Best Practices for Video Conferencing

  • Find a space that is quiet and distraction-free. Limit the background noise ( i.e. kids, pets, coffee shops, car noise, etc.). Make every effort to get to a location where others can hear you clearly.
  • Use headphones and mute your mic when you are not talking.
  • Close/quit any applications you might have running on your computer. This will allow your computer to use all its memory and processing for the video call.
  • A wired (Ethernet) connection is always better than wireless (WiFi).
  • Public WiFi can be unreliable.
  • Test your equipment before joining the video conference to ensure all is connected and working as expected.
  • Run a speed test on your connection. A good site to do this is: https://www.speedtest.net/
  • Join the meeting on time, if not a few minutes early.
  • If joining after the meeting has started, wait for the conference leader to ask who joined. This will prevent you from possibly interrupting the presenter and further disrupting the meeting.
  • If you need to excuse yourself from the meeting at any point, inform the group at an appropriate time. Don’t just disappear without warning.
  • Speak clearly.
  • Never place the meeting on hold: simply drop and rejoin when you can.
  • If sharing your screen, make sure you are only sharing the desired document and log off of IM and e-mail or set your device to Do Not Disturb mode. Having IMs or e-mails from your wife or husband pop up in the middle of your presentation can be very embarrassing and distracting for others.
  • Sit in a well-lit room, facing a light source. Do not position a window or bright light source directly behind you, as these will make it hard or impossible for others to see you.
  • Don’t forget: in a multi-person video call, people can’t tell when you are looking at them.
  • Eye contact is important. When addressing a particular person on a video conference, look at the camera, not the person’s image on your screen.
  • Consider the space behind you in the room from which you are video conferencing. Try to keep the space neat and free of any objects that might distract other participants.
  • Take a pause before you start talking, this will allow the software to catch up from the last speaker.