People form opinions about you in the first 2-30 seconds of a virtual meeting. Keep your camera on, position yourself mid-chest in frame with good lighting, and close email and browsers so your video doesn't lag. Model this for your team.
Hello? Is anybody there? First impressions matter. You wouldn't go to a meeting with a bag over your head, would you? And don't tell me it's bandwidth. The Federal Communications Commission state you only need 6 Mbps for video conferencing. Most people have that now. Realistically, you only have 2 or 3 seconds to make a first impression, and people have made an initial decision in the first 30 within 30 seconds whether they like you and trust you. Ah! If you work using Zoom, Teams, Webex, Google Meet, or the whole host of other softwares that we have available to us, your leadership hack for today is cameras on every time, all the time. Check your lighting and cameras in front of you and you're visible to about mid-chest. Ideally. Set an example to your team. Ask them to switch their cameras on for all virtual meetings unless they have a good reason not to. Also encourage them to switch off high-drain CPU applications like emails, web browser tabs, and then your computer can prioritize video and work efficiently. The camera loves you, baby, even if you do have sweatpants on downstairs. See you soon.
