Conference calls are the new normal. We’ve been working form home for nearly 18 months, why then do some people still make fundamental mistakes when choosing the background to their conference presence?
This post will highlight some of the mistakes people often make with their backgrounds. It will also provide some tips that are easy to implement and that will make your background something that is easy on the eye and not have your colleagues reaching for the headache tablets!
The business world is virtual these days. And a component of that is how you look in front of the camera. But don’t forget, this is not just you but also what’s behind you. Here are the top problems that we all see with the backgrounds behind our colleagues. We think they are a bit of a distraction at best and a career-threatening problem at worst!
The silhouette
Lighting is a big way to improve your look online. Beware of bright lights behind you. Your camera will compensate and your face will be underexposed. Pull a curtain across a window if you need to and ideally get an small camera light in front of you. Its amazing how big a difference this can make.
If your conference calls are a problem for you read my tips on how to make them fly here
Don’t work too hard
Likewise a properly “Curated” background can make viewers wince. The ubiquitous shelf full of books, while filling up the space provides ample opportunity for viewers to check out your reading habits and you can never win. Someone won’t like your choice. Likewise I have never forgotten the wall full of LPs a colleague had as his background. I filled many happy minutes trying to recognise a record from the spine edge. I probably heard less than 10% of anything he said.
Don’t show your dirty linen to the public
Not just dirty linen. If your background is a riot of domestic horror, with dirty washing, unwashed plates in the sink etc. it’s a distraction and let’s be honest it shouldn’t make a difference but if your colleague seems to live in a self-inflicted domestic disaster zone you do start to wonder whether the chaos might extend into their work. So try and tidy up. Likewise a bare wall with mildew on it is not a great look.
Try not to use flat green screens
So we come to the difficult question of backgrounds. I understand and sympathise with people who don’t have the space to put an ad agency designed environment behind them, but virtual backgrounds always look “off”. You always look like you are a disembodied shape floating in front of the image. Worst of all are plain designs that try to green-screen the background. They never work. Marginally better are the “office” backgrounds, but why pretend you are in an office?
Backgrounds that are ‘funny’ – don’t go there
These are the modern equivalent of the old ringtones that blighted our lives a little while ago. In the UK the BBC TV channel released a lot of the sets for their hit TV programmes as backgrounds. I will admit that the 70’s sitcom Steptoe and Son (US equivalent was Sanford and Son) was a temptation. It’s below. Now this has a novelty value but really the joke wears very thin very quickly and becomes like any other old joke. Very soon everyone stops laughing. Don’t do it.
Avoid distractions
Everyone has their blind spot. We believe that our colleagues will find our Dog/Cat/Baby as adorable as we do. They surely wouldn’t mind that the little chap/Mutt gambols playfully in the background while we try and work out what to do with the Q4 amortisation spreadsheet.
But think back to the exact equivalent moment when you were trying to hold a detailed discussion on next years’ Marketing forecast. Wasn’t Fred’s parrot a compete pain in the…..
I recommend playing it safe and just getting any visual distractions out of the way. As a rule of thumb anything that moves should be out of sight.
THE FIX
So these are the errors but what is the solution? Well that’s not hard. People really don’t expect to see much. Your normal house will be fine as long as it’s tidy. Provided the lighting is good enough and you’ve sorted out the distractions you really can rest assured you will have a better solution than anything that technology can provide.
Go for somewhere that has fairly neutral tones in the background that will be fine. One suggestion that can work really well – pull some curtains across and these can be perfect provided they haven’t got a lot of light shining through them.
If you are working from home permanently you might consider investing in a clothes rail and hanging fabric from it. It will make a realistic. Or what about making a wooden screen yourself. It doesn’t matter particularly if it is a bit rough, it will add to the ambiance.