Summary: The best video conferencing equipment in the world can not make you and your business look great if your people don't use the set-up to their advantage. These 8 video conferencing tips can help you look professional.
Even the best video conferencing equipment on the market doesn't solve all of your communication problems. Some issues are a result of the actions of the participants and have more to do with inexperience, bad manners and lack of consideration than with the quality of the mics, monitors and connections.
To make your long distance video communication events go smoothly, keep the following eight things in mind:
1. Set up rules for participation ahead of time. Will everybody talk freely or will only one or two folk do the majority of the talking? While you cannot be sure the people on the other end will speak in a logic and orderly fashion, you should do everything possible to make sure you maintain a disciplined approach on your end.
2. Do a practice run to make certain everyone understands how things work. While modern video conferencing equipment is intuitive and simple to use, letting folks that are inexperienced in its operation, practice a bit, is a very good idea. Set up a chat with another branch office or a reliable peer who will tell you truthfully if you and you staff are coming across well.
3. Be aware of the cameras but not distracted by them. Think of how experienced news reporters engage with the camera. They speak to the individual watching the broadcast, not to the camera. They don't compulsively think about being a centimeter or 2 off their marks, but they don't purposely step outside of the frame either. They appear at ease at all times.
4. Eliminate outside distractions from the meeting room. Modern mikes are much more sensitive than ever, so close the door to the room where the conference is being held, silence pagers, watches and cell telephones and keep paper rustling to a minimum. Always presume that extraneous sounds are being picked up although they would possibly not be.
5. Avoid wearing distracting or heavily decorated clothing. Cross-hatch patterns may react with a camera in bizarre and distraction ways, and tiny decorations might not be visible. Stick to decorated clothing to avoid making distractions that will take attention away from your carefully planned words during your telemeeting.
6. Have a clear end-goal. As you would in a face-to-face meeting, be clear about what is to be discussed. Otherwise, you'll never know when your discussion is complete. For video conference meetings, this suggests creating a clear agenda and sharing it with all locations.
7. Be certain somebody is in control at every location and over the entire meeting. Somebody must be able to call time when the meeting runs longs, and somebody at each location should be in charge of informing other locations when there's a communication problem. If nobody is appointed to be in charge of a location, it's possible that no-one will speak out if something goes pear-shaped, and time could be wasted.
8. Provide digital presentations and handouts before the event. Many people regularly prefer to view handouts and presentations in their own time so that they can prepare before a meeting, so provide digital presentations and email copies of handouts ahead of time , allowing those who need to study the chance to do so. That can also save a meeting if a presentation do not want to transmit at the proper time.
When you keep these eight common-sense tips in consideration during your live video conferencing events, you can be certain that your words amount to true communication and do not fall on deaf ears. Making the optimum use of your video conferencing equipment means guaranteeing people understand how to work with it instead of against it.
Even the best video conferencing equipment on the market doesn't solve all of your communication problems. Some issues are a result of the actions of the participants and have more to do with inexperience, bad manners and lack of consideration than with the quality of the mics, monitors and connections.
To make your long distance video communication events go smoothly, keep the following eight things in mind:
1. Set up rules for participation ahead of time. Will everybody talk freely or will only one or two folk do the majority of the talking? While you cannot be sure the people on the other end will speak in a logic and orderly fashion, you should do everything possible to make sure you maintain a disciplined approach on your end.
2. Do a practice run to make certain everyone understands how things work. While modern video conferencing equipment is intuitive and simple to use, letting folks that are inexperienced in its operation, practice a bit, is a very good idea. Set up a chat with another branch office or a reliable peer who will tell you truthfully if you and you staff are coming across well.
3. Be aware of the cameras but not distracted by them. Think of how experienced news reporters engage with the camera. They speak to the individual watching the broadcast, not to the camera. They don't compulsively think about being a centimeter or 2 off their marks, but they don't purposely step outside of the frame either. They appear at ease at all times.
4. Eliminate outside distractions from the meeting room. Modern mikes are much more sensitive than ever, so close the door to the room where the conference is being held, silence pagers, watches and cell telephones and keep paper rustling to a minimum. Always presume that extraneous sounds are being picked up although they would possibly not be.
5. Avoid wearing distracting or heavily decorated clothing. Cross-hatch patterns may react with a camera in bizarre and distraction ways, and tiny decorations might not be visible. Stick to decorated clothing to avoid making distractions that will take attention away from your carefully planned words during your telemeeting.
6. Have a clear end-goal. As you would in a face-to-face meeting, be clear about what is to be discussed. Otherwise, you'll never know when your discussion is complete. For video conference meetings, this suggests creating a clear agenda and sharing it with all locations.
7. Be certain somebody is in control at every location and over the entire meeting. Somebody must be able to call time when the meeting runs longs, and somebody at each location should be in charge of informing other locations when there's a communication problem. If nobody is appointed to be in charge of a location, it's possible that no-one will speak out if something goes pear-shaped, and time could be wasted.
8. Provide digital presentations and handouts before the event. Many people regularly prefer to view handouts and presentations in their own time so that they can prepare before a meeting, so provide digital presentations and email copies of handouts ahead of time , allowing those who need to study the chance to do so. That can also save a meeting if a presentation do not want to transmit at the proper time.
When you keep these eight common-sense tips in consideration during your live video conferencing events, you can be certain that your words amount to true communication and do not fall on deaf ears. Making the optimum use of your video conferencing equipment means guaranteeing people understand how to work with it instead of against it.
About the Author:
Paul Fraser is owner at AVT Audio And Video Solutions and writes about video conferencing services and others issues related to distance communication. He knows that good skills combined with great equipment can lead to successful video conferencing events.
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