21 Pictures of Marketers’ Desks: Behind the Scenes Pics of Their Cameras, Mics, Lights

Some marketers are podcasters and YouTubers. Naturally, their desks are mini-studios.

But even if you produce video, you probably talk to a camera for 3-4 hours each day just in meetings. With this much camera time, we’re all in mini-studios now. So what are we using? How did we set it up?

We reached out to 21 marketers and friends and asked them to share pictures of their desks. We first did this four years ago and today, we’re getting an update. In each case, we’ve included the list of gear in case you’d like to emulate their setup. A few things you’ll notice:

• There are two kinds of cameras
  You’ll see two kinds of setups. Some use webcams, some use DSLR mirrorless cameras. These fancy cameras are almost standard for anyone who records video. And teleprompters are now very common.
• Ring lights are out, LED panel lights are in.
  The dimmable panels are now very popular. You’ll see some very fancy rigs, simple lamps and natural light.
• Lots o’ monitors
  You’re about to see some amazing, NASA mission control type screen arrangements. 3+ monitor setups really aren’t that unusual these days.
• Microphones on booms
  So many mics are on adjustable arms now. And Blue Yeti is on the decline. Shure MV7 and SM7B are trending up.
• Ergonomic Environments
  Standing desks are still very popular. So are vertical mice, upgraded chairs. And we are surprised to see so many mechanical keyboards.
• Personal style
  You are going to see some typewriters, musical instruments, notebooks and markers, even pets.

Ready? Let’s peek into the homes and offices of some truly great marketers and see what life looks like from the other side of the lens. For each, we listed their gear and bolded the stand-out items.

Andy Crestodina

I’ll go first and explain the camera difference.

“Hey, your picture is amazing. What camera are you using?”

I get this question a lot. I am using a regular DSLR camera as a webcam. It has HDMI out and connects to the computer through a little adapter called a “cam link” which tells the computer that the signal is from a webcam. The camera battery has been replaced with a power adaptor for continuous power. That’s it.

This is why some people look so much better in meetings and videos. They are using real cameras with glass lenses. It’s 5x the price of a webcam, but the picture quality is 10x better.

This isn’t a home office. I work everyday in Orbit Media’s world headquarters.

• Sony Alpha a5000 DSLR camera (If I were starting from scratch, I’d buy the Sony ZV-1)
• Elgato Cam Link 4K (you can see it under the monitor, plugged into a USB adapter)
• Røde NT podcaster mic on a boom
• Acoustic panels against the walls
• Dimmable LED lights, one behind the screen and another on the side. They’re very big. A bit much really. Someday I’ll get a Luma Cube Edge light.

Jay Schwedelson’s Boca Broadcast HQ

Jay Schwedelson, Founder SubjectLine.com & President and CEO Outcome Media

We’ll do Jay next because he has a similar setup with one big upgrade: the teleprompter. He hosts his podcast and his mega virtual event, GURU Conference from this room. Magic happens here.

• Sony ZV-E10 with a Sigma 16mm 1.4 lens
• Elgato Prompter
• Elgato Cam Link 4K
• Shure MV7 USB mic on a boom

If I were to upgrade, I’d do what Jay’s doing. The teleprompter gives you perfect eye contact. And behind it he’s using my future camera. I have no need for the extra gear, but a kid can dream, right?

ProTip: You can upload any video recording to Descript and use the “Eye Contact” feature. It changes the direction you’re looking, pointing your eyes directly into the camera. Works great!

Drew Davis’ Hollywood Studio

Andrew Davis, Keynote Speaker & Bestselling Author

It’s not in California. It’s in Florida. But this is as close as it gets to a sound stage for a home office. I want to work here.

I didn’t get the gear list from Drew, but you can see a lot of fun toys: teleprompter, stream decks (two of them), mics on booms, panel lights, a GoPro, a downward facing document camera (maybe the IPEVO VZ-X) and some video editing software.

If you know Drew, you know it would be weird if his office didn’t look like this! He is a former TV producer who worked with muppets. Ask him to do his Grover impersonation sometime.

Ann Handley’s Tiny House

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs

Next we go from high-tech to humanist.

Ann has a tiny house in her backyard. She does her writing there. In the tiny house there is a little studio. No fancy camera here. It’s a pretty basic setup with a few big differences:

Laptop and lights. Paper, markers and Pens. But there are really three standout features in Ann’s setup.

• 1958 Royal Futura 800
• Blackwing colored pencils
• Auggie

The typewriter isn’t decoration. She uses it. If you’re on her newsletter, you know this already.

Something else interesting here: the pencils. I call them out because Ann uses them to create content. Rather than making digital charts, she draws them on paper. then takes a picture of herself holding the chart. They’re analog (“Annalog?”) and it’s so much more engaging. Ann proves an important point: tech is overrated.

Jeff Large’s Podcast Paradise

Jeff Large, Come Alive Creative

On the other end of the spectrum we have the complete studio.

Jeff Large runs a podcast production company from this desk. The audio features are fully upgraded: mic on a boom, sound panel, switcher, surround sound speakers. Jeff’s setup has the best speakers in the group by far.

Here’s the rundown:

• Logitech Brio webcam
• Custom built PC and dual monitor setup
• Yamaha HS5 monitors (front) and Yamaha HS8 monitors (behind)
• Sound Design MixPre 6 II audio interface
• ESP MoCo passive controller
• Shure SM7b mic and Auray boom arm
• Aputure 120d II light
• Audimute sound panel
• Corsair keyboard and mouse

Tim Hanson’s Startup Studio

Tim Hanson, Cofounder & CMO of Penfriend

Tim is building an AI tool for content marketers from this sweet home setup in Vancouver.

Look past the sneaker collection and guitar, you’ll notice some big screens. He’s got one ultrawide curved monitor in the center, and another vertically arranged ultrawide monitor on the right. Also unusual, the fun, two-part keyboard

This is a very impressive setup. Clearly, each item has been thoughtfully selected.

• Samsung Odyssey ultrawide curved monitor
• Dell ultrawide monitor (vertical)
• Sony ZV-E10 camera
• Elgato Prompter (used as screen, and for calls)
• Ergodox keyboard, with Pokemon custom keycaps 😛 (it was never just a phase, dad)
• Purple Crown keyboard switches
• Logitech MX Master 3 mouse (this is my favourite mouse ever, I have 3-4 of them still in the boxes)
• Elgato Key Light and Ring Light
• Wave 3 microphone
• Stream Deck controller
• Limited Edition Logitech Embody chair
• JH 13 Pro Custom IEMs (in-ear monitors)
• Sonos Era 300

Zontee Hou’s Guest Room Office

Managing Director, Convince & Convert

My friend Zontee does a lot of client presentations and virtual workshops. So she needs a nice setup. But her office doubles as our guest room, so the setup is flexible and easy to break down.

Shoutout for the instruments! Is that an electric violin?

• Insta360 Link Camera (4K, super easy to use, can auto-track you, has a white board mode)
• Lume Cube lamp (desk lamp/filming light combo with color temp/brightness controls and charging ports, in case you need more places to charge)
• HyperX Cloud headset, popular with gamers, who have similar requirements.
• Samson Meteor mic, which folds up for travel, making it easy to pack!

See the little gray bag? Those are her Neewer wireless lapel microphones. Those were recommended by content marketing pro, Lee Judge. They’re USB-C, tiny and a set of two. Perfect for interviews on the go.

Robert Rose’s Creative Strategy Studio

Founder and Chief Troublemaker, Seventh Bear

Here’s what a modern marketing consultancy looks like. Robert Rose does a lot of video and podcasts, so the camera, lights, teleprompter and mic are all dialed in. Three monitors so there’s plenty of pixels. This is another musician in the mix, with the instrument right next to the desk for creative breaks. Love it, Robert!

Notice, no laptop.

• Mac Studio M1 computer
• Roland A-88 MKII Controller Keyboard
• Sony A6400 DSLR camera
• Apple Studio Display Monitor
• Asus 27inch Monitors (x2 vertically aligned)
• Elgato Key Lights
• Elgato Prompter
• Electro-Voice RE20 Microphone
• Espresso Display …a touchscreen on the keyboard!

Christopher Penn’s Secret Lair

Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist, TrustInsights.ai

Who needs multiple monitors? Just get the drive-in theater-sized screen and partition it!

It saves space and Chris needs it. It’s like a server closet and a TV studio had a baby. But from this small space, Chris reaches an enormous audience with a ton of high-value AI education videos and the longest running marketing podcast, Marketing Over Coffee. That name seems ironic now that we see he drinks tea.

• Samsung 65″ TV
• Rodecaster Pro
• Shure SM7B
• Keychron K10 mechanical keyboard (Chris is a keyboard collector and aficionado)
• Razer Basilisk Hyperspeed mouse
• MacBook Pro M4 Max
• Elgato Facecam Mk.2
• Sony MDR-7560 mic with boom
• David Clark HBT-30 headphones (aren’t those for airplanes?)
• Netgear Gigabit Unmanaged Switch (gives off that server closet energy)

April Dunford’s Positioning Perch

Founder, Ambient Strategy

From this desk, April wrote the marketing classic Obviously Awesome, then followed it up with Sales Pitch. These books are on the shelves in the background of many marketers I know. But clearly, April’s setup is for video and audio, not just text.

The chair is Herman Miller. “I highly recommend it because you only get one spine in this life.” Let’s look at the rest of April’s gear and her commentary.

• Camera One: Logitech Brio webcam “I use this for everyday video calls, and it never fails.”
• Camera Two: Canon EOS M50 Mark II DSLR camera “I run this through a CamLink for podcasting. The video quality is great (when it works). As a tech person, I am stunned at how unreliable, buggy, and overall disappointing the DLSR camera + CamLink + Riverside combination is. Every podcaster I know uses something like this and accepts that, occasionally, a podcast will be garbage. No other tech in recent memory has disappointed me this much.”
• Shure M7 microphone “I upgraded from an old Blue Yeti when I started the Positioning podcast, and it’s a significant improvement.”
• Desktop computer “My son and I built a PC for fun. It’s hilariously overpowered, including a graphics card bigger than my head, liquid cooling, and flagrant RGB lighting.”
• Samsung Tablet “I take handwritten notes in OneNote, which syncs with my large database of call notes. I tried using AI call summarization but realized the main thing I wanted to capture was my impression of prospect companies, their positioning challenges, and any open questions I might have—something AI can’t do for me.”
• Notebook and a fountain pen – “I think more clearly when I write on paper. I recently took a board director’s course and took notes in that blue notebook (from Dingbats – great paper). I’m having a fountain pen moment right now—that’s a Lamy Studio All Black.”
• Diptyque candle “My office smells like the French countryside.”

Mitch Joel’s Clean Room

Co-founder, ThinkersOne

In these pictures, I see the reflection of a very organized mind. From the screen angle to cord management, Mitch has a tight setup. There is one big screen for productivity and several tablets for secondary apps and tools.

Office Desk:

• MacBook Pro
• Samsung Monitor
• iPad Pro
• iPad Mini
• Blue – USB mic (just for show – never use it)
• Ugreen Uno USB Hub
• Bose Bluetto Speaker
• Super Powers Nightwing Figure
• Jada Classic TV Series Batmobile

Mitch also shared this picture of his studio, which is purpose-built for production. It’s exactly the right gear for the streamer. Nothing missing. Nothing extra.

Studio setup:

• MacBookPro
• Elgato Teleprompter
• Osmo DJI 3 (behind the teleprompter)
• Vocaster Duo
• Audio Technica Headphones
• Shure MV7 Mic
• Elgato Low Profile Book Mic Arm
• Elgato Webcam (backup – never use it)
• Godox Softbox Light

Isar Meitis’ AI Lab

Chief Executive Officer, Multiplai.ai

Isar builds AI automations, records an AI podcast and creates AI courses. He does it all here. It’s a minimalist studio with just a few high-end pieces. Everything has its own adjustable arm.

• Nikon Z6II with a 24-85mm lens (mounted on the desk)
• Cam Link
• Shure MV7X on a boom
• 32″ 4k monitor

Jeff Julian’s Farm Monitoring Station

Jeff is a highly technical custom software developer …with a farm in Missouri. His setup is for both software development and livestock monitoring.

He wins for most pixels.

“I keep two to three clients on my weekly schedule, so I need to focus on one project and monitor the rest of the communication and systems at the same time. We also have over 75 goats, 200 chickens, and other livestock on the farm five miles down the road, so I use cameras to check the status at home.

We also have an off-grid setup on the farm, so I have to monitor solar power, batteries, and current load so we can have enough juice to make it through the day and night. Since we started the farm, I have a separate desk now for working on custom hardware solutions for many projects that help me monitor and automate work on the farm.”

This setup will change when he finishes his new 100% off-grid solar / lithium battery powered office. When it’s cloudy he can use the EV truck to power it. “Living in the future is incredible.”

Here’s what you’re looking at:

• Four 27-inch 4k monitors in vertical orientation (that’s 41,472,000 pixels)
• A new mini monitor dedicated to Microsoft Teams
• Stream Deck (small icons/buttons) for quick commands, scripts, and applications
• Custom dev kit for the AgTech products that controls power, pumps, lights, etc.
• STM Productive Weeks notebook for keeping tasks organized each week.
• Logitech Lift vertical mouse “The ergonomics helps with the wrist pain you get from a normal mouse”
• Microsoft Sculpt keyboard “Discontinued, unfortunately…”
• Bambu Labs X1 Carbon 3D-printer “I print little things that allow me to get stuff done and efficiently put things in their place.”
• Grounding mouse pad and grounding floor mat “Allows me to adopt grounding/earthing in my office when I can’t be outside.”

Gini Dietrich’s Shared Space

Founder and CEO, Spin Sucks

Gini shares her desk with a sassy pre-teen. Gini trains brands on the PESO marketing model. The pre-teen does homework. They have side-by-side iMacs. So here’s another marketer with no laptop.

This space has a lot of analog touches (typewriter, markers, mammal) similar to Ann Handley’s tiny house.

• Two iMacs
• Blue Yeti microphone
• Laneige lip gloss
• Amazon Echo
• Bernie Sanders wearing mask and gloves, made by Gini’s mom
• Harry Potter LEGO sets
• Harry Potter Moleskin with color-coordinated markers and pencils
• My grandfather’s typewriter
• Potato, the hamster

Jim Sterne’s Picture Window in Paradise

Author, Founder Marketing Analytics Summit, Analytics Cohorts, and teacher of Online Courses on AI.

After 20 years in an office in downtown Santa Barbara, COVID sent Jim back to the back bedroom where he started. Facing North, it’s all natural light, all the time.

• Second hand secretarial desk with a pop-up cubby for typewriter.
• Lenovo Yoga Windows machine (long story)
• 2 LG Monitors
• Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam (that’s a business card taped to the side to block the sun streaming in sideways during those seasons)
• Logitech S-120 speakers (ancient!)
• Blue Yeti microphone
• DBP 288gh Radio Controlled clock (it sets itself using a radio signal from Germany. How cool is that?)
• Stack of business cards for taking short notes and shuffling during meetings

Pamela Wilson’s Minimalist Marketer

Marketing Consultant, PamelaWilson.com

Here’s another bright and tidy space with natural light and not a lot of gear. Pamela gets great feedback on the quality of her video, but she describes her setup as “embarrassingly simple.”

“As a visual person, what I see all day matters just as much to me as how others see me. In the past, I’ve had cameras, mics on boom arms, lighting, and cords cluttering my space. There was so much gear perched on the dining table I use as a desk, I had to be careful not to push my chair away too abruptly, or it would tumble over.

The problem is, I don’t want to look at gear all day.

I want an unencumbered view out my window so I can spot my neighbors’ longhorn cows if they wander into the yard (true story). I need to see the outdoors calling me. It reminds me to get up, get out, and enjoy the world away from my screens.

After tolerating cords snaking all over my desk for years, I love this pared-down setup. It lets me focus on getting my marketing strategy work done efficiently — so I can get on with life faster.”

• The camera: FaceTime HD Camera on a MacBook Air (with Portrait Mode and Studio Lighting enabled)
• The mic: Fifine Dynamic Microphone, XLR/USB for Podcast Recording
• The light: Natural light, plus a Dimunt LED Floor Lamp, which provides my office with indoor “sunlight”
• The other stuff: “My childhood mid-20th-century dining room table as a desk, and the sideboard-converted-to-bookcase as my backdrop”

Talia Wolf’s Conversion Control Center

CEO, GetUpLift

Talia is on the speaker circuit, traveling for conferences in Europe and North America. This is her home office, but the gear is very portable.

• Standing/Sitting desk by SMARTER – have had it for years and really love it
• Laptop stand (by rain design Mstand) with a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad
• Key Light Air light for on cam sessions
• Blue Yeti mic that needs replacing at this point (have it for yeeeeeears)
• Insta360 Link webcam that detects my movements and follows me as I teach standing up, point at stuff and just keeps me in focus
• Off screen: Huge whiteboard for planning projects like my book and workshops, piles of books I want to read stacked on a chair, books I’ve read on many shelves, too many succulents and loads of Star Wars items

Joe Pulizzi

Author, Founder of CEX: Content Entrepreneur Expo

Master of many formats, Joe launches live events, writes books and records podcasts from this very desk. It hasn’t changed much over the years. But Joe replaced his ringlights with dimmable LED panels, like many others.

• Sony Alpha a6400 camera
• Audio Technica Mic on a Røde mic stand
• Mechanical keyboard with LED backlight

No laptop? Nope! That’s a custom computer his sons built for him.
Is that a calculator? I love you, Joe. Gen X forever!

William Harris

Founder & CEO, Elumynt

From this desk, William runs a performance marketing and hosts an ecommerce podcast. I was honored to be a guest on his show. It’s a perfect little studio. There are “sprinkles” on the wall because this was his daughter’s room until they traded. She got the big bedroom.

• Canon EOS RP Camera with the stock lens. “This is a great camera, but the downside is that – even when I have it plugged in during recording, the battery still runs out about 1.5 hours into recording… so if the podcast is longer than that, plan to swap batteries partway through. I just keep my podcasts under 1.5 hours now.”
• Neewer teleprompter (uses an iPad as the screen)
• ATEM Mini Pro HDMI Converter (you can’t see it but it connects the camera to the laptop)
• Shure 55SH Series 2 mic on a boom
• Rodecaster Pro 2 audio interface
• 3x Neewer LED lights “The main light that you see, then above my head I have a hair light, and behind my left shoulder I have a rim light”

David JP Fisher

Principal Sales Enablement Program Manager, SAS

Last time we checked with D Fish, he was working from his living room with a copy of Gloomhaven as his laptop stand. He wins for most improved. It’s from this new home office that he trains his global sales team on the most effective social selling techniques.

• Teleprompter set-up: 8” monitor set to double the secondary monitor with Keyboard on adjustable sitting/standing platform
• Canon EOS 77D behind the mirror
• Two 24” monitors on adjustable stands
• KVM switch to bounce between work and personal computers
• USB lavalier microphone
• Two ring lights with additional lighting behind

Rand Fishkin

Cofounder, SparkToro

We saved one of the best for last. You’ve seen his background many times. Here’s the world from Rand’s perspective. It’s a nice view!

Many of his videos are a split screen where he’s looking at the content to his left. Now you know, from his perspective, the content really is on the left!

Rand has upgraded the camera and lights, but it’s an otherwise simple setup.

• Sony DSLR 6100 with a Sigma 16mm lens
• Cam Link 4K to get the input from the camera into video in OBS
• Audio-Technica 2020USB Mic

Your desk and the way you work…

Each of these desks reflect each marketer’s professional needs and personal style. Some have full-blown studios with fancy cameras and teleprompters. Others love simplicity and portability, with analog tools and natural light.

Where are you sitting today?
How does your setup work for you?