Video-Conferencing Etiquette
June 20, 2013
Organizations are leveraging video conferencing technology to connect with colleagues, partners, customers, and others for meetings, collaboration, training, interviews and an endless number of other purposes. As I work from a home office, I am a heavy user of video meetings and have fine tuned the etiquette of virtual meetings. Here is a list of my tips that you can utilize, or pass onto someone who hasn’t yet mastered video-conferencing etiquette.
First rule; be cognizant of how you appear to the other participants on the video screen, this means avoid engaging in distracting behaviors. Remember that the two, twenty, fifty, or more people who are participating in the video conference may be watching you closely without you being aware of it.
Distracting Behaviors - Keep distracting movements to a minimum; avoid swaying, rocking, scratching, chewing on a pen, eating or using excessive hand movements. Be careful of facial expressions as well; no frowning, eye rolling, closing your eyes, looking off into the distance or similar expressions.
Second rule; be aware of the surroundings of where you conduct the video-based activities, including the background, lighting and ambient sound as the camera and speakers pick up not just you or what you say but the things around you.
Background and Lighting - Use the Picture-in-Picture feature so you can take a quick look at what's in the camera's field of view and better frame the video shot. Then make sure your work area is organized and that no confidential information is viewable to the meeting participants. Next, check the background - is the wall art distracting? If so, rearrange your background so it looks the way you want others to view you. The background is my home office consists of a variety of tennis memorabilia and awards. I don’t play tennis but I think it looks great. Also make sure the room is well lit while being aware that natural lighting can cause video quality to decline as well as make your image impossible to see. I will admit that I once used this to my advantage when I didn’t have time to put makeup on. All everyone saw was a blurry image of me.
Ambient Sounds - As with a face-to-face encounter it is best to hold a meeting in a room with a door that can be closed to eliminate disturbing people within the area or inadvertently sharing confidential information. In those cases where a room is shared or does not include a door, I recommend using a headset or Bluetooth device. This will also help with controlling background noise. Microphones can intensify normal sounds so mute your mobile phone, lower the volume on the office telephone, and shut off computer alert sounds for incoming mail and instant messages. During the meeting be careful not to rustle papers, click a pen or tap on your desk. And if you’re not speaking, put yourself on mute. Lastly, when working from home put a sign on the door that says, "DO NOT ENTER" You don’t want a loved one to be caught on your video camera wearing a bathrobe.
Third rule; give a consistent appearance of looking at and communicating directly with the other participants.
Eye Contact - As with face-to-face meetings, it is important to maintain eye contact with the other participants. This can be tricky when using video-based technology as one tends to look at the image of the person or persons on the screen while the digital camera is in a different location. This ends up giving the impression that you are looking elsewhere. Therefore, always look directly at the video camera when you are the speaker. When you're not speaking, it’s fine to look at the screen on your desktop.
Fourth rule; wear clothing that is appropriate for the meeting.
Attire - I was once told to wear solid colored clothing and to avoid bright colors, all-light or all-dark clothing and busy patterns such as small checks or strips when on a video conference. As usage of video-based conference became an everyday occurrence I stopped following this rule and I wear whatever is appropriate for my day’s video activities. Just remember to dress appropriately from the waist up and the waist down. You never know when a cup of hot coffee dropped on your lap will prompt you to stand up against your better judgment.
To summarize:
A video conference is simply another type of meeting and all typical meeting rules still apply – be on time, remain attentive and limit your multi-tasking.
The camera sees and magnifies everything you’re doing - limit excessive movements and be aware of your body language and non-verbal cues.
Adjust your camera, try to fill the screen as much as possible with your image rather than with the table, chairs, walls, lights, or the floor and ensure that there are no distracting elements or sounds.
Maintain eye contact and dress appropriately.
