When you have a meeting, you look your best. Dress up, come prepared, and success will follow! Unfortunately, there’s an element to meetings from home that you don’t encounter in-person: the camera.
Look, we’re all limited to the resources we happen to have. Whether you’re using a built-in camera in your computer or tablet, or a detached webcam connected via USB, the focus can just be about connecting to the call at all. But if your camera is at a poor angle, it’s going to take away from the rest of your presence.
If there’s one thing to take away from this advice, it’s to please not look down at the camera. This is mainly a problem with laptops and tablets, where the display (and the built-in camera) are below your face. Having your team look up at your face is a bit awkward, and isn’t the best look for anyone.
If you can manage, the best practice to follow is to keep the camera just a bit higher than your eye line. You don’t want it towering above you (we’ve seen plenty of those setups, too) but a slight elevation is much more flattering than other angles.
If possible, try to check your camera position before the video call starts. If you’re on Mac, the Photo Booth app offers an easy way to do so. On PC, the Camera app can be used to achieve the same result.
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash