Heed the Dress Code |
Treat an online meeting like an in-person meeting and follow workplace standards. |
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Take care of your grooming before you sit down for the meeting. |
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Project a professional face as it adds a sense of normalcy to a remote conversation. |
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Avoid distracting colors that are too bright or too dark. It can throw off some webcams that auto-adjust exposure and brightness. |
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Face the camera with a good posture. |
Set Up Your Equipment |
Choose a comfortable chair to sit on. |
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Use a monitor that lets you see slides and spreadsheets easily. (A smartphone screen is good for a casual meeting but not for viewing data.) |
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Invest in a good noise-canceling headset. |
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Familiarize yourself with the chat software you have to use. Pay special attention to settings you might need during the meeting. |
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Avoid backlighting as it can obscure your face. Natural light or overhead lights are ideal. |
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Nothing is as important as good bandwidth. Anything less than 20MBPS can pixelate your video. |
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If the meeting is critical, keep an alternate connection ready. For instance, you can set up an independent WiFi hotspot. |
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Close unnecessary background applications and stop simultaneous streaming programs in your browser. |
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Place your webcam at eye level so that you can make eye contact with others in your team. |
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Be your own tech support or test your equipment with a colleague a few minutes before the real meeting. |
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Switch on your webcam and preview the frame and the effect of light indoors. More light is better. |
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Disable notifications for the course of the meeting. |
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If you plan to share your screen, be sure to keep personal data out of the way. |
Spruce Up Your Environment |
Mute your mobile phone to avoid interruptions. |
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Clean up your room and desk. |
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Scan your background and ensure there’s nothing inappropriate. |
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Choose a virtual background in apps like Microsoft Teams and Zoom to hide cluttered backgrounds. |
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Have water and tea/coffee handy. |
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Choose an isolated space, preferably with a door, so that you can hold a meeting without distractions. |
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Inform your family about the meeting schedule beforehand. |
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Ensure that your children will remain occupied for the duration of your meeting. |
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Keep your pets away from your meeting area. |
Manage Your Time |
Schedule online meetings well in advance. |
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Be on time always. It helps to be online a few minutes before the meeting starts. |
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If you cannot attend the meeting or will be late for it, inform the person leading the meeting in advance. |
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Switch on or activate your conferencing equipment beforehand to avoid last minute glitches. |
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Avoid participating in an online meeting while driving. It is neither safe nor an efficient use of your meeting time. |
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Consider an audio meeting as a last resort. |
Organize Your Thoughts |
If you’ll be leading the meeting, set an agenda with start and end times. |
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Keep all your data next to you or in an accessible folder on your computer. |
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Bookmark anything relevant to the meeting. |
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Declutter your desktop to keep the right information accessible at a glance. |
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Jot down your queries so you can introduce them at the right time. |
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Share content and files before the meeting to ensure all participants are prepared for the discussion. |
Participation |
Mind Your Manners |
Introduce yourself when all team members are not familiar with each other. |
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Always use video because facial expressions convey your thoughts in the absence of other gestures. |
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Use visual cues (like a raised palm) to signal that you want to speak. |
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Participate by speaking clearly into the microphone. Staying silent or disabling your webcam is just like being a chair filler in a real meeting. |
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Mute your microphone when you are not speaking as it can pick up a lot of background noise. |
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If you need to move around in the middle of a meeting for personal tasks, switch off your video to avoid causing a distraction. |
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Wait for the other person to finish speaking as time lags over the web can often cause team members to speak over each other. |
Stay Present |
Avoid multitasking or drifting off to Facebook or Twitter when you’re in a meeting. |
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Don’t eat during a meeting. Sipping water or a beverage like tea or coffee is okay. |
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To make eye contact with a meeting participant, look into the camera and not at the person’s face or their background. |
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Use the text chat feature if available as a support for queries and for linking to relevant documents. |
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Say goodbye with a smile at the end of the meeting. A casual chat on non-work topics also helps wrap up meetings on a cheerful note. |
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If you’ve been leading the meeting, ensure that you log off last. |
https://www.sharethelinks.com/2020/07/04/essential-tips-for-online-video-conferencing/
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