Eight simple tips to transform how you come across on a video call

And a couple of pics from the south of Greece in summer

Aug 22, 2024

Hi everyone,

I did not intend to take a month off writing my newsletter… but between Greek summer (which includes complete shutdown of all schools, daycare etc!), a little getaway with my family, and watching the Olympics… here we are a month later. The difference between my time working in corporate Australia, where August was consumed with intense reporting season preparation and execution, to being based in Europe, where basically everything except the beach shuts down for August, is stark!

Here’s a pic of a stunning sunset + moonrise we saw in seaside town of Gialova, in the South Peloponnese earlier this month…

I actually wrote a piece last week titled “Raygun’s next move”, including some communication observations about the breaker who broke the internet, but didn’t end up publishing it (despite a surprising number of people asking my thoughts about it… hence the draft!). Let me know in the comments if you’re interested and think I should hit publish!

Communication goes beyond what you say

Today’s post is inspired by the many video meetings I’ve had lately (nope, I haven’t spent the entire month on the beach!), because I am constantly amazed at how many business leaders could do with a little spruce up of their virtual meeting set-up. We’re not quite in the zoom takeover of 2020-21, but most of my clients still spend a lot of time in video meetings.

How you come across on such calls is an important part of the communication picture - just as people make sweeping judgements (often subconsciously) about you based on your body language, they also make judgements based on how you come across on video. If you want to look into this more, Heidi Grant Halvorson’s work on the primacy effect and the power of impression is interesting.

Show up in your best light

It’s even harder to make a good impression via video than in person, but it’s also easy to significantly improve how you come across with a few simple tweaks. Here’s eight tips for you to consider and implement.

1. Focus on the camera, not the screen

This is hard, but remember, in order to ‘make eye contact’ with your audience you need to look at the camera lens, not the faces on the screen. This is absolutely critical for virtual media interviews, employee or investor presentations, job interviews or delivering bad news because it helps gain trust.

Try to look at the camera at least some of the time – it’s best if it’s at a natural eye level (use books or blocks of paper to get the right laptop / camera height if you need a quick fix!).

2. Check your lighting

Ring lights are not just for Instagram influencers, they’re the most cost-effective way to improve how you come across visually on video calls. They light your face up properly so that you avoid the dark under-eye shadows, or looking like you’re in witness protection if there’s a bright window behind you.

Invest in a ring light – they start at about AUD $15 and are easy to find. You want one about the size of your face or slightly larger, and it’s good if you can get one with adjustable intensity. If you spend a lot of time on video calls, consider a more complete lighting upgrade.

3. Check your mic

Staying on the tech theme, to maximise clarity it’s worth investing in a decent microphone; some of the ones that come built into headphones are sub-par. If you’re not sure how you sound, listen to a recording of a meeting you’re in.

4. Close the cupboard doors

When my media training clients ask me what to wear for a TV interview, keynote or investor presentation, my response is usually: something that doesn’t distract your audience or detract from what you’re saying. It’s the same with your background – if your audience is busy checking out the titles of the books on your shelf or judging the tidiness of your house / office, they’re not fully engaged in what you’re saying. If you have a busy background, use one of the virtual background filters (sidenote: these can also be distracting!).

5. Unleash some energy

It’s harder to connect with your audience virtually. If you naturally use active body language like hand gestures, do so online as well, and make sure it’s in the range of the camera. Smile and give the same facial gestures you would in a meeting, and add a bit more oomph. The camera zaps energy so you need to bring more than you would in a face-to-face situation.

6. Up the engagement

Use people’s names, ask them to use the chat (if appropriate), anything that helps stay connected. It’s much harder to keep people engaged online.

7. Brevity is your friend

For the reasons above, be succinct!

8. Respect the speaker

Finally, when you’re not talking, give the speaker your full attention and show them you’re listening by smiling, nodding etc. This is an incredibly easy leadership tactic – your presence and attention will be appreciated by colleagues, team members, managers or peers.

I recently co-facilitated an online session that was long, hard and involved a live translator. Seeing my co-facilitator’s energetic smile and gestures amidst the distraction of the translation audio (and some blank faces) helped me stay focused and energetic. Help others perform at their best by being a good audience member.

Please feel free to add any further tips in the comments section!

Thank you for being here,

Larissa

Above the Line with Larissa Webster

Discussion about this post