How to Look Good During Virtual Meetings: A Tutorial
As sales reps, we used to have to worry about having coffee breath.
Now we have to worry about our customers seeing our kids' socks accidentally on display in the background of our virtual meetings.
Virtual meetings create a whole new kind of stress, and this week I will be devoting my podcast and posts to showing you how to look good on camera. This week’s podcast will be with the absolute expert on the topic, Julie Hansen. But in the meantime, take a look at the photos.
They are all the same day, same make-up, same outfit, but very different lighting and backgrounds. There are some pros and cons to each.
The simplicity of B is good, but the lighting is bad. See those shadows? I used a Ring light, but no natural light. It also doesn’t look super professional to have just a plain wall in the background. It’s fine, but not great.
The lighting is great in A, but the background is a little cluttered. It would be fine for an informal meeting, perhaps a discovery call or a go-live meeting, but too cluttered for a formal presentation. With virtual meetings, we have to really think about what kind of meeting we’re having. How many people will be there? How well do you know them? Do you want to put them at ease, and make it feel like you’re just having coffee together? Or do you need to impress them with your professionalism?
C is just all wrong. I WAS actually by an open window, so I had natural lighting, but it wasn’t good light because of the position of the window, and I wasn’t facing the window. I did not have a Ring light for this one, and bookshelves are generally not a good idea. Too cluttered. Plus, I'm way too far away from the camera.
D is great for a formal presentation. I could use a little more powder, my face looks a little red because of the time of day, but the virtual background is clean, and professional. You do need a green screen to do this, or a newer computer, but it’s done fairly easily and easy to replicate quickly.
The trick to looking good on camera is investing the time (and money) into your set-up. Once you do, it’s easy to quickly access it and look good. And you can probably expense everything, so I would recommend you invest in the following. A good set-up can be done for around $100, and I link to everything I have below.
A good web cam (they can be purchased for less than $50)
Be sure to check out my podcast this week! We get into even more details about how to look good, and be sure to follow me on LinkedIn for weekly tips!
