Online conferences help to make the world a smaller place – making it possible for you to connect with business partners and host meetings with people that you have never met. However, the quality of your interactions, level of professionalism, and even the business opportunities you may be offered all depend on the quality of your video chat.
There are certain things you can do to enhance the quality of your video conferences, and these include:
- Investing in an HD webcam. Many laptops have poor quality webcams, which can leave you looking grainy and hard to see. If you are going to be running a lot of online conferences, you may want to invest in an external HD webcam as is can dramatically improve the quality of your video chat
- Pay attention to back lighting. Try not to sit in front of a window, or with a bright light behind you, as this also makes it hard for you to be seen. Adjusting the position of your laptop so that you are front-lit or side-lit will improve things no end
- Give yourself an interesting background. Cameras love to have some context, so if you can position yourself against a wall which contrasts with you – without being too busy. Make sure you leave some space between the background and your body so that people can draw some visual perspective
- Buy lighting, if appropriate. Great video usually consists of a person who is bathed in natural light which originates from somewhere behind the camera. We have already touched on back lighting above, but if you struggle to control your natural lighting then try faking it. You can get professional lighting kits online if video chat is a major part of your business, but if it isn’t then you may be able to get away with placing a few lamps in strategic places
- A good internet connection is everything. Nobody wants to be remembered for running a video conference where the screen kept freezing, and the connection was so poor that they kept dropping out. So, you need to make sure you host any video conference on a high speed internet connection that you don’t share with anyone else. Another good tip is to not have anything else running in the background while you are on a video call – don’t download any large files at the same time, for example.
If you haven’t jumped on the online conference bandwagon yet, then it is only a matter of time until you do. Make your experience the best it can possibly be, by using meeting rooms – no downloads or setup required.