Zoom meetings have become an unfortunately frequent part of our working from home life. Whereas we used to be attending untold numbers of meetings in physical conference rooms and offices, we now have to speak to our coworkers and managers at home from our computers.
There has also been a bit of a stereotype of attending meetings in pajamas and little else, but this does have a serious problem – you get a lot of judgment from your employers.
For those that don’t really mind a little ridicule or a few unkind words, it shouldn’t be a problem, but for those looking to impress and maybe try to leverage a promotion while working from home, here’s how you can easily put your best foot forward in all of your zoom meetings.
#1: Dress To Impress
It is oh so tempting to stay in your comfortable clothes while working from home. After all, why do you need to remain professionally dressed when you are spending all fo your time sitting in an office chair at your computer, probably only one room away from your bedroom?
However, no matter how comfortable it is, consider dressing up at least a little bit for your Zoom meetings, especially if they are any kind of interview or performance meeting.
You can easily just throw some sort of professional looking clothing onto your top half, leaving your bottom half in comfortable clothes.
No one’s saying that you have to wear a full suit or dress or anything like that, of course. Just throw a comfortable jumper or blouse on to look at least a little bit professional.
#2: Get Some Good Zoom Backgrounds
There is nothing more depressing looking when in a Zoom meeting than watching everyone’s backgrounds. Either they are working at their kitchen table and the dishes are still piled up around them, or there is no lighting and the whole background looks fuzzy and confusing.
The best way to avoid this for yourself is to simply get a good looking custom background.
This could be a simple image or funny meme you could put on, or even just a useful screen that provides a colorful or exotic location.
Besides the fact that it is a lot more pleasing to the eye, it also has the benefit of maintaining your privacy at home. While working from home is a bit of a luxury for most people, the fact remains that constant cameras being pointed into your living space is pretty invasive.
A nice custom background not only gives your workmates and your managers something to look at while talking to you, but it also helps to separate your work life and your home life with a digital divider.
Even though you are working from home, you still need to maintain your privacy.
#3: Make Sure To Speak Up!
Big zoom meetings, especially ones that have the entire company on the call, it is extremely tempting to just keep your microphone off, nod along and never say a word.
A great way to become noticed and be memorable to your peers, however, is to speak up.
This doesn’t mean randomly interjecting anecdotes or being that awful person that pipes in with “Yeah” and “Uhuh!”
Instead, whenever someone requests feedback, or if anyone asks “any questions?” then you should do your best to speak up and interject something relevant and useful.
Whether this be a question pursuant to the conversation, or just to raise an issue you have been thinking about, it all counts. You want everyone to recognize that you are, in fact, a present and functioning part of the team, even if you are working from home.
#4: Don’t Turn Your Camera Off!
Despite the constant advice about separating your work and home life when working from home, it is still vital that you do not, under any circumstances; turn off your camera when working from home.
While it might definitely seem really tempting to just shut off your camera and not really be present in the meeting, if you try and do that constantly, you end u being forgotten by your team and managers.
You want to have your camera on, even if it is with some weird and esoteric background, to remind everyone that you are not only there, but also a participating member of the team.
You don’t want to be that person that gets asked to turn their camera on and subtly shamed for not being present.
Keep your camera on, speak up when appropriate and, above all, try and look the part, even if it is only for Zoom meetings, and you should probably be fine.
