Even a decade ago, video conferencing was a totally novel technology that most people used rarely, if at all. These days, it's as much of a mainstay in business operations as email is as a primary form of communication – and yet, millions of people still struggle to understand the basic elements of video conferencing etiquette.
What does it take to be polite, productive, and effective in your video calls?
Know the Purpose
First, and perhaps most importantly, you should know the purpose of the meeting before attending. It's the responsibility of the meeting organizer to distribute this information, so sometimes it's out of your control. But you should still implement whatever measures are necessary to be properly prepared for the meeting. That means understanding the topic, preparing any data or materials you might need, and committing to help solve whatever problem is being discussed.
Be Familiar With the Tech
It's also important to be very familiar with the tech being used, and long before the meeting even takes place. If you're not familiar with this video conferencing platform, you owe it to yourself and the other attendees to try it out before jumping into things in the meeting. At the very least, you should run a brief technology check several minutes before the meeting to ensure you have a working camera, microphone, and installed software. If you have any technical issues, try to resolve them before you enter the meeting.
Set Up Somewhere Professional and Appropriate
No matter how clean your bathroom is or how you try to frame it, it’s not an appropriate place to hold a video call. Instead, you should set yourself up somewhere that's appropriate for business. That could be a home office, a study, or any room with a sufficiently neutral background. If you don't have much dedicated space for remote conferences, consider using a white backdrop or filtering out your background for the sake of appearing more neutral.
Wear Professional Attire
Even though video conferences are generally considered less formal than in-person meetings, it's important to dress your best. This is especially true if you're going to be meeting with people with high dress code expectations, or if you don't know the dress code expectations whatsoever. In most cases, you can get away with only dressing well from the waist up, but it's a good idea to dress formally in full, just in case you need to stand unexpectedly during the meeting.
Be on Time
Just as with in-person meetings, it's important to be on time. Because this takes place in a digital, virtual setting, many people feel they can be a few minutes late to the meeting with no repercussions. Most people won't be fired or dismissed over such an infraction, but it is a bit disrespectful. Aim to join the meeting a minute or two early, at minimum, to ensure a timely arrival.
Mute Yourself When Not Speaking
Anytime you aren't speaking, your microphone should be muted. That's because your microphone will pick up any and all instances of background noise, even if you're not speaking; sounds from children, traffic, pets, and even a TV in another room can easily disrupt the meeting. Many organizers will intentionally mute non-speakers by default, but it's your responsibility to mute yourself if this is not the case. Nobody wants to have to ask you to mute after dealing with several minutes of disruptions and distractions.
Allow More Pauses Than Usual
Even a small amount of latency is enough to disrupt our feel for “normal” conversation. In a video conference setting, most participants are going to feel at least a little bit of latency. This makes it much easier for people to talk over each other and much harder to find a proper conversational rhythm. In pursuit of better, more balanced communication, consider allowing more pauses than usual in your speech. Give people plenty of time to respond.
Make Eye Contact (or Something Similar)
You can't make direct eye contact in a video call, but you can make indirect, simulated eye contact by staring at your camera and/or cycling through making eye contact with other participants. If you're looking completely off screen, or if you seem like you're fixated on a totally different type of task, it could seem distracting or rude to other participants.
Be Cautious When Screen Sharing
In certain video conferences, you may be responsible for sharing some aspects or all of your screen. Always exercise extreme caution when sharing your screen; you don't want other participants to accidentally see a browser window you meant to keep private.
In general, you should only share when absolutely necessary – and only share elements of your screen that other people need to see. Run tests to make sure you know what the limits are (and how your screen sharing looks to others).
Remain Somewhat Still
It's also a good idea to remain somewhat still. If you're constantly fidgeting, or playing with something within the sight of your camera, you could end up distracting other participants. If you must keep your hands busy, keep them off screen.
Be Forgiving (and Share Etiquette Tips)
Not everyone on the video call is going to be perfectly familiar with the technology, so try to be forgiving if they breach any etiquette rules on this list – or if they disrupt the meeting in other ways, unintentionally. It's also perfectly reasonable to share etiquette tips with people who may not be familiar with them; for example, you can politely ask another participant to mute their microphone when they aren't speaking, especially if you notice a distracting sound coming from their microphone.
Video conferencing etiquette isn't exactly complicated, but there is a learning curve for new users. Once you have more experience attending regular video meetings, you'll feel more confident and better capable of managing productive conversations with minimal technological interruptions.
