Preparation

Headset Microphone

For the best audio experience on your presentation, we recommend using a USB headset with a Noise Cancelling Mic during your presentation.

Even a cheap headset microphone will sound better than the built-in microphone on a laptop.

Plantronics Blackwire 325 USB Headset
Logitech USB Headset H390 with Noise Cancelling Mic

Webcam

To keep viewers engaged, it is recommended to present using a webcam.

If you:

Do not own a webcam
Have a webcam but don't like the video quality
Have a webcam but don't like the placement (some laptop manufacturers place the webcam at bottom of the monitor vs at the top)

We recommend the following webcams for superior picture quality:

Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 (1080p resolution) - about $90
Logitech 1080p Pro Stream Webcam (1080p resolution) - about $95
Logitech C310 (720p resolution) - about $50

Lighting

Play around with lighting in the room to see if you can get your webcam to better expose for your face and top half or your body.

Something as simple as moving/placing floor or table lamp(s) in front of you (or to the side) to increase light hitting your face/body can have a dramatically positive end result.

See video to the right for some helpful tips we all can appreciate to make us look better on video

Presentation Location / Backdrop

It is best to not have a lot of background motion in your webcam field of view as it will impact the video quality.

Please avoid the following showing up in background of your webcam (where possible):

Spinning Ceiling Fan or anything with constant or occasional motion in background
Window to outside with moving traffic (close blinds/shades)
Window to outside with tree(s) swaying in wind (close blinds/shades)

In a nutshell - the less things that are moving in your webcam shot (besides YOU of course!) - the better.

Last but not least, if your webcam is built into your laptop, please put your laptop on stable surface (desk/table) vs holding the laptop or placing on your lap where your video may constantly be shaking. You won't notice it as much as the viewers will!

Example (Good): Static/Still Backgrounds improve video quality

Example (Bad : Moving/Dynamic/Busy Backgrounds negatively impact video quality

In this example the overall quality of the presentation is affected by:

Presentation is in front of an window without the shades drawn.
The brighter background of outside is making the webcam underexpose for the presenter's face.
There is occasional traffic moving in the background and a tree w/ leaves continually swaying in the wind. The complicated background with motion is making the overall video quality decrease.
There is a TV on in the background that adds even more motion and distractions to the scene.

Virtual Backgrounds

Virtual backgrounds effects in Zoom may vary in quality and on the average/poorer side of results they can look cheesy with a lot of distracting glitchy/splotchy video.

For the best possible end results, use virtual backgrounds when:

You are using a recent computer with good specs. The lower the spec of computer, the lower the quality especially if you're not using a green screen.
The real background behind is you is a simple background (as much as possible). A blank wall is perfect. Move your seating/webcam angle.
You are well lit, lighting on your face/body is even and your face/body has noticeable contrast over the background.
Fore best results, you are using a green screen (and checked "I have a green screen" in virtual backgrounds settings in Zoom and the green screen is evenly lit) that fills your entire background.

If you intend to use a Virtual Background in your presentation, you can test in Zoom to see good/bad the compositing effect is and if your time is precious, please have a backup plan by pre-arranging for your real-life presentation backdrop being as recommended (see above section) in case you have to scrap your virtual background.

Zoom Virtual Backgrounds

The above link is the Virtual Backgrounds section on Zoom's web site.