “what a difference from when we met back in June.”
Kirstin’s hair was pixelating, which is a sharpness setting buried in her Canon’s Picture Profile, not her hair. And she was reading orange. Her light was set to 3200K. We moved it to 5600. The chat lit up, and you’ll see why. Sunlight is blue, not yellow, relative to everything in your house. That’s the whole lesson, and it’s one dial.
Dr. Jennifer had ten minutes before a patient and asked which Yeti would bring out the deeper part of her voice. Any of them, if it’s close. The Shure MV7 if she wants to go all the way. But here’s what I actually told her: that thing she hates about her voice came from a bad mic on a podcast fifteen years ago. That wasn’t her voice. That was microphone trauma. She’s got a podcast in two weeks, so she’s booking a quick fit call.
And Jamie, in a “dark, dark room,” which turned out to be one of the coolest rooms I have ever seen. Dark green walls, a light beam on the wall, a window in front of her. The only things wrong: shmutz on the lens (Windex, not your thumb), a $40 mic that needs to be a Yeti, and a webcam that has no idea what to do with those walls. Jamie, you’re a 3/5 with that background. Let’s get you on a GlamCam.
From the survey afterward, two lines I’m keeping:
“I look and feel incredible when I set the right settings up. NO MORE leaving that to Zoom!” — Melissa
“I thought my office was too dark, but turns out... it’s not!” — Jamie
Replay chapters:
0:00 — Welcome, and hello to Substack
0:02 — The Backstage page
0:03 — October: next clinic and Run the Room
0:06 — Meet Karen, The Green Room Concierge
0:08 — Shari (the background, and Continuity Camera)
0:13 — Esther (strip light, MV7, noise suppression 7 to 10)
0:18 — Susan (out of the cave)
0:23 — Linda (the purple wall that reads green)
0:30 — Mariska (autofocus, portrait lighting off, the sternum mic)
0:36 — Bridget (the backwards Yeti)
0:43 — Sarah Grace (closet doors and the mural idea)
0:50 — Jen (glasses glare, laptop on the light’s foot)
0:52 — Gina (the wide-lens switch)
0:55 — Kirstin (sharpness and the 3200K problem)
1:00 — Dr. Jennifer (which Yeti, and microphone trauma)
1:05 — Shari and Gina, round two (the singer’s-mic mistake)
1:12 — Jamie (the coolest room, the greasy lens)
1:20 — Jen, round two (the window exposure problem)
1:23 — Kirstin, round two (watch the color change)
1:29 — Announcements: 10% member discount, the Glam Squad, the Mini Private Install, GlamCam Studio
1:37 — Squad pricing, and the close
What I announced, in writing
1. The Backstage page is live.
Everything you have access to in the Green Room, on one page: the series, the replays, the clinic calendar, the chat, the audit booking, the Squad application, your member discount code. Bookmark it: tommycollier.com/backstage. Karen said it on the call and she’s right: most of the questions that come through the chat are already answered there.
2. October has two dates.
Friday, October 16, 1:00pm Eastern. Clinic #3. Four weeks from this one, same as always. It’s on the Green Room calendar which you can find on the Backstage page.
Friday, October 23, starting 1:00pm Eastern. Run the Room: The Zoom Hosting Tech Intensive. This is the marathon. Everything I know about hosting a Zoom the way I host one, so you can run workshops people pay for: the settings, the registration, the waiting room, polls, breakouts, the share with music underneath, the whole recording and replay workflow. I’ve blocked five hours. There will be breaks, there will be a full replay, and afterward I’ll turn the transcript into a checklist and handbook you can keep. It’s included for every Green Room member. To the public it’s $397. If you host anything on Zoom, your membership just paid for itself with this one day.
3. Green Room members now get 10% off everything I offer.
The Glam Squad, the GlamCam Mini Private Install, GlamCam Studio. Same code for everyone, off the top, always. It’s on the Backstage page. Being in this room is now the cheapest seat for all of it.
4. The Glam Squad is real, and it’s monthly now.
The founding squad is wrapping up in a couple of weeks and it went well enough that I’m not treating it as an experiment anymore. Here’s what it is, if you missed the first announcement: the GlamCam Mini blueprint (the rig Tracy, Julie’s beach house, Erica, and Charlotte are all on, about 95% of the Max for about half the price), installed together in a small group over four Saturdays. Same gear, same settings, me walking you through every one.
The next squad starts October 10th. Beta had three people; this one tries four. The price is $888, which with your member discount lands just under $800, about $49 more than the founding squad paid, and I’m leaving it there through the end of the year. Gear runs right around $1,000 if you need everything, about $800 if you already have a light and a mic.
You have to apply, because I match squads by setup, time zone, and schedule. The application is on the Backstage page. And apply even if you’re not ready yet: the earlier you’re in the queue, the earlier I reach out about the next one. I’m starting to offer spots from the existing applications now. Before-and-afters from the founding squad are coming soon.
And two more paths, for anyone who wants it faster or fully custom:
The GlamCam Mini Private Install is new and official. Exactly what I did with Tracie and at Julie’s beach house: the Mini blueprint, installed with me one-on-one, built for efficiency, not tied to a squad’s schedule. About half the price of the full custom build. First come, first served, and it’s the fastest way to be on a GlamCam before the end of the year. Details on the Backstage page.
GlamCam Studio is still the top of the mountain: fully custom, fully aligned, not done until it’s a 12 out of 10 for both of us. I’m likely raising the price significantly at the start of 2027 as I lean into the squads, and I can only take a handful more before the end of the year. If Studio has been on your list, this is the window. The quick fit call on glamcamstudio.com is how you talk it through with me (budget, timing, what’s right for you). It’s not a diagnostic like the audit, and there’s no line for it.
One more thing.
I want to see your progress on your setups between clinics. Screenshot your progress shots and drop it in the chat. That’s what the chat is for, and it’s how everyone else learns from your fix.
See you October 16th.
📸 Tommy
The door, and why this weekend.
You just watched what happens in the Green Room. Twelve people came on camera, I told each of them the one thing to change, and everybody left with a fix that wasn’t theirs. That’s every four weeks. Next one is October 16.
The week after, October 23, is Run the Room, the Zoom hosting intensive. Five hours, full replay, $397 to the public. Included for members.
The Green Room is $222 for the year. The training inside it costs more than the room.
Here's the honest reason not to wait. Two lines inside the room get longer every week, and I can't shorten either one. The private audit calendar is already full for November. Join this weekend and book on Monday, and you're in December. Join in a few weeks and you're looking at January. And spots in the October Glam Squad are being offered now, in the order applications came in, from a page only members can see.
One more, because I can: the first hot seat on October 16 goes to someone who joined this weekend. 🥳
This replay goes private Monday night. The door doesn’t. The lines just get longer.
