When we are videoconferencing one of the most regular things that can inevitably happen is the horrifying moment when you’ve been stuck hanging in freeze frame and not because of a bad internet connection. Sure those moments definitely can happen when the Wi-Fi goes whack and is on the fritz but what we’re talking about here is avoiding those other unwanted moments of downtime. The ones where instead of thinking about the topic at hand you find your mind drifting to whether or not you remembered to let the dog out and if you turned the coffee pot off before you set down in front of your desk.
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Bring a Contributing Attitude
When it’s time to get ready for your online meeting give yourself a little pep talk. Have a rally with your dog if you must, the main point is that you want to remind yourself that your contribution also greatly matters. A proper conversation flows just like you see on your standard newscast. Each person goes around and gets the opportunity to express themselves, with a little bit of practice you can notice when it’s your turn to toss your two cents in. While there is a certain fine art to truly honing this skill, you probably are already perfectly performing this all along throughout your daily life. Let’s face it, when we sit there in front of the webcam, even the chattiest of people can clam up from suddenly being put on the spot.
Put Your Heart into It
Once you’ve established that you do, in fact, have something significant to contribute back this up by being an active listener. Once you show your fellow panel that you truly care about what they say you begin to open up the networks for a more engaged, and thoughtful, conversation. This ultimately leads to a successful experience that you may find reaches well beyond your initial expectations for the meeting.
What Words Can’t Say
Because of the very nature of video conferencing you want to be sure to remember your essential non-verbal communication skills in order to relay your intention. Maintaining eye contact is hands-down the most efficient way how somebody knows you are listening, but when you really want to step up your game you need to go beyond simply staring into the camera.
Along with nodding and smiling to help boost your awareness and attention to the meeting, be sure not to spend time straightening papers or doing other little busy tedious work around your desk. This might be how you keep your mind focused on the meeting, but the distraction is more than just visually annoying to your fellow panel members, it is also usually picked up by the microphone. This gets amplified and suddenly you clicking away on your pen can start to sound like a snare drum.
Don’t Be Trying To Impress
While it is a good thing that you’ve gotten yourself completely updated on all the recent business figures, charts, graphs, and projections, your time in front of your boss, with the peers around, is not the ideal situation to show off what a good student you’ve been. If you really want to take away a little bit of added respect keep your astuteness to yourself. Nobody really cares. It sounds harsh but it’s true.
You could, however, take the knowledge that you have and apply it to current issues that you may be experiencing in the workplace. Who knows? You may just have your nose right on the trail of something that could be implemented in a companywide change. You never know unless you apply yourself and showing up to any workplace unprepared on your subject matter short changes everybody with what they walk away from the videoconference with.
Don’t Fall Through the Cracks
By taking the time to make sure you don’t just become another frozen face in the monitor of your peers you help keep the conference moving forward. This doesn’t mean you have to be a jack in the box and bounce around constantly in your frame, that clearly is ridiculous, but you should stay engaged so that you don’t fall through the cracks of the conversation that is unfolding right there in front of you.
One of the most engaging aspects of videoconferencing is the unique opportunity that many coworkers are getting to work together and get to know each other in a way that wouldn’t be possible from time and economical restraints. It can be a little awkward at first but within even just a few minutes of conversation through videoconferencing and you can see how and why this has caught on as being one of the number one ways that businesses are interacting within their infrastructures. It’s fast, inexpensive, and extremely effective. Especially when you don’t show up to the table empty handed.
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