Meeting habits for a new age
You may know the old joke (one of the first I told my children) that goes something like this:
Me: Where do flies go in winter time?
Child: I don’t know – where?
Me: Up old mens’ noses – you can see their legs hanging out! (Boom tish)
To find the joke funny it helps to have a sense of the absurd and of course the ability to visualise, at the moment the punchline is delivered, a man of mature years with nasal hair that that needs trimming.
After more than 3 months of working from home and umpteen meetings using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Skype, I feel like I have been looking up a lot of noses! I am referring of course to camera angle that arises when someone is using a laptop at desk height with the screen camera tilted back – not the most flattering angle to view most people.
This experience, and the fact that video conferences are clearly going to remain in frequent use moving forward, made me reflect on the business of meetings and how protocol and good practice may be changing as we move to more online interaction.
Over 25 years ago, a colleague of mine, when discussing the topic of face to face meetings with clients or prospects, would say “give yourself a 100% chance”. What he meant was, don’t let your conduct or appearance distract from your message. For him this meant be on time with tie straight, shoes shined and suit pressed.
These days, the shiny shoes may not be relevant for online meetings (some suggest pants are now optional!) but how should we think about how we present ourselves in the context of video conferencing?
The answer is not straight forward. For me, one of the nice things about video conferencing the work from home period has been the informality of it and without overstating it too much… the shared humanity of it. Seeing inside other peoples homes, having their children interrupt a meeting to show us a new toy or hug their parent, people having to get up to let the dog out of the room – it feels like an important recognition that are working lives and personal lives need not be kept so far apart.
So what should the etiquette of video meetings be moving forward, particularly in the context of continuing work from home? Do we need to sharpen up, or is the current experience fine as it is? Everyone will have their own take on this, but mine is:
We are working from home – family walking past the camera, household noise, the dog barking – are part of the deal.
We are also working and engaging with external people in a professional context. While a business shirt might look out place sitting at home, a tee shirt and a 3 day growth does not seem right either.
Enough of the nose angle! Time to elevate the camera or buy an external camera if that’s not practical.
A good headset makes hearing and being heard that much easier
We are interested in any other thoughts people may have for online meetings in the future. Drop us a line if you have any suggestions to share.