Projecting Your Best Self in Zoom
Facilitator: Jennifer Bergland
jbergland@tcea.org. Twitter: @jbergland
Learn ways to use lighting, sound, camera position, and your background to project a professional image when Zooming.
Direct Link: http://ly.tcea.org/lookinggood
Appearance
What to wear:
Solid color is best as long as it is not bright white or dark such as black.
Dress professionally from the waist up.
Grooming Basics:
Comb your hair
Shave
Put on your makeup. This WikiHow article describes the important makeup tricks you should use.
Lighting
Soft diffused Lighting
From a natural window you are sitting in front of
Light from other directions are going to cast shadows.
Light rings also work.
If you are sitting at a desk, you can place two lights (positioned at 10 and 2) on either side of the laptop. According to WikiHow, smaller lamps work best for this.
Don’t have light behind you.
Tina Yong also suggested that if you have a Smart TV, use their YouTube App and search for a video that displays white light. Play this video and now your TV functions as a light board. How cool is that!
White Light from YouTube Video.mp4White Light from youTube
If you don't have a light ring, or good natural light, but you do have a Smart TV, you can use a YouTube video that displays nothing but white light.
Background
No Background Image
You want people to focus on you. A plain wall or a wall with a simple painting is best.
Bookcases or shelves with trinkets on may draw your other's attention to these things instead of you.
You want it to be clean, simple and minimalistic as possible.
Background Image
If possible, use a green screen. Can be as simple as a plastic tablecloth that you hang behind you.
Avoid really busy videos. The goal is to focus on you, not the background.
I primarily use UnSplash for my backgrounds, but there are lots of places to find them.
Which of these backgrounds are not distracting?
Classroom
Petals
Orange Fire
Wood & Ivy
Dark Blue
Office
On Camera....
It is best to have the camera just above your eye level so that you are looking up at it. Don’t have the camera above your head though.
Also, place yourself center in the camera. You don’t want people to focus on your forehead or looking up your nostrils!
You can place your laptop on a stack of books or a box to get it to be at a higher level.
Use the “touch up my appearance” in the Zoom settings.
Check out your appearance before you go live. It doesn’t look professional for you to adjust your hair, etc on camera.
If you have a wide angle camera then the closer you get to the camera, the more distorted you appear. Move back away from the camera. WikiHow suggests sitting an arm’s length away from the camera. They also suggested that your eyes should be in the top 1/3rd of the screen and that your armpits should be at the bottom of the screen. You should have a little bit of space above your head.
If you are going to get up and move around, then stop your video until you are seated again. It's distracting to watch you move about.
Look at the webcam. This gives the appearance that you are looking at the other participants.
Sit up, don't slouch.
Don't eat on camera.
Turn off your notifications on your computer.
Microphone and Camera.mp4Microphone and Camera
Some laptop/computer cameras and microphones are better than others. You need to record yourself to determine if you need to invest in an external camera and/or microphone. In this video I test my MacBook pro's camera and microphone, my Airpods, and my Logitech camera and microphone.
Some people like headsets, but I don't really like the way this appears to the viewers.
Wearing Glasses with Zoom.mp4Wearing Glasses
How to avoid a glare on your glasses.
This video provides some good tips on getting rid of the glare of your glasses.
Resources
WikiHow on Looking Good on Zoom
Men's Attire: A Gentleman's Guide for How to Look Good on Zoom.
Sites for background image:
Videos
Below are videos that provide you with tips on how to look good on video calls.