A lot of us right now are working from home or doing business from home, and are spending more time on video conference calls, such as Zoom, Facetime, or Skype, to do business with one another. It’s important to look presentable during these video calls so that we appear more confident and credible to whoever we are talking to at the other end of the line.
Here are a few tips to spruce up how you look during video conference calls.
Set up and get ready first
As much as possible, do your set video set up at least 30 minutes before your video conference starts. It is quite unflattering when you get caught checking yourself out as if you’re alone in front of a mirror during a video call. Make sure you already look good in the camera even before the video call begins.
Make sure that the area where you’re planning to do the meeting has good internet reception, to avoid the awkward signal stuttering during the video conference.
Also, you can rehearse more or less what you’ll say during the meeting, or at least go through the topics you’ll cover, so that you minimize stuttering and awkward pauses during the video meeting.
Use the right lighting
As much as possible, go for natural, soft lighting, because it compliments our human skin the best. Go in front of a window and have the bright sky light up your face and body evenly.
If you do not have access to natural lighting from the sky, such as if you don’t have a proper window or if you’re doing your video meeting during the evening, there are other lighting devices you can use that can give you a similar effect, such as a ring light which is relatively affordable nowadays. Or you can just use the lamp you already have in your home. Just make sure that the light hits you softly and evenly, and there are no sharp shadows which is unflattering. Again, make sure that the light is coming in front of you so it hits the part of your face and body that your camera is capturing.
Angles are important
One mistake most people make is placing their cameras at the wrong angle. If your camera is coming from above or below your face, it will make you look unattractive and awkward
Place your camera at the eye level to optimize eye contact during your video conference.
Dress for the occasion
It might be tempting to just be lazy and not dress up, especially if you’re working from home. But having the appropriate outfit is important during video calls as you want to look presentable to your client.
Make sure you’re wearing something that reflects the nature of your meeting, and who you’re meeting with. Don’t overdress or underdress. Ask yourself, is it okay to wear a blazer for this meeting, or will a simple business casual outfit do?
Also, don’t forget about your hair and your face. It wouldn’t hurt to style your hair a little bit, and make sure you at least don’t have a sweaty or oily face, as it reflects badly in the camera.
Fix your background
After you’ve set up your camera in the right angle and fixed the lighting, make sure that your background is clean looking. Remove all the distracting items, such as hanged up laundry.
You can also have nice-looking things in your background such as plants and flowers, or a fashionable lamp and other furniture in your background, or at the very least, a clean-looking wall.
If you don’t have a nice background readily available, you can get creative. Use a room divider, or hang up your nicest bed sheet behind you when you go in front of your camera for your video call.
Digital backgrounds are not really recommended, because it looks artificial and it can look buggy at times, but should you decide to use one, make sure that your background is a flat solid color so that your video chat software know which part it will cut out for the digital background.
Smile and use eye contact
Just like when you’re having a meeting in person, smiling and doing eye contact is important. You can practice this a few minutes before your meeting.
If doing eye contact is difficult for you, a nice trick is to look slightly above your camera lens.
Go and be confident
We hope that we helped you feel more confident for your next video conference by following our few simple tips. Now go, smile, have fun, and showcase that confidence of yours in your next video call!