29. How to wow on webcam

The world has well and truly gone ONLINE. So if you can't make a great impression on webcam you risk losing influence, damaging your reputation and simply not being effective. In this episode I go through ten things you can do to wow on webcam.

Register for my FREE webinar Ten Ways to Connect on Screen HERE.

Transcript

Wow. How the hell are you? Things are just crazy and the online world is keeping us together. I suppose you're probably finding yourself online a lot. Online meetings, online interviews, online presentations. So in this episode I'm going to share the top 10 ways you can wow on webcam.

I'm Sally Prosser. You're listening to That Voice Podcast. No matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

Welcome to episode 29 of That Voice Podcast and a special welcome. If you're bored in lockdown and have stumbled across this podcast for the very first time. If you're a regular, you might be wondering what's going on. Hang on?! Isn't today's supposed to be an interview episode? Isn't Sally supposed to be chatting with the self defense expert? Rachel Kealy? Yes and yes, I know.

Would you believe it amid everything else going on. I came across some really bad technical difficulties. Every time I exported the episode, random bits of the audio were dropping out and I just could not work it out. So I really hope I can bring you that next week. In the meantime, I've rustled up this episode because I thought an episode was better than none. So here I am and webcam manner is a good topic to talk about. If you're anything like me, you feel like by the end of the day you have been staring at your computer screen for far too long and a friend of mine said the other day that she was suffering from zoomtigue. I thought, yes, I can relate to that.

If you've just been throwing up your webcam and using your computer audio and hoping for the best, you might not be making the best impression that you can. And if you're only online once in a while it might not matter, but with what's going on, who knows how long it will be before we can start having face-to-face meetings again. So it's worth putting the time and the energy into making sure your webcam game is strong because if it's not, you risk losing influence in meetings. You risk damaging your reputation. A lot of judgments are going on when you're online you risk missing opportunities, not being effective, not being able to get your message across and in times like these, if it continues the way it does, if you can't be strong online, you're simply going to get left behind. The good news is there are 10 things that you can do.

Actually there's more than 10 things you can do. Today I'm just going to stick with 10 I thought that was quite enough in one episode, 10 things you can do to connect on screen and that reminds me, I'm actually hosting a free webinar called 10 ways to connect on screen on Thursday, March 26th at 10:00 AM Australian Eastern standard time, so 10:00 AM Brisbane time. I'll be hosting a free webinar all about this. The advantage of watching the webinar as well as listening to this is that you can actually see me demonstrating the things that we're going to be going through. To register head to any of my social channels or what I'll do is I'll throw the link into the show notes and you'll be able to find them at www.thatvoicepodcast.com I'm going to be up very late tonight making sure I've got the transcript and everything in there for you.

So please go to thatvoicepodcast.com and you'll find the details there. Okay, let's get into it. Number one, the first thing you can do is remove distractions. So when we're going to the office or going to meetings, we are removing ourself from the distractions, right? But when we're at home, those distractions are there. It could be kids, it could be pets, it could be you know, your washing machine. You know, one of the best things about working from home is that you can get all those things done. You can put a load of washing on, or put the dishwasher on. But if in the middle of your meeting you've got beep beep or you've got the dryer going, it's a distraction that you don't need. So put your phone on silent, lock the front door if you need to so people aren't coming and going, just make it, or maybe don't lock your front door, but at least be somewhere where you're not going to be distracted. Really important.

Now the second thing you need to do is make sure the light is behind your camera, right? So you need to be looking at a window, not sitting in front of a window with the window behind you, right? So the light needs to be coming onto your face. Why is this important? It's not just so you can look pretty. The reason is is if you've got the light behind you, then your face will be silhouetted. It will be darker than the background. And the problem with that is that people can't see your facial expressions as well. And your facial expressions are one of the main ways that you can communicate in this medium. Because a lot of the body language is lost. Not all of it. We'll cover that later, but some of the body language is but some of the body language is lost so it's really important. People can see your face clearly and the way you do that is by making sure the light is behind the camera. Okay?

Number three, make sure the camera is at eye height. What you might need to do is put your laptop up on a couple of books, and I do this for important zoom meetings as well. Put your laptop on a couple of books so you're staring at eye-level into the lens. Otherwise, Oh, you can get into all sorts of troubles. You know when you see people and their camera's far too low and it's like glaring up underneath their chin. Now not only does this give you an unnecessary extra few chins, but it gives the impression that you're looking down on everyone else so it makes you look too dominating. The other thing is if you've got the camera too high, then you're looking up into the whites of your eyes and that looks unnatural as well. You want to be like it is in real life and that's looking at people's eyes. So keep your lens at eye level.

Collect all the big books around the house. That's what I do. Alright, so you've removed your distractions, you've got the light behind the camera, the camera's propped up to eye height. The fourth thing you need to do is remove the mess in the background of the frame. So you're looking into the frame and this is why it's good to preview the camera before you go live or before you join the meeting. And you'll be able to see, Oh, is that some dirty glasses in the background? Oh is that, um, is that my washing basket with my dirty undies you can see? now might sound funny, but I have seen all sorts of things in the backgrounds of people's videos. You don't want people to, one judge you on the stuff you have in the background or two, be distracted. You want the focus to be your face.

All right? So in the background, have a look and make sure there's nothing that's messy or cluttered. If you can, you do want a couple of things for decoration. So maybe a plant or a picture that tends to look better than just a blank wall. Now you might think, Oh God, how could we be bothered going to all this effort? Well again, who knows how long we're going to be in this situation for. It might be worth spending a little bit of time getting a fantastic setup and then once it's done, you're always ready to go.

Number five, this is another one with framing. Make sure your hands are in view. So you might need to sit a bit back from the computer or uh, push the computer back. Either way you want your hands to be in frame. Hands are one of the main ways that we communicate with people and that we show trust. We show trust and we be persuasive if we become a talking head with no hands one or we're not going to influence as much. And two people are gonna think we're hiding something. Subconsciously the brain goes, what are you doing with your hands?

Okay, what are we up to? Number six. Number six, use a microphone. Don't rely on the computer audio. You need a separate microphone. It's really important that when you do speak your voice is clear so I would invest in a microphone.

Number seven. Look at the lens not yourself in the picture. It's very tempting to just be staring at yourself or to be staring at the shot of the other person when you're talking right? You know what I mean, on the screen you're staring at the person? Remember your connection is your lens, is your camera. You need to imagine that their eyes are the lens.

Okay what are we up to? Number eight - test the tech on the day. So get in there early don't be just jumping on and clicking the link at one minute to the meeting. That's craziness. Get there early, it's not going to hurt to get it all set up because if you leave it too late things will not work. I'm living proof of that by trying to export my podcast episode today - and here I am at the last minute recording this episode for you. So testing the tech is always recommended.

Now number nine. This is for presentations and interviews - do a practice run. If you've got an important pitch or interview jump on Zoom with a friend or family and have a practice - or with me. I'm still coaching online so you might want to get in touch. I've got a lot of people this week who've got sessions with me to practice their online interviews and their online presentations because it is quite different to being in person.

In the same way that I'd say practice a presentation standing up in front of a mirror. If you have to do it online practice it online. And all the computers, I'm pretty sure, have the ability to record. So you can always record yourself and watch back. As unpleasant as it might seem it's a really great way to get feedback about how you look - and how you sound as well.

Okay, and finally, number ten, prepare as though it was an in person meeting. This might seem obvious, but how much more casual are people dressing now that they're at home? Again, certain meetings might be fine. It might be quite nice to have people's kids and cats and dogs coming into shot. Absolutely. You've got to look at what kind of meeting it is. If it's something that you would have walked into your office dressed sharp as anything and been on your a game, then think about that. Blow dry your hair. There you go. Blokes you too. Comb your hair, put your suit on, put your dress on, put your makeup on, even put shoes on, do all those things that you would do if it was in-person. You'll immediately start to feel a better sense of occasion with it and that will come across through the screen.

All right, I gave you quite a lot of tips there. Let's go through them quickly. Number one, remove distractions. Number two, make sure the light's behind the camera. Number three, make sure the camera's at eye height. Number four, get rid of the mess in the background. Number five, make sure your hands are in view. Number six, use a microphone. Number seven, look at the lens, not at yourself. Eight, test the tech on the day. Nine practice online beforehand. And number 10, prepare as though you were going to this meeting in person.

And remember, I am still coaching online, so if you'd like to get some one on one feedback on your Skype or online ability, then get in touch and I will be able to Skype or Zoom you in. Now, next week, I truly hope I can bring you my chat with Rachel Kealy all about how we can use our voice to stay safe.

Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast. For a full transcript, head to www.thatvoicepodcast.com