I’m frequently surprised by the people’s choices regarding how they present themselves on Zoom. It is 2024. Haven’t we all been doing this, voluntarily or involuntarily, for awhile now? It amazes me when people look terrible on Zoom. It’s not that hard to put a little effort into the encounter. Fundamental basics include camera at eye level and no backlighting the turns you into a silhouette. Advanced beginner options include sitting up in a chair, rather than reclining back which causes the chin to recede into the neck, especially if you’re holding the camera low. The camera low angle is exceptionally good at highlighting/creating the double chin effect, which I thought most people would want to avoid. Yet, I see it every day.
Backgrounds can be helpful, although the fading in and out can be a little distracting. It is ok to chew, but maybe not take huge bites of food while on camera.
I’m usually on Zoom at the end of the day. This is not always great because it highlights what a rat’s nest my hair becomes at the end of the day. I also feel like I’m just starting to get a few neck wrinkles which I don’t love. The “Zoom uglies” are a thing!
That is all.
I think photogenic people forget that some of us are below average looking and there’s not much that can be done in an office setting with florescent lights and an office-supplied desk chair to help improve our looks via video calls. Some of us are legitimately unattractive.
I’m definitely not on Zoom with a bunch of models! It’s not so much trying to up one’s looks as a basic awareness of how one presents to colleagues. Granted, I really became aware of this after a slick marketing guy’s talk about optimizing Zoom so maybe it’s all superfluously shallow and meaningless.
I am definitely a huge fan of texting or privately chatting with colleagues to see if I can get them to smile or smirk at a joke while on camera. That’s a visual I love!
Ug, I totally agree. Who thought it would be a good idea to sit with a shiny window behind them and a low situated camera? However, I bet that their house is super messy and the window behind is the only “clean” looking thing. HOWEVER, it is not too hard to close the blinds and put your laptop on a stack of books! Or is it? My pet peeve is when people don’t turn their camera on. Sorry, this is an “office” setting, you don’t get to be a sulky teenager, you need to comb your hair today and put on a shirt, and be an adult for goodness sakes. I am not going to have a meeting where I am talking to a bunch of black screens. Turn it on please, and engage!
My job currently has grand rounds where one presenter gives a really long talk. Everyone else is off-camera, aka, driving into work since the meetings are at 6:45. But it seems so weird and anti-social! I am pro-camera as well.
Oh… I have started to not care much how I look on zoom to be honest. Back in the day I would set up the laptop before the meeting and did test shots and where to position myself and all.
Not anymore. I there to work and not win peasant.
However I never sit on the couch or have the laptop camera below I level.
But I also will not move – my desk is angled so that light comes from left behind. Well, if it get s dark it gest dark.
Maybe I have it all wrong! Maybe what’s needed is zero f***ks. It would be funny to sit on the couch, place it below eye level, and ate a really crumbly pastry so that the crumbs fell towards the camera. But I would want enough light so people would see the crumbs. I might try. lol
Oh my gosh my spelling is a disaster. I am sorry…
Your notes all make complete sense even for someone like me who is rarely on zoom! My daughters tell me that at work the norm @ their companies is cameras off, even for the speaker of a presentation. So perhaps each work environment/culture has a different norm for video calls. And yes, great idea to do the crumbly pastry floating into the camera lens:)
I’ve been making more of an effort to turn on the camera in the first place (lots of people just don’t) and I think that made me more aware of being presentable, having good lighting, etc (although I will admit, in my old apartment when I worked out of a dark corner in the living room, the lighting was always shitty, no matter what I tried LOL). I do agree though, a little effort goes a long way.