Tips for Professional Video Meetings
2020 has been an interesting year so far, to say the least. It has brought about a global change in the way we do business and think about communications. While this was a sudden and unexpected shift, there is no doubt that the effects are going to stick with us and open up new doors to opportunities.
One of the biggest changes has to be the way we communicate within our teams, with clients and vendors, and with the outside world. The stay-home and shelter-in-place orders have kept us apart, but brought us new ways to come together. No longer are our meetings just phone calls. As humans, we are searching for the valuable face-time and human connection. This is where everyone’s favorite post-it note holder comes into play: The Webcam.
Do you have your employee head shot as your avatar, or a black screen with a little light seeping in around the edges, or just a name on a black background? Well, your days of hiding from your webcam are over. We’re going to go over some tips and tricks that will help you look and sound your most professional while attending video meetings. Pants are optional, but recommended to avoid any wardrobe malfunctions.
A laptop doesn’t need to be on top of your lap
This tip will both benefit your webcam appearance, and your overall health, as it will give you a more ergonomic workstation. Laptops are portable, and you certainly can use them on your lap, as long as you don’t mind having the posture of a candy cane. While this is fine for “in a pinch” scenarios, it’s not ideal for the long stretches of remote work required in some occupations.
Get that laptop off your lap, and ensure that the screen is at eye level. No one looks good from a below 45 degree angle (especially if you are trying to avoid the dreaded “double-chin” look). You can use a laptop stand, or simply a book or two to prop up the back edge of your laptop. This has the added benefit of slanting the keyboard into a more ergonomic position for you, and getting the screen more at eye level to avoid neck strain during long hours of use.
Pardon the dust. Chances are that this laptop, while not on your lap, is probably not getting the most flattering angle of you during video conferences. This angle of webcam delivers the “double chin” look, no matter how many neck crunches you do.
Instead, try propping up your laptop. It gives a much more pleasing angle, and makes it more of a face-to-face conversation, than a face-to-chin conversation.
Turn on the lights
Simply turn on some lights. If you are limited to the amount of lights or location of lights, try setting up near a window. Cameras work better the more light you can feed into them, this goes especially for webcams and phone cameras. With a small imaging sensor, the less light they are provided, the more grain will be introduced into the image as it tries to compensate to get the right exposure. If you happen to have a second monitor, or spare tablet laying around, you can always bring up a white screen (Google’s homepage is a good example), and that can help add some light into your video. Feel free to experiment with different colors as well to produce different lighting effects.
With nothing by the laptop lighting my face, there is a lot of grain and blurriness in the background, and the details on my face are lost as the small sensor compensates for the lack of light.
I’ve turned on the lights in the office, and now there’s much more detail in the background, but it overpowers the light from my laptop, leaving me a bit dark.
Luckily, I have a secondary monitor set up, so I simply popped open a white web page (in this case, Facebook). Just like that it adds some fill light and detail back into my face, and balances out the exposure with the background.
There is also an added health benefit to this tip in the reduction of eye strain. By equalizing (or close to it) the ambient light with the light from your display, you are reducing the work your pupils need to do every time you look away from the big bright panel in front of you.
Look the part
We know, when you’re working from home, it can be tempting to not shower and stay in your pajamas all day. But, let’s be clear here: No one wants to see that. If your goal is to remain professional, try to look that way...at least from the waist up. Different professions clearly have different dress codes, but at least look the same as you would if you were in the office.
This also goes for your background. Do a little bit of tidying before hopping on a video conference, and it can go a long way to portraying the professionalism that you are striving for. If that’s just not an option, or you are in a temporary setup in your closet, consider a virtual background on Zoom, or the background blur feature of Microsoft Teams.
Mic check, 1, 2, 1, 2
As with all things video, how something sounds is just as important (if not more so) than how something looks. If you’ve followed these tips so far, your visual webcam presence should be looking pretty spot on, but to your meeting attendees, it could sound like you’re screaming into a tin can, or whispering miles away.
Laptop microphones are not known for their audio quality and clarity. Some are better than others, but most have the telltale tin can sound, and being omnidirectional tend to pick up and amplify every sound in the room. If getting into a quiet spot is not an option, consider a pair of headphones. There are some great and inexpensive wireless headsets and headphones with built-in microphones that work great (the added benefit is any of your home-office coworkers don’t have to listen to the rest of your meeting attendees). My personal favorites are these Audiotechnica ATH M50BT headphones that are great for music as well, and comfortable enough to wear all day with no discomfort. Another solid option is the tangled mess of wired headphones I’m sure you have stuffed in a drawer from your last 3 smartphones. These wired headphones tend to work well as long as you keep the microphone part in front of your mouth as the pickup pattern drops off if it’s sitting down by your neck.
My pair of headphones that I mentioned. These are great because they can be used wireless when you need the flexibility, or wired with no lag when you have some critical audio edits to be made.
Last, but not least
Please use common courtesy when having these video conferences. If you’re in a noisy environment, and you’re not currently the speaker or presenter, mute your microphone. This avoids distracting the other attendees, and keeps everyone from hearing your kids sing along to Moana.
Bonus Tips
If you have the option, use your phone for audio and call in. Many services such as Zoom, Google and Skype offer this feature.
If you want to be sure what your framing will look like prior to joining a video conference and turning on your webcap, use your laptops built-in camera app.
On Windows 10 it’s just called “Camera”
On Mac OS it’s called Photo Booth
For internal team meetings, you can always experiment with some custom virtual backgrounds, or even props.
Use some of these tips while communicating with family and friends as well, I’m sure they’ll appreciate the increase in quality as well.
Hopefully you’ve picked up some tips and tricks that can help bring your video conferencing to the next level when working remotely. These tips don’t only have to be taken into account during the COVID-19 outbreak, but are just good rules to follow any time you have a web conference to attend.
Don’t forget, you can have fun with it as well. These people sure did.