Elevate Your Presence in a Virtual Meeting

Even before the COVID-19 crisis started, Some surveys of 2019 say more than 8.2 million people worked from home, in the USA only. And with the Covid-19 pandemic turning more office workers into work-from-home employees.

Video conferences are becoming more routine for a wide range of business purposes, from staff meetings to brainstorming sessions to major announcements. Generally speaking, “knowledge workers” such as executives, IT managers, financial analysts and accountants are doing work from Home in future also.

But communication tactics that work well among colleagues in a conference room may not translate seamlessly to video grid on a computer screen. virtual meetings as “an entirely different context, not simply an in-person meeting or a class on a screen.”

Elevating both your point and your presence in a Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Web X or similar virtual meeting, requires not only engaging in video conference friendly tactics but also disabusing yourself of potentially misconceptions about the medium. To help keep your impact actual when your presence is virtual, consider these six recommendations:

1. Focus on your camera, not your colleagues

2. Maintain a strong voice

3. Be present and mindful

4. Frame yourself wisely

5. Don’t become your own distraction

6. Use the chat window as your partner

Whether you’ve been participating in virtual meetings for years or just started recently due to covid-19, it’s important to realize that a video conference isn’t just a conference over video it’s an entirely new interactive experience, which requires adapting your perspective, habits, and tactics to make it work effectively for you.