Once you’ve mastered the basics and got your audio up to quality, it’s a good idea to give a little thought to how else you can improve how you appear on video calls.
Eye Contact
Eye contact is extremely important for building genuine connections with people - imagine meeting someone in real life and never actually making eye contact with them!
On video calls, it's really easy to forget this. Especially because (unlike in real life) looking into the other person's eyes on your screen does not necessarily mean you are looking at your camera. Look at the images below and you'll see what we mean...
The easiest way to resolve this is to put your video window on a screen that's as close to your camera as possible (see Looking at the top centre 👆). It's also a good idea to occasionally glance directly at the camera when you're speaking.
Rate of Speech
Just like in real life, your rate of speech will affect how you're perceived by others. This is more important than ever on video calls because you don't have body language to help make your point.
- If you want to drive home a message, consider slowing your speech so it sounds more deliberate.
- If you want to create energy, consider speeding up your speech.
Pauses
Natural speech inevitably contains many pauses. Yet on video calls we have a tendency to try to fill the silence. Remember…
- Silence is okay - pauses give people time to think.
- When you're speaking, pauses usually last for much less time than you think. Often, other's won't even notice.
- If you ask a question, it's okay to wait for a little while until someone answers. Again, people need time to think and compose their response.
Tone
Many people imagine that your emotional state is less obvious on zoom calls than in real life. Although body language is less obvious, that very fact means people notice tone of voice a little more. So if you are in a bad mood people can definitely still tell on a video call.
The only tip here is to be aware of your emotional state and if you need to, spend a few minutes before an important call trying to get yourself into a positive state so your tone of voice is suitable.
Hand Gestures & Facial Expressions
Using hand gestures and facial expressions are great ways to make yourself more engaging when speaking to people in person. The same applies on video calls.
- Use hand gestures as you would normally, but make sure that they're visible on your camera!
- Be aware that on large group calls, excessive gesturing can sometimes be distracting (this isn't such an issue in one-to-one calls).
- You might need to slightly exaggerate your facial expressions so people can see them.
- If you find it difficult to be enthusiastic and engaging when sitting down, try standing up when you're on calls instead and see if it makes a difference.
Summary & Key Points
Just like in the real world, there are a lot of things you can do to make sure you come across well on zoom. But many of these require a little more intentional thought than they would in real life – especially if you're new to remote working.