Not only schools are turning to the possibility of reaching their students and conversation partners online.
This may also be a good time for sales staff to start online meetings.
Personally, I have organized and led hundreds of hours of online meetings. Online meetings are not only useful for initiating conversations and getting to know each other for the first time, but you can also use them to close sales.
In this blog, I would like to share my experience on how to appear in front of the camera. I published a post about the technique and structure of an online meeting last week (Part 1).
SEE AND HEAR YOURSELF
Most of us do not like to see or hear each other. This is a big hurdle to appear natural. I’ve heard this happens even to seasoned actors. So don’t worry about it. This is not getting any better.
What helps is to make friends with your own picture but most of all with the camera. “Befriend” can be taken quite literally. Imagine that behind the little black lens there is a friend who listens to you. In this way, you will get a different, more natural appearance.
It also helps to produce a 1-minute video every day, just for yourself and for practice.
THE DISTANCE AND THE PERSPECTIVE
The camera increases the magnification of objects in the foreground and reduces objects in the background.
Make sure that you keep a suitable distance from the camera:
– A small strip remains free above the head
– The torso is visible
– Do not move your hands into the camera (high magnification)
– Sit up straight and lean forward slightly
If you take these points to heart, you will have better visibility in front of the camera.
THE DRESS CODE
Whether online or onsite. It’s a customer meeting. So choose the clothes as if you would visit the customer on-site. Wear clothes that are appropriate for your industry on the visible part of your body.
You can of course “save” your underwear online. So you could also leave your pyjama bottoms on if you have a business shirt on top (if the business shirt is common in your industry). However, I do not recommend this, because it is usually detrimental to your inner posture. I also recommend that you ” get dressed” for your home office in the morning to “polish” yourself for work”.
THE ENERGY
The energy level tends to be lower in home offices. However, the energy level is crucial for a convincing appearance in front of the camera. So, do exercises before the video meeting which increase your energy. Also, do exercises for your voice. Your voice may be “rusty” if you have not spoken for a few hours.
I always do a “7 minutes power up” of Julie Hansen, consultant, speaker, author and former actress.
Write to me and I will be happy to send you a PDF with the “7 Minutes Power Up”.