Video conferences and calls will always take a while to get used to if you are new to the technology, although once you grow accustomed to it you find that it’s very similar to physical conversations. However, there are some extra rules that you should follow when attending a video call, especially if you want to impress your coworkers, which is why we are offering these four great tips to proper video call etiquette that will help you look good in front of your peers.
1. Remember Body Language and Conversation Etiquette
Just as you would in a face-to-face physical meeting or conversation, you need to ensure that you are paying full attention with your focus on what coworkers are talking about. This is because, in a video conference or call, it’s very easy to identify when someone is losing concentration or doing other activities while on the line. Even simply opening a webpage can be blatantly obvious, as your face lights up at the screen in front of you – despite every effort to answer questions and maintain your involvement in the discussion.
So, if you really want to impress coworkers, offer them your full focus and don’t forget to utilize body or facial gestures as you would in a typical conversation. This will not only boost the effectiveness and efficiency of each meeting, but can also help them run smoother and faster – without taking longer than necessary.
2. Avoid Distractions and Unnecessary Noise
One of the easiest, and possibly most common, mistakes that many people who are new to video calls make is that they don’t consider how the noise around them may be affecting the call. Simple typing, for example, can easily come through the call as static high-pitched noise, and this is especially so for laptops with microphones positioned just below the keyboards. Other common distractive noises are fans and wind, dogs barking in the background, vehicles driving past your office or home, as well as many more that we often simply ignore in real life.
So take a moment before you even begin the call to identify possible distractions in and around the location from where you are calling, and if one or more of these are out of your control, consider muting yourself in times when you are not talking. This way, you can keep distractions to a minimum to show consideration towards your coworkers and help them enjoy distraction-free meetings. Additionally, investing in quality hardware from a reputable supplier like BlueJeans will help you achieve the best video meeting practices by boosting the quality of your upload, so that your face and voice can be clearly seen and heard.
3. Invest Time into Learning Your Hardware and Software
One of the biggest time-wasters in any online meeting is when people have to search through their computers, laptops or other devices for information. As the person searching for information, this doesn’t seem too bad, but having to sit and wait while someone else is getting information can become tedious. As such, if you want to impress your coworkers, invest some time into learning your hardware and software, so that you don’t make others wait, but will instead be able to rapidly find and display information when necessary.
If you want to take this a step further, dedicate half an hour or so before each meeting to open up documents and data relating to the upcoming meeting. By doing so, you won’t even have to find the information when requested, and can simply tab over to it and share it almost instantly. Additionally, as Noobpreneur shares, checking everything beforehand saves you from embarrassing technical difficulties in front of peers, superiors or clients.
4. Working from Home – Act Like You’re in the Office
In modern times, it’s becoming ever more popular to work from home or other locations via the internet. However, if you work from home or a similarly casual location, remember to maintain your professionalism. It’s so easy to simply relax and take a video call while laying on your couch, but this can come across as disrespectful. So, as Wall Street Journal agrees, the same rules should apply for everyone in the call, and simply because you aren’t in an office environment it doesn’t mean you are allowed to waiver professionalism. The exception of course is if you have a close, personal relationship with the other members of the call, although even in those situations it’s better to ask beforehand, rather than assuming that it will be ok.
With these four tips, you will be on your way to mastering video call etiquette and truly standing out from the typical. Just be sure to remember that almost all the rules of typical conversation etiquette apply, as well as a few more that are particular to online meetings and conferences.
