Working from home for many of us for the past six months has meant being on video calls all day. And, the way things are looking now with the second wave of the pandemic, we’ll still be on video calls for the foreseeable future. After the first week or two of being on video calls and wearing t-shirts, using the camera on my MacBook Pro, and using my AirPods for audio, I decided to amp up how I showed up. I’d like to share with you what I did largely because so many of you reached out to me after my various remote keynotes and other appearances asking how I show up looking and sounding so good.
Appearance and Room Setup
The top left picture illustrates how I now show up wearing what I normally wear and I’m most comfortable wearing when I’m actually physically in the studio, a button down shirt. Like many people, I also haven’t had a haircut for half a year so I pull the extra hair back in a ponytail.
I also just arranged the room, which is actually a bedroom, in such a way that I have a solid wall behind me. That way I don’t have to worry about what else is showing in the room or anyone else moving around in the room. There are too many embarrassing videos of happenings behind someone when the whole room is showing behind them that you don’t want to be one of those people.
Camera and Microphone
I still had a Logitech C920 that was actually not being used and was being stored in my son’s desk drawer. So I started using that and just recently upgraded to a Logitech BRIO model (see the bottom left of the picture above). However, you can certainly just get the C920 model for a great picture. I control the settings of the camera with an app called Manual Camera which is available in the Mac Appstore. Most of the time I just use the regular lights in the room but this app allows me to control the brightness so that I can get the look I want. In fact, the wall behind me is dark blue but I use the app’s brightness setting to make my background black.
I’ve done a podcast for over ten years called Life Habits (available anywhere podcasts are found as well as on this website). Early on, I bought a Audio-Technica AT2020 USB microphone which I decided to start using for my video calls (see the bottom right of the picture above). It’s cardioid condenser USB microphone that sounds great and plugs directly into the computer’s USB port or with a simple adaptor. It’s also a directional microphone which is great because I can also then use the audio on my Thunderbolt display and not have to wear earphones. I also bought a boom microphone stand for it so that I can easily reach my keyboard while on a video call. I think you should look and feel as natural on a video call as you do when meeting face-to-face. Wearing big over the ear headphones (often referred to as “cans”) takes away from the natural look and also makes you feel more distant from those on the call. Wearing AirPods is better than the cans but they have the disadvantage of having to be charged making a day of video calls a challenge unless you only use one and charge the other or use two sets with one always charging. That becomes a hassle. I also have a pop filter (also shown in the picture above) and while I use it for my podcast recordings, I don’t use it for my video calls largely because it gets in the way and really isn’t needed for video calls.
I should pause here to say that doing what I’ve just described thus far is sufficient to amp up how you show up on your video calls. I’ve recently amped up further largely because I’m being asked to do many more keynotes at conferences all around the world that are virtual and I’d like to perfect even further my setup for those.
Lights and Green Screen
I can control the settings on the Manual Camera app that I mentioned above pretty well. However, when I need a stronger light source, want to have multiple directions of light, and be able to adjust intensity and the warmth of the light, I now use two Neewer LED Video Lights (see top middle of the picture above). These come with a remote so they’re easy to turn on and off as well as to adjust. I initially used these on every video call when I first got them as a present from my kids and kids in law. However, I noticed that I was getting headaches so I now only use them when I’m doing a particularly important keynote, presentation, panel discussion, etc.
Most video call software platforms now provide the ability to put a background picture behind you on calls which is great to deal with the situation I discussed above of controlling what’s shown behind you. However, the problem with that option is that parts of your body or even your whole body can disappear into the background picture which is disconcerting, distracting, and often humorous. The way to use background images so that you stay as solid as you are in real life in front of a background image is by using a green screen. I bought the Emart green screen (see top right in the picture above). It’s collapsible and retractable meaning that I can raise it up and lower it back into is case that sits on the floor easily between video calls.
Zoom has been the leader in the field of video conferencing and first introduced most of the advanced features. Zoom has the background image feature and also provides a setting for you to indicate when you’re using a green screen which then let’s them use the chroma key technology to automatically eliminate your background and replace it seamlessly with the background image. However, WebEx which the company I work for uses, only recently introduce the background image feature but hasn’t yet included a green screen setting and in fact, they’ve recently prevented third party companies that provide that feature as a pre-process from operating with WebEx. I’m hoping that this means they’re about to offer the feature themselves. However, right now you can’t use background images with a green screen when you’re using WebEx. And, that’s one of the reasons why I needed a green screen that was flexible enough to get out of the way. This isn’t the only reason I wanted a flexible one, I also often still prefer my physical black background. And yet, other times I need to use a green screen when, for example, a conference wants presenters to use a particular background or when I want to include my own branding.
Internet and Bandwidth
You could do everything that I’ve described above and still not optimally show up on video calls. Why? Because your internet access and bandwidth may be suboptimal. Make sure that your computer can effectively reach the internet in your home by positioning it so that I can reach a strong WiFi signal or use an ethernet wired connection. It you have sufficient internet in your home but it doesn’t reach where you want to do your video calls from, you may need to look into a mesh home network system which can distribute your WiFi signal more evenly throughout your home. I use a three unit Orbi system from Netgear.
You may though have the WiFi signal appropriately distributed throughout your home but not have sufficient bandwidth coming into your home. With more members of a family working from home and being educated from home normally sufficient bandwidth can be strained resulting in the need to buy a higher bandwidth package.
Some Final Thoughts
Some may say, what does all this matter. I suggest that it matters a lot. How you show up leaves an impression on the people you’re on a video call with but also even more importantly, determines how well you’re able to contribute to whatever you’re doing on the video call. If you’re not able to be heard due to your setup or make your point effectively because people can’t see your facial expressions, or your connection drops completely, that impacts whatever you’re doing online. People generally care about what they look like, act like, talk like, and show up in person so why wouldn’t that be important on video calls. I submit that it’s even more important.
Let me also just provide a few other ways to optimize how you show up.
Put the video call window that shows the people you’re speaking with as close as possible to the video camera you’re using. You want to simulate actually speaking to the other person so you want to look at them. It’s really disconcerting, for example, when someone is speaking to you but looking totally in another direction at the camera on another computer. Try to simulate how you would look if you were there in person.
Turn your camera on as much as you can other than at the odd times that there’s some reason not to due to something happening in the house or you just got back from a run. We should be sensitive to there being times when someone isn’t camera ready but I suggest for your own purposes to minimize those times if you at all can. Think about it. You’re eliminating the richest channel of communication, the visual, when not using your camera.
Most video call platforms have an option to let the software adjust your microphone volume. Use that! Again, it’s disconcerting when others on the call can’t hear you or equally disconcerting if your volume is up too high and you’re blasting louder that others on the call. Also, if you’re going to use a headset, make sure that the microphone in particular sounds good. There are people on calls that I’m on who are using such crappy headphone microphones that people have a hard time understanding what they’re saying.
When you’re on calls with a number of others, whenever possible, try to use the gallery view so that you can simulate being in a meeting with each of your colleagues or classmates.
Lastly, let me address the question of cost and personal circumstances. I know that some of you won’t be able to buy any of the things I’ve mentioned here. You might have lost your job due to the pandemic or just aren’t in a financial position to afford any of this. If that is you, I still think that you can use the general advice I’ve given here which can apply to almost any situation. I know that others of you may have personal circumstances preventing you from having a dedicated room to use for video calls necessitating using headphones for example.
The rest of you may be able to afford some or all of the things I’ve mentioned here. As I pointed out above, I’d recommend the products on the bottom row of the picture above for most of you and the lights and green screen only for those of you who have a professional need to amp things up even further.
For those interested in getting some or all of this gear, let me give you some idea of what these things cost. The Logitech C920 webcam that I initially used costs about $100 (I’ll give all prices in US funds from Amazon), the updated Logitech BRIO model costs around $260, the Manual Camera app costs $10 in the Apple App Store, the Audio-Technica AT2020 microphone costs about $160, the stand costs about $20, the Neewer light kit costs about $160, and the Emart green screen costs about $190. The basics that I’ve recommended above will together then cost less than $300 and the full kit will cost about $800.
Finally, I believe that effective communication is incredibly important and that communication that has to be done digitally is even more important. I hope that sharing my experiences and advice on this topic will be of help to you in making your digital communication on video calls more effective.