Js Tip 588: Make the Best of Zoom, Part II

Last week we began a discussion about using Zoom. We promised to continue the discussion this week. 

Bingo. Here we are. (It’s next week already.) Three more suggestions: 

• Use the camera angle. You’re probably using your device’s built-in camera. Some of you may be using a separate web cam.

  Set the camera’s eye in front of you and slightly above your eye level. Avoid the “up-from-below” angle (nostrils are rarely attractive).

• Be aware of your background. Look behind you. What will your audience see? (A friend of ours pauses the video and checks out the books in the speaker’s bookcase. “Hmmm. Two biographies of Benjamin Franklin.”) Your background represents you. Consider that.

• Be very wary of using the virtual background. Unless you have a sophisticated system and an uncluttered background, any movement on your part will make your ears disappear. Be careful.

• Watch the small stuff. Remember to engage the camera’s eye, not the image on the screen. (This is a learned skill. It ain’t easy.)

  Be aware of the control settings. Unmute yourself when you want to talk. Mute yourself when you eat potato chips. 

  Turning off the camera will cost you some credibility (unless you’re in your pajamas, but that’s another discussion).

What are your suggestions?

Again, we’re grateful to our friend Ken Weaver for help with this discussion. Ken is brilliant. And kind. And good.  

We really do love this stuff.