Commuting from your kitchen to your home office?
Brush up on these Netiquette tips to make your virtual presence become part of your personal brand.
1. Grooming - Find your inner News Anchor
Brush your hair!
Maintain a professional posture and tone of voice and avoid scratching your face or head
Wear subtle jewelry
Consider unisex basic makeup – like tinted moisturizer, under-eye concealer
Option - Use Zoom’s Touch Up My Appearance option with a flattering soft focus as a last resort
2 . To wear or upper-wear?
Get dressed!
Wear Smart casual or office wear - at least on top. There are proven psychological benefits of dressing up, besides you want to be sure you can walk away from the camera or stand up.
White stands out on camera, colors can help to make you more visible, but patterns can look busy and stripes don’t translate well on camera.
Avoid shiny jewelry.
3. Camera Angle - The dreaded nostril view
Eye Contact!
Elevate your laptop to get the camera into your sightline, you’ll get a better angle and avoid featuring double chins and nostrils.
Keep the eye contact - fix your eyes on your webcam – not on your screen.
Keep large body movements to a minimum but continue natural gestures.
Keep focused, it’s very obvious online if you are multitasking or looking at other things while on video. Besides, it’s polite to give your full attention.
Try not to eat or drink on camera.
4. Lights, Camera, Background!
Check your background – and try to find a plain wall, ideally neutral or white.
Tidy up, avoid personal clutter, unmade beds or family members walking past your background.
Your light source should be from the front - natural lighting is best, like facing a window.
If it’s artificial - try to get light from both sides of your face to make it softer and have less shadows.
Option to replace your background with VR
Option to have a physical screen or branded banner in the background
5. Button down your Video & mute
Always assume it’s on, and double check. Make sure you are on mute or close your video before you do or say something private.
Basically, keep your microphone on mute until it’s your time to speak – background noises like sirens, pets and keyboards can usually be heard and can be very distracting.