5 simple webcam tips for working from home
Setup, staging, intentions, notifications, and distractions.
Tip #1 — The setup
Start a program like Photo Booth on Mac to have a look and see what the person on the other end sees.
Can they see half of your face?
Can they see directly up your nose? This has happened to me more than once — it’s disgusting.
If it doesn’t look good to you, it won’t look good to your audience.
Tip #2 — Stage your environment
Speaking of looking good…
Is there a pile of 💩 in the background?
Are you showing too much of your kitchen, living room, etc.?
Remember, the person isn’t just looking at how you present yourself, but they’re forming a judgement of you (rightly or wrongly) based on your environment.
This is one reason why you might want to use a filter or an alternate background.
Tip #3 — Announce your intentions
If you decide during a video conference call to
a) turn off your web cam or
b) mute your mic
You should announce your intentions BEFORE you do it.
It’s jarring for the person who is presenting to see a bunch of people suddenly go from active participant to static image avatar, and microphone muted icon.
Tip #4 — Mute your devices and incoming notifications
This one appiles to all meetings but turn off your phone ringer and any other notifications that may be running in the background (i.e. Slack, Mail, etc.)
It’s hard to be quiet when you’re working from home because a loud echo or noise from another device can be a massive distraction.
Tip #5 — Try to remove other distractions (if you can)
This goes without saying, and it should be common sense, but a significant other doing the dishes or laundry, a pet running in front of your camera or making loud noises isn’t great but it happens.
If you can’t avoid it? See rule #3.
