YOU'RE ON MUTE!!!!
I wrote a musical the other day. It's called ZOOM: The Musical. Wanna hear the titles of the songs?
- Frank, You're Muted!
- Awkwardly Waiting for The Meeting To Start
- Why Am I the Only One On Camera?
- What's that in Your Background?
- I Love Wearing Pajama Pants to Work!
- Not Another Zoom Meeting!
- Oh Good, I Don't Have to Travel for This Meeting.
It's going to be a hit! I know it!!! I'll keep you posted when it's picked up by a Broadway producer!
Until then, let's talk about Virtual Meetings/Presentations. As we get back to in-person life (yay!), I'm pretty sure Virtual is here to stay! While we're all a little Zoomed out, it remains a very convenient and cost-effective way to do business, so we need to be sure we're showing up on Virtual meetings as professionally as we do when we're in the room!
Here are some tips to help you be the most put together person on your future Virtual meetings because how we show up is important to our credibility, especially when you're connecting with your customers, but also with your team, vendors and others you may interact with professionally.
The idea is, you want to simulate being in the same room with them, sitting around a table, making eye contact just like you would if you were in person.
1. Turn on your camera! I know, it's weird to be on camera and a lot of people don't like it, but we would show up in person for this meeting, and they'd see us, so why not turn on your camera, and show up confidently and professionally so people can be massively impressed by the image you project, just like they would if you were in the room! People's impressions matter, and when we're vulnerable and turn on the video, even if we're the only one with our cameras on, we have yet another opportunity to prove our professionalism and personability.
So find the "touch up appearance" feature if that makes you feel better, and turn that camera ON! (you don't know about touch up appearance? OMG! It's a life saver! Here's how to find it on Zoom and apparently MS Teams is working on adding the feature too!)
2. Get your camera at eye level: We've all been on the Zoom call where we're looking up someone's nose (not a good look!) or where we can only see the top half of their face/head (so weird!) or where they're looking off in a different direction because their camera is nowhere near the view of the meeting. (What the heck are you looking at? Another good song idea. Hmmm!)
By putting your camera at eye level, centering yourself in your video feed, and putting the camera right near the video images of your fellow meeting attendees, it makes it seem like you're looking at them seated normally at the same table. While it may be unconscious, it will be more comfortable for people to engage with you that way, and they're not distracted by the weirdness of your video. So shove some books or a box under your laptop or get an external webcam (here's one on sale!), and get that camera at eye level.
3. Light that face! When there's a ton of light behind you (like the window to your gorgeous backyard) it can be really hard to see your face. You've seen it, where people look like they're hiding their identity on some mafia documentary to protect themselves from retribution? Not only is it distracting, people like to see your facial expressions, reactions, etc. It's part of normal human interacting. The brain also seeks out eyes to focus on, which is why Virtual meetings can be so exhausting, because your brain is working so hard to find all the eyes.
Make it easy on the brains of your fellow meeting attendees and get a light in front of your face! You can get a cheap ring light for $20, or just grab a desk lamp and put it by your camera so your face shows up. If you were in the same room with them, you'd be well lit and easy to see, so why not do that on your virtual meetings too!
Of course you want to have a nice background, professional clothing (at least from the waist up) and audible sound too!
Good luck out there! And maybe next time I'll tell you about my original musical...Road Rage: The Musical!
But for now, go get 'em Tiger!
