How To Be Your Best On Video Calls
Working From Home Is Great (?!)
As a combination of Covid and our country’s leadership continues to play havoc with our lives and our livelihoods, the use of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other video conferencing platforms is set to continue a while longer.
It’s been really fascinating to listen to clients I spoke to at the beginning of the pandemic compared to 6 months later. At the beginning of lockdown there were a lot of clients enthusiastically telling me that:
“Working from home is going to be just fine!”
“I don’t need to go to the office, I can do everything from home and it’ll give me more life balance!”
“I don’t need to see people in person when I can use Zoom or Teams!”
My general reaction was pretty much - “I’ll check back with you in a few months and see how you feel about it then.”
Half a year later, the sentiment has somewhat shifted. Now I hear a lot of:
“Work From Home? More like LIVE IN WORK! I’m just on back to back calls from early morning to late evening, with no breaks!”
“I spend most days holed up in my home office, if I’m lucky someone occasionally slips a plate of food under the door.”
“I miss seeing colleagues and clients, doing this all by video is not the same, it’s not normal.”
A Lack Of Balance
Video calls have taken over the lives of so many people who are working from home. Zoom meetings are being scheduled left right and centre, often for the most mundane of things that, in an office, you would just pop over to someone’s desk for or catch up over a quick coffee. Instead a Zoom / Teams meeting seems to need to be scheduled for EVERYTHING.
Because we are working from home everyone assumes (or knows) that you are available all the time. You’re not travelling at home or abroad. You’re just… working from home.
So what should have been a transition to more of a work / life balance has become the complete opposite for so many.
With all of this weighing down on us, it can be difficult to look our brightest and best on video calls! We’re tired, we have other things on our mind (like needing to do the ACTUAL WORK required of the last Zoom call but instead we are straight on to this one and then after this we’ll be straight on to the next one…), the technology sometimes doesn’t work, the kids are screaming in the background, dogs barking, our partner wants us to do something because we are home…
Looking your best on video calls isn’t just about what you do on the actual call itself - there are some things you should really consider doing outside of the call to ensure you really do look and perform your best in those virtual meetings.
Protect Your Time
A few clients I have met with recently have shown me their calendars. I’m used to seeing my client schedules - in normal times after a fitting at someone’s office I then often have to stand at their assistant’s desk to go through the calendar in order to book the next meeting.
They’re usually the same sort of thing - meeting, travel, lunches, dinners, event, time blocked out so they can catch up on things… and that last one is the one that seems to be missing from so many people’s schedules nowadays.
Now the schedules I see are just video call after video call after video call. One client’s assistant had him in back to back calls (with some time to sleep at night thankfully) for two whole weeks. With no catch up or breathing space built in whatsoever. Crazy right?
So many of you reading this will think that those clients are at fault for not managing their time correctly, or directing their assistants in the right way. Well it’s easy to say but time management is much harder to do.
YOU MUST PROTECT YOUR TIME. Carve out moments for yourself in each and every single working day. For me personally, to give you a working example, I must do the following on 3 out of 5 days a week:
Walk our dogs, Emily and Bailey, for 45 minutes.
Cycle for a minimum 30 minutes every day (it’s way of decompression for me having PTSD from a traumatic accident about three years ago)
Client catch ups and follow ups by phone (2 hours)
Pattern creation and fabric orders (2 hours)
Now I start my day at 7am so that buys me some extra time in the working day, the above gets blocked in my calendar and my client meetings then fit in around them. Now this doesn’t mean that my client meetings are not important - on the contrary they are THEY most important part of my business day. But client meetings can change and move around, I have more on some days and less on others. The things in my day that are a definite and under my complete control are the above. So they go in the calendar and they don’t move.
Work out what is most important for you to achieve each day and get them in your calendar, three months ahead. PROTECT YOUR TIME. Your virtual meetings can then go in around them and you will feel so much better for it, trust me.
If there is no space left in the day for a meeting that “must” happen, rearrange an existing meeting to make it happen or it has to go into the next available day. But never ever sacrifice the personal things that you need to do each day otherwise it has a slow gradual impact on your effectiveness and mentality.
Following a version of the above, you’ll arrive on your virtual calls in a much better frame of mind and this will really show on camera!
Pay Attention To Your Desk Set Up
I have done a few client consultations and fittings via Zoom call the last few months and one thing I see frequently is extremely poor camera set up. Now I have not by any means been great at this myself - my office/fitting room in the workroom is narrow with no natural light so I’m in the process of rearranging my desk space at home so all client virtual meetings can take place there instead.
I see clients so often set up in ways that make visual calls very difficult to cope with.
The most common error is sitting facing your camera with a window or strong light behind you - this should be the OTHER way around. With light behind you it creates a glare effect on camera which darkens you and your viewer can barely see you. They just see a silhouette and lots of glare behind it - it is very annoying.
So set your desk up in such a way that the brightest light source in the room is IN FRONT OF YOU. You’ll see a dramatic improvement because the light will then serve you instead of hamper you, you’ll appear clear on camera and your viewer will no longer have to put up with glare and a generally poor image.
Also pay attention to what’s behind you. There is this trend for people to try and have a bookshelf behind them - why? To appear intelligent, to show people how intellectual and well-read you are? No one cares. Or some potential new client might care if he spots something that makes them question whether or not they want to do business with you. Anything behind you that has words on it will just serve as a DISTRACTION. On a video call you want to hold attention not distract!
The best background I’ve seen so far on a Zoom call was Amit Champaneri, Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was hosting a virtual meeting with multiple users. His background was just a nice soft grey solid backdrop. Whether intentional or not, what Amit did was ensure that he stood out among a sea of cluttered virtual attendees, and he commanded attention from everyone on that call.
So for your background, Keep It Simple! It doesn’t have to be completely plain and this isn’t always possible if you are hosting calls from home, but a picture or two and a plant or lamp are less distracting than shelves full of clutter behind you.
Dress Yourself To Express Yourself
The way you dress for a video call is very important. I had a call with a barrister recent on a personal matter and he appeared wearing something that looked like the red hoodie Elliott wore in E.T. Up until just before that post I had held him in high regard, he is from a very reputable Chambers with a great track record, but ever since that call I can’t get the image of a spliff-taking yob out of my mind and I’m unbelievably wondering if he is the right person for the job.
It sounds highly irrational I know - but in reality it isn’t. As humans we DO judge on appearance. Maybe not always consciously, but subconsciously we can’t help it, we are hard-wired to.
My most senior clients during the last six months have at the very least worn smart trousers and a shirt on video calls, if not a jacket and tie when the situation has demanded they command a call or show leadership.
So many others have been boasting about being on calls with their own clients in shorts and tee shirts… and ignoring the fact that image is what I do for a living, I’m not actually as impressed as they maybe think I should be. Going further see of my clients are clients of other clients and it’s interesting to get their reaction when I ask if they’ve spoken to a mutual connection recently and they tell me, with some disappointment, that yes they were on a Zoom Call together and they noticed how “dressed down” the other guy was.
So as in “real life” when you are actually receiving someone at your office or going to meet someone at theirs and you have to think about how you are physically going to present yourself, do the same for your virtual calls. ESPECIALLY if you are meeting someone who spends money with you, or you are trying to win business from.
Quite frankly it’s downright disrespectful to “rock up” on a virtual call looking like you just rolled out of bed. When people tell me they “didnt make an effort in getting dressed today” guess what? They actually don’t look like they made an effort. Funny coincidence right?
And if you don’t look like you cared much about how you dressed for that meeting, your audience will know it. And then they’ll start wondering if you’re going to really “care” about the piece of work or project you are trying to get them to give you.
Same if you’re meeting with colleagues or anyone you might even report to. Heaven forbid that they are constantly having to review head counts during this torrid time and when all is said and done, if they need to let people go, they’ll think first of the people who look like they don’t care. So why risk putting doubt in anyone’s mind as to your competency, desire or enthusiasm?
This also goes for the people who proudly tell me “I wore a jacket, shirt and tie on the top half but was wearing pants on the bottom half. But it doesn’t matter because my client wouldn’t have been able to see”.
Well think about this. Your client might not have been that you were practically naked under the table on your end of the call, but why would you take pride in being deceptive? It’s nothing to be proud of. Would you do anything underhand when doing work for that client? NO is your reaction right? Then act in a manner consistent with your values of serving your clients in the best possible way at all times. Protect your attitude, guard it with your life. Anyone who tells me they are totally focused while sitting on a Zoom call in their underwear is a liar. I’m sorry but if you came here looking for fluff go find another tailor’s blog.
Lastly, when it comes to colours and patterns, try to stick with soft tones in your tops and shirts. Blues (particularly mid-dark shades) always look great on camera - avoid crazy patterns and bright colours. Having done all the work getting your desk set up in a way that you don’t blind your viewers with the full might of Earth’s Sun we don’t want to spoil it now do we?
My other tips for personal presentation include:
Shave. That 24 hour stubble might make you feel cool but on video every detail is in focus - your viewer is staring at you non-stop for the duration of the call and not bothering to shave the day looks like… you didn’t bother. And we want to always look BOTHERED don’t we?
Brush your hair. OK advice on brushing your hair from someone who hasn’t had any for the best part of 15 years is going to be pretty simplistic. But if you do have a full head of hair, or any hair for that matter, consider running a comb through it. We want to maintain professionalism, bed hair is not that.
If you’re wearing a shirt, do all the buttons up. Not the top button obviously, if you’re not wearing a tie, but don’t do the “leaving two or three buttons undone” thing. No one wants to see your chest hair/pasty chest (delete as appropriate). Other than the inappropriateness it can create another distraction that you really don’t need on an important call.
Be Seen - But Also Be Heard
Poor sound is another turn off on video calls. You have made a huge effort to set up correctly, get dressed, get the tech working and get the meeting in the diary… but then you can’t be heard very well!
Two things contribute to poor sound - your microphone and your internet connection.
There isn’t much you can do about your internet connection in most cases but if you’re in a poor broadband area make sure that:
No one else is in the household is putting a heavy load on your internet connection. Ideally stop everyone from using it while you’re on a call. Your housemate streaming from Netflix etc will cause dropouts in your audio while you’re on that very important call!
Try and use a wired connection where possible. I say where possible because many modern laptops don’t have an ethernet port and, like me, you’re probably working a distance away from your hub/router.
Laptop mics are normally not the greatest. Unless you have something like a 16” MacBook Pro which is equipped with a studio quality mic, consider investing in an external USB mic. They are quite cheap (search USB Microphone on Amazon), but they will make a massive difference to the sound and therefore the clarity of your delivery on a video call. I can certainly recommend the Snowball Ice by Blue Microphones which I use myself for both calls and podcasts, you can find it on Amazon for around £54.99 at the time of writing.
Are You Paying Attention?
I was on a video call recently involving around 12 participants from our supply chain. It was a crucial call discussing a very important matter. One of the participants then started checking his phone. Another one was looking slightly off lens and I could see his shoulder and bicep moving as he was obviously clicking elsewhere on his desktop looking at other things that were nothing to do with what we were meant to be talking about.
I politely asked Participant A and Participant B, shall we call them, to “come back to us” and was ignored. Because they were distracted. So I dumped them out of the call. And have subsequently dumped them out of our business.
REMOVE DISTRACTIONS before you start your call. This includes:
Put your mobile phone on silent - better still turn it off or throw it into another room. What could be more important on your phone than the other person at the end of your video call?
Shut down all other windows and applications on your desktop other than anything you need for that call. This includes your email application. So many times you see people on calls suddenly looking away to check new emails. It’s disrespectful, don’t do it.
If you have other people (partner, children etc) in the house, give them a 5 minute warning that you are about to go on a video call so they know not to make a load of noise or walk into your room (and often your call) - or whatever your “I’m on a video call house rules” are.
Summary
Here goes, let’s condense everything I’ve talked about into a simple checklist:
Protect Your Time. Make sure the most important things that need to be done each day are scheduled, including mini-breaks for your self and prep time so you don’t get completely burnt (or Zoomed!) out.
Set Your Space Up Correctly. Eliminate clutter and make sure you are facing the major light source in your room.
Personal Presentation. Look like you care, no matter who you are virtually meeting.
Be Seen & Heard. Check your internet connection, eliminate unnecessary load on your broadband if you’re in a low speed area. Invest in a good quality microphone.
Eliminate Distractions. Switch off your mobile, close all unneeded applications on your desktop, warn any housemates you are about to go on a call.
So having ranted a tiny bit and talked a lot generally, hopefully some of what I’ve outlined will be useful for you. I know some people reading this will get upset and disagree with some points, others will agree, others will print the Summary Check Points off and use them as a faithful guide… whatever your thoughts I’m interested in hearing them!
I’m only right most of the time so please do share your own thoughts, experiences and tips from your time working remotely on virtual calls in the comments below!
