I’m sure we’ve all experienced frustration during our frequent video conferences, both for work, and for digital meetups with friends and family. People’s videos cut out, someone starts screaming in the background, etc. It can all be pretty annoying! That being said, don’t forget that chances are, you’ve caused your own fair share of issues in the video chats too. So be kind to others, but try your best to make your video conferences as pleasant as possible by following and sharing these 5 simple ways to improve your virtual meetings.

5 Ways to Improve Your Video Chats:

1. Mute yourself when you aren’t speaking. This is especially important and helpful during a work meeting. Imagine this: the mail carrier shows up and your dog is barking… now everyone can hear your dog blasting through their speakers. All the sound is picked up on everyone’s built in microphones and is amplified and distorted, causing a cacophony of unpleasant screeches and barks blaring out. It’s just not pleasant and it actually cuts off the person who was meant to be speaking. Please mute yourself until you are ready to speak.
2. Please wear headphones/earbuds whenever possible. Again, this has to do with sound. The speakers project sounds and the microphone, often located by your speaker, picks up that sound, causing echoes, feedback, and other unpleasant noises to be sent to all of your colleagues and friends’ computers. (See the example from #1.) Wearing headphones eliminates that problem. Also, you will be less likely to bother your spouse, children, roommates, etc. Another huge plus to wearing headphones is that often they have built-in microphones, which makes your voice sound so much clearer than when you are just speaking into your computer/phone/tablet microphone. It’s a win-win.
3. Visibility When we sit there, video chatting in a darkened room, we look like interviewees on a crime documentary. Not a cute look. Please make sure you are in a well-lit room. Even worse than the creeper sitting in the dark is the creep who doesn’t turn their camera on. You’re like one of those lurkers in a chat room who never says anything. Please turn on your camera and say hello to your colleagues.
4. Try to find a quiet spot in your house. I know that this one is hard. Everyone is at home together right now and privacy can really feel like a luxury at times, but when you are video chatting, it’s polite to be in a quiet place, free of distractions whenever possible. It causes less audio interference and shows your colleagues that you value them and what they have to say.
5. Put on a clean shirt. Look, I get it. We’re all in sweats and loving every minute of it. But when we’re in a work meeting, we should at least try to maintain some semblance of professionalism and one way to do that is to put on a nice, clean shirt. I just put on a nicer sweater and call it good when I’m in a hurry.

I hope these are easy enough to follow! Happy chatting!

Class dismissed!