I’ve sat in on a lot of videoconference meetings on teams or zoom.

I’m not suggesting I am on my own.

Anyone older than early childhood since 2020 has probably sat in on as many if not more than me.

Many of the meetings I sit in on, I am observing and taking notes.

That offers me a wonderful opportunity to watch others and see how they use the technology and the funny, embarrassing or at times rude and awkward things that people do.

So in a list, I’m going to share my observations with you.

Just for fun, but maybe also so we can all learn something from other peoples mistakes.

My tips for using videoconferencing

1. Check your microphone works before the meeting - honestly the microphone “not working” happens way too often

4. Put the phone next to the computer if you are going to dial someone in - this is not ideal, but it’s sometimes necessary (see tip #7)

5. Don’t press mute if you are the one dialling someone in on the phone

6. The technology not working is different to the fact that you didn’t check whether you needed to download an app until 2 minutes after the meeting started - try to be prepared

7. If the meeting organiser asks you if you can use teams or zoom or google meet or whatever, and you say yes, they are probably going to expect you to use that platform and may judge you harshly if you wait for a phone call and they are all sitting there waiting for you to join

8. Think about what is in your background peeps! The person interviewing you does not need to see your empty Bundaberg Rum bottle collection - or maybe they do…

9. If you are recording a session for someone to listen to later and note your decisions down, keep recording whilst you are discussing the decisions - it really helps them

10. If you are excused from a meeting because you aren’t needed in the second part of it, it’s expected that you’ll wave or say bye bye and go - it’s just weird to have to tell you to leave

11. If you want to keep confidentiality between a series of meetings (ie interviews) make separate meetings- it’s super awkward when people pop in to other people’s meetings

13. Best to check if you’ve disabled participants from doing something before arguing with them about how they SHOULD be able to do it - ie when you’ve muted them and you’re telling them to turn their microphone on

14. If you’ve asked everyone to be on mute when not talking, it’s nice for you then to allow people enough time to unmute and talk if you call for questions - I’ve found unmuting takes a few seconds

15. If you are scrolling through a document in a meeting, make sure you keep on the right page for the participants - it’s hard to follow the conversation otherwise

16. In a meeting with questions via chat, please consider getting someone to monitor the chat for you - it’s really hard to run a presentation, the meeting and the chat all at once (also, you need to check the chat)

17. Be thoughtful about what you are scratching during boring meetings

18. If you are planning to talk to your colleagues in the same office during an online meeting, for god’s sake, hit mute first

19. Actually, it’s just always good to hit mute if you are mainly listening- you’d be surprised the sounds your microphone can pick up

20. If you are sitting really close to the microphone, please don’t turn your pages or tap or click your pen right next to it- it’s hard to hear the conversation (and bloody annoying)

21. If you are running a meeting through your laptop and the microphone is on your laptop, please don’t type notes at the same time - it’s impossible to hear

22. Body language is diluted OR exaggerated on a video conference, consider the idea of sitting still OR making purposeful body movements like raising your hand

23. Keep a hair brush and lipstick near the camera, I have found these to be life savers

24. Don’t have a teams meeting without headphones in an open plan office or café or on an aeroplane or in a library or a doctors surgery - you know who you are

25. The car is a nice quiet place to have a teams meeting, if you get desperate

26. If you are wearing pyjama pants (or worse/less) with your work top/shirt when working from home, might I ask that you either turn off you camera, angle it differently or slide away on your wheeled office chair so that you can keep that fact to yourself

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

I hope these little observations of mine have helped you in some way.

I also hope they will help me, as honestly, there are somethings I cannot un-see.

Happy videoconferencing.

Ciao

Conni

PS. Let me know via a message if you have others I should add to this list.