5 Zoom Mistakes People Are Still Making A Year Later
It’s time to stand out in a good way
The learning curve is over, folks!
Hard to believe, but we are almost 15 months from the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. May 19th, 2020 was the day a first stay-at-home order was issued. And, for a number of us, it’s been webcam calls ever since.
If you figure the average remote worker has been taking at least two hours of Zoom or Webex calls a day. And you figure we’ve been in lockdown for 15 months. That would calculate out to almost 650 hours of video calls!
And for some of us, it’s been more than that.
Despite the number of hours we’ve spent staring at that tiny glowing circle, I still see Zoom mistakes on a near-daily basis. Mistakes that were amusing in the first few months of quarantine are now undercutting the professionalism of many of our colleagues and friends.
This has to stop.
Look, it’s true that workers will begin to trickle back to the office over time. And some of them may return to a full 9-to-5 in a beige building. But video calls are not going away anytime soon. We’re moving into what many media outlets are calling “The Hybrid Workplace.”
So, today let’s walk through the most common mistakes that still plague Zoom users. And let’s talk about what it will take to kick these webcam habits.
Mistake #1: Not looking at the camera
Imagine if you were talking with someone. Having a conversation. And the entire time, they were looking off into the distance.
Your first thought would be … they’re not paying attention.
You see, we’ve been conditioned to associate certain types of eye contact with nonverbal cues. If someone is looking directly at us, we assume they are fully paying attention. But if they’re looking off, their mind is elsewhere.
In fact, some experts claim to be able to tell whether someone is lying based solely on the movement of their eyes. If you’re eyes flicker to the side when saying something, there is a higher likelihood you’re lying. And that’s certainly not body language you want to give off accidentally.
Even if your eyes aren’t flickering, if you fail to look straight at the camera there’s a general sense your mind may be drifting or daydreaming. This is based on findings that the eyes mirror the workings of the brain, which you can see illustrated in the graphic below.
Movements to either side, up or down, can connotate imagining or memory — neither of which is associated with the here and now (aka paying attention).
All that to say, there’s a lot of expectation in place when it comes to body language. And a few months of Zoom calls is not going to change that. So it comes as a surprise to me to see so many colleagues looking off into space during a video call.
Of course, there are a number of explanations. They may have a second monitor that’s off to the side. They may be looking at their own display window —a temptation that’s biologically hard-wired in all of us.
But the impact is still the same.
The Solution: Set yourself up for eye contact, especially for important Zoom calls. Do away with the second monitor for a few minutes, and make sure you maneuver the speaker box (or your box, if you just can’t help yourself) to the center of the screen. This will ensure you look directly toward the team.
Mistake #2: Using a distracting background
I can certainly understand the appeal of a background.
Instead of having to clean up the room and set up a backdrop, you can simply click on a Zoom background that will do the heavy lifting for you. Maybe you have a nice forest scene or something out of a sci-fi film (I have, in fact, seen both of these). Better yet, maybe you have a work-themed background.
But there’s still the issue of movement.
And that can be a huge distraction.
Now, this may be a personal opinion, but I find backgrounds to be more hassle than they’re worth. For starters, anything that distracts from your delivery is watering down your message. This includes technical snafus.
I’ve found too many instances where a Zoom background is distracting from the message. They can distract when buffering, as the motion looks unnatural and clunky. They can distract when they’re too bright or clash with the attire of the speaker.
And, in a worst-case scenario, they can undercut your professionalism . . .
In all fairness, there are ways to mitigate the issues with Zoom backgrounds. The company itself has put out a list of technical specs. And there are several videos on YouTube that can help you set up.
Still, unless you are 100% confident in your ability to set up a seamless background, it’s probably better to skip it.
The Solution: Go old school and set up a dedicated video space. Put up a bookshelf or hang a nice piece of art. Keep it simple, and spend a few minutes setting up before important calls. This will ensure that your background is an accent, rather than a distraction.
Mistake #3: Having lousy audio
If video is the main course of a Zoom presentation, then audio is the dessert. Fail to have good audio and your audience is going to notice.
Now, there are a number of factors that go into the microphone setup for your particular computer. But, in general, if you’re using a laptop and relying on your internal microphone, you may be in for a surprise.
Your audio may sound, well, terrible.
Simply put, the components built into your laptop are not the same quality as the parts built into most headphones (and especially not those built into high-quality microphones). You’re also far away from the microphone, which will be picking up background noise as well as your voice.
All of this leads to a less-than-stellar listening experience for the people on the other end of the Zoom call. You may sound muddled or far away. Folks may not be able to fully hear the points you’re making.
And we all know how awkward it can be, having to tell someone they sound like they’re underwater. It kills the flow of the conversation.
The Solution: Invest in a decent headset or headphones with a microphone built-in. This will ensure you have the right hardware to get started. Then, from there, test out your audio ahead of time. Zoom has a great feature where you can test your audio, so if you have an important call build in a cushion for a mic check.
Mistake #4: Wearing pajama bottoms
This is a true story that happened today.
My wife is a consultant who works with small and medium-size businesses. She was on a Zoom call with one of her clients, as well as a third-party vendor working with the company. This was their standard weekly meeting to talk about priorities and their to-do list.
As part of the early chit-chat, the vendor mentioned an office chair in the background. Without thinking, my wife stood up to move the chair closer.
And it was at that moment she remembered she was wearing pajama bottoms. Uh-oh.
Luckily, my wife’s client is extremely chill about work meetings. And they have a personal relationship that goes beyond the professional. So this little hiccup was something they could laugh about together. In fact, my wife’s client also turned out to be wearing pajama bottoms.
The point here is two-fold. First, mistakes will happen. If you are taking hours and hours of Zoom calls, and wearing pajama bottoms, at some point you’re likely to forget. There’s really no way around it.
In fact, it’s become such a common occurrence that companies are using it in their marketing . . .
The other thing to keep in mind is that every meeting is going to be different. For some situations, having pajama bottoms on is no big deal. But for others, it could be a serious impact on your personal brand.
You need to know the difference.
The Solution: The simple solution is pants. But the more important solution is understanding the dynamic around each meeting and whether you need to prepare ahead of time. This goes, too, for background situations, like having a spouse move through the room or having dogs bark in the house.
Mistake #5: Scheduling Friday meetings
While Zoom calls may be a bit of a pain in isolation. When we stack them up, one on top of another, they can become a major drain on our human psyche.
The mental health drain is now being called “Zoom fatigue.”
Now, there are certainly different approaches to cutting down on the total number of Zoom calls per day. Determining whether a meeting is actually necessary is a good part of everyday decision-making. And it shows respect for your coworker's time and energy.
But some companies have gone further than that. Last month, at Young Corporate, we talked about a decision made by Citigroup to ban Zoom meetings from Fridays. Zoom-free Fridays, as they called it.
So, as you’re scheduling out your meetings with colleagues, keep in mind the impact a meeting can have. That is time that must be dedicated to logging in, chatting, and (hopefully) solving a problem. But that time could also be spent on impactful tasks elsewhere.
Knowing when to set a meeting and when not to is a mark of a true professional.
The Solution: Take a page out of Citigroup’s book and skip Friday meetings, unless absolutely necessary. This will allow your colleagues a day to regroup from a busy week and begin thinking about their weekend. It will also force you to be more productive during the remaining days, as well as more decisive on when meetings are necessary.
Conclusion
Managing a schedule full of Zoom calls can be draining in a number of ways. But your performance should not be one of them. By putting in the time and attention upfront, you can often avoid distractions that sneak their way into your meetings. And you can avoid some meetings altogether.
Here are your takeaways:
- Look at the camera.
- Lose the virtual background.
- Set up good audio.
- Wear pants.
- Skip Fridays.
What are some of your Zoom best practices? Drop a note in the comments below. And join the Young Corporate page where we’re talking about career success, corporate citizenship, and more.
