Staying Present With Sidekick In Internal Meetings
Every Monday our team has a standing meeting to discuss the plan for the week and any roadblocks that may be in the way. We also have a daily checkin to touch base on what people are working on and to collaboratively solve problems. We always use video in these meetings, and we always have our Sidekick running. Standing meetings like this are very common and are a highly valuable moment of live connection with your team. I hear very often that professionals don’t feel they need to show up with too much professionalism, or to follow best practices in these meetings because they are ‘casual’. …. Respectfully, we disagree. For any event where participants are spending their real, live, waking moments interacting either in person, or via video – these. moments. matter. And while we can defend and even welcome an air of being casual, ‘casual’ can still be professional. The way we show up from a nonverbal perspective, reflects the respect we have for one another’s time. In one such standing meeting on a Monday morning, I was having trouble staying focused. Instead of thinking ‘well, it’s just an internal meeting, so it doesn’t really matter’, I had the Sidekick help me stay alert, energized and importantly, to show my teammates that I am actively listening to them. I thought I would share my post-call summary with you all, and offer a commentary on the results. Check out the video below…I scored high because my Sidekick was there to gently support me in staying present. Especially as I was not the main active speaker, these prompts were so helpful in keeping me on track. While our Sidekick is great for those super high pressure moments and first time sales calls, our Sidekick is also a powerful tool in helping you show up your best for your team mates. Because at the end of the day, it’s the relationships you create with your team that build real sustainability into your company. Try Sidekick out for yourself – with a free trial!
How to Make Video Meetings Feel More Real
At the start of the pandemic, Harvard Business Review included a segment on their Christine Vs. Work series on how to make video meetings feel more real. It’s normal to feel a bit strange to talk at your computer multiple times a day, and certainly our pets are still a bit concerned about this possession. However, these moments are in fact ‘real.’ They involve 3D humans on the other end and we do rely on these meetings to drive serious impact across and beyond our organizations. So…how can you make these video moments feel more real? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zchEneW2890&t=4s Do a Quick Review Before Each Meeting It can often feel like we are on one long video call all day. Virtually, we don’t have the luxury of walking to someone’s office, or meeting in the conference room. We are in the same physical space all day long. We need to create differentiation before each meeting, so that they feel different from one another. Before joining a meeting, take a moment to remind yourself what is unique or different about this meeting compared to the one before it. Remind yourself who will be in the meeting, where did you leave off last and most importantly, what is your intention or goal for this meeting? Ground yourself in the answers to these questions – different meetings can elicit different physiological responses in our bodies – use this to help you keep meetings distinct. Remember the 3D Reality Yes – a screen is 2D. You and your audience are not. There are two things you can do to beef up the 3D nature of your video calls: Tune into your own physical environment and surroundings. Do you have a calm and focused workspace or are there distractions that can too easily keep you from your conversations? Do everything you can to set yourself up for focused work by starting with your physical environment. Check out our article here on physical office hacks. Imagine what your audience’s 3D environments might be like. Remind yourself that they also have a rich experience on the other end, that they are more than a 2D representation. One fun way to bring this to life in a meeting is by inviting people to share one thing that is close to them that brings them joy. Whether it be a photo on their desk, or an object in their background. Close Down Your Self-View Over and over, professionals are having trouble with their self-view. One of the most unnatural things about video calls, is that we have a mirror image of ourselves, that is live, moving and expressing. You don’t have to be vain to spend a significant amount of time looking at your own self-image. When we are looking at ourselves, we are de facto, not looking at our audience. We lose sight of them in our minds and we miss out on their own rich communication cues, particularly nonverbal cues. At this stage, most video platforms have a way to hide your self-view, without removing your video entirely. Of course, we recommend having your setup solid and a strong enough level of awareness so that you can confidently stay present and engaged without having to ‘check’ yourself. Lucky for you, we have a solution for that here at Virtual Sapiens:) In the end, as Christine Liu says, it can sometimes feel like we are on the Moon when we are in a video call. But the fact of the matter is, you are very much in the real world. Tuning in to your personal reality, remembering there are many other 3D humans on the other end and taking some time to remove distractions (the worst offender beyond your own self-image), will all help make your video meetings feel more real.
The Power of Small, Daily Nudges
Sustained improvement, the kind that sticks, never happens over night. In fact, it is often difficult to see just how much we are improving because unless someone, or something, is monitoring our progress, the improvements happen incrementally, little by little, over time. While we may want to experience (and display) massive improvements just like that, the reality is often quite different. As authors like James Clear (Atomic Habits) have noted, the keys to success lie in the consistency of small habits, compounded over time, that end up feeding massive improvement and change in the long run. In his own words, Clear supports building new habits and improvements by making them “obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying”. As a dancer, I can attest to this. It would often be very frustrating to be working at improving the same element of a movement for weeks on end, until someone who hadn’t witnessed the daily efforts comes over and is amazed by the seemingly drastic change. At Virtual Sapiens, we are firm believers in two things: That habits can be intentionally rewired over time That consistent and intentional practice is the key to sustained improvement The way we see it, if you are on frequent video calls, you might as well use them as an opportunity for applied practice. Our Sidekick product, which got some great attention last week in the Boston Globe, is built on such beliefs. The Sidekick provides gentle and consistent nudges so you can course correct ‘in the act’, building muscle memory around core elements of communication and presence on video. We make improving your communication and presence obvious and attractive by layering our feedback directly on top of your already happening video meetings. Your feedback is simple, personal and actionable. Dare we say…it may even be satisfying, to finally get the feedback you need to sustainably improve your communication and presence in important video meetings. Your lives as professionals are loaded! We want to meet you where you are, providing you with the small nudges, multiple times a day that can eventually turn into completely revamped habits. With our nudge technology, we make getting those reps in a natural part of your meeting day. Your daily meetings become your very own communication gym, with real-time feedback and coaching that most often comes at a massive premium (both financially and time wise). Our new world of work presents challenges, but also opportunities. We are all for leveraging available technology so we can all connect better, online. If you haven’t yet tried out the Sidekick, try it out on a free trial today!
How Framing Affects Posture Affects Impression
Telling someone they should fix their posture usually results in an automatic eye roll. It takes us back to our childhood or teenage years when our parents, teachers, or even the odd stranger would tell us to “‘sit up straight!’ and ‘put your shoulders back!’ Telling someone they need to fix their framing…well that will almost certainly result in a completely perplexed expression. Framing? I’ve literally NEVER had to consider framing in any professional context. Even on video, shouldn’t my words be strong enough to make my framing irrelevant? WRONG. While it can be easy to discount the importance of posture in real life, it can be even easier to discount the importance of framing and posture in the virtual world. Yet these elements remain two of the most common issues our Sidekick picks up during calls. And they are related too. In the virtual world, our framing and posture translate immediately into body language cues sent to our audience. If your framing is off, your posture is likely to be off as well. For example, when your lens is too low (a very common mistake) you will be looking down at your screen, where your audience is. By taking the weight of your head off of its axis and stooping towards the screen, you place an exponentially larger strain on your neck. (Hello i-Hump!) This framing and posture combo translates into a poor body language impression for your audience. Similarly, if your lens angle is off, only your head will be showing. This means we are missing out on the benefit of your full body posture, and head gestures. Video is the only digital means of communicating a full message, one which includes the nuance of our tone and our body language. Don’t do yourself a disservice and silence a core part of your impact as a communicator. As you can see in the above pictures, the way we set ourselves up and the way we hold ourselves sends a strong message of our overall professional brand. See how our bodies send strong messages, without the use of any words? In a visual, video based context, our words are rarely louder than our bodies. While building the Sidekick, we intentionally built in a pre-call check, so you can set yourself (and your posture) up for success. We also show the framing nudge first because, once again, if your framing is off, that is likely the root cause of some of the other issues. Fix your framing, you may well fix your posture, your eye gaze, your use of hand gestures and so on. Once again, good framing, leads to good posture leads to a strong impression on our audience. In short, poor framing and poor posture lead to a poor impression sent directly to your audience. Don’t start a call from a point of weakness. Go the extra small distance, and nail your framing set up first – your audience will thank you, and it makes for a much more human connection in the end. Our Sidekick is available with a free trial here – install yours now!
Why Spatial Awareness Still Matters Over Video
One of my favorite nonverbal cues to keep an eye out for is called ‘proxemics’, more commonly known as spatial awareness. While many of us are familiar with the importance of respecting spatial awareness in person (ahem…6 ft please!), many of us completely throw this knowledge out the window once we find ourselves staring at a screen. There are four categories of proxemics we are familiar with in person: Public (25ft-12ft) Social (12ft-4ft) Personal (4ft – 1.5ft) Intimate (1.5ft-0cm) So what happens when you can’t meet in person?? The short answer – you have to treat your lens as though it is a person. By and large, we have poor habits around screens and tend to get closer than we need to. Being too close to the screen causes discomfort for our audience because it: Forces them into intimate territory with someone we likely don’t know Exaggerates any facial expressions as though they are under a magnifying glass. For example, I recently participated in a two-day virtual training. One of the facilitators spent the entire time with his face so close to the screen, staring into the lens without blinking that I felt incredibly threatened and kept wanting to look away. Check out these common mistakes that relate to spatial awareness with your lens… On video, you want to maintain a distance of at least 2 feet between your sternum and the back of your screen. Something more like this: Our Pre-Call Check in the Sidekick Whether you want to call this spatial awareness or simply, ‘framing’ is up to you. But it is a challenging thing to build awareness around. Framing is one of the metrics we provide feedback on with our Virtual Sapiens Sidekick. Whether your lens is too high, too low, uncentered, too close or too far, we have your back. Access a free trial of your very own Sidekick here.
Quality Over Quantity – Leverage the Benefits of Video Without Burning Out
A hot topic over the past few months has been how to keep remote teams feeling connected, without a deluge of inefficient meetings. As an understandable consequence of the work-from-home orders from early 2020, many organizations and teams have developed an over-reliance on video in meetings. Regardless as to the nature of the meeting, videos can often become the default. And now people are burnt out. It may come as a shock to hear us suggest that perhaps not all meetings need to be on video… But it’s true. Just as in the pre-pandemic times, an in-person meeting could have been a phone call, or even an email, in our new remote/hybrid reality, we need to be even more intentional about the way we organize our internal and external interactions. Consider the below as you continue to evolve your communication strategies. Adopt an Intentional Meeting Guide for your Company One of the biggest issues to surface with remote meetings is the uncertainty around whether people should be on video, or not…and if so, for how long. Assumptions are being made based on who is on video instead of there being a clear expectation communicated beforehand. A structure I have seen work well with clients: Company wide updates: Video on for the welcome and any breakouts. Videos required for presenters, optional for audience. Small team meetings: Video on Working 1:1s – phone calls or audio-only screen shares. Client meetings: VIDEO ALWAYS ON. By communicating these expectations clearly before the meeting, you provide your team members with the highest level of preparedness. You also open the door for feedback/questions or concerns. If there is no clarity, there can be no alignment. This results in a huge loss of time, impact and energy. Think Quality Over Quantity As a general rule – quality over quantity is key when it comes to video meetings. You can ensure quality by ensuring everyone: Is on the same page with expectations (as noted above) Is equipped with tech that supports video (strong internet, good lighting and office tools, check out our hacks here) Feels confident in their communication skills (Hello Virtual Sapiens Sidekick!) Particularly for new hires, it is essential to set your people up for success. As we have all come to experience, there are some video meetings or presentations that are surprisingly good. They leave us feeling more connected than before, more knowledgeable, we’ve managed to innovate, collaborate and be inspired. These benefits are all possible over video. But they are unlikely if there is no intention in the way video meetings are organized and structured across an organization. At Virtual Sapiens, we strongly believe in the power of video communication. We believe there is a strong human element in seeing your colleagues, meeting and partnering with clients and customers. We also believe that developing these skills takes time and effort. And we are here to help! Be sure to sign up for early access to our Sidekick solution – a personal communication coach to help you excel as a communicator in our new world of work.
Special Post on the Hopin Blog!
Hopin is a leading video conferencing platform with a mission to make the world feel closer. At Virtual Sapiens, we are working hard to help professionals feel comfortable, confident and connected on video so that they can drive the impact they want to see in the world. We have a firm belief that the effective use of video can help people connect, communicate and share. We are looking forward to amplifying the work of companies like Hopin in their pursuit of a closer world and are excited to see our early products make a difference in the future of work. Check out our article focusing on Body Language on video on the Hopin Blog!
Your Home Office Set Up Hacks
Many (read: most) of us didn’t sign up to have think about lighting, framing and background in some pretty high level professional settings. And yet, as we have all learned, nonverbal communication does not stop just because you are no longer in the same physical space as someone. The fact of the matter is, the cues we are sending over video send a strong impression, both from the moment you join a call, and all throughout your connection time. Luckily, setting up a decent system that allows you to connect with clients and stay physically present, is made accessible through a few minor, but powerful hacks. Here are our Virtual Sapiens recommendations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuZXNfrTgos Hack N.1 – Getting your camera to eye-level What this hack improves: Posture, ease of eye contact, framing Why these things matter: One of the biggest mistakes we see during video calls is poor lens alignment. You want to think about your lens are your audience. If your lens is too high, you are looking up at your audience which gives you a child-like relationship to your audience – this diminishes your authority immediately. If you are looking down on your lens, you send an impression of ill-adjusted dominance. Having your camera directly at eye level also helps you maintain an open and upright posture. If you are stooping towards your screen or lens, you immediately look more tired, low energy and in some cases, smaller in stature. How to enact this hack: This Boyata laptop stand is my absolute favorite. It is adjustable to help bring your laptop and camera to an appropriate height. If you prefer not to spend the $30, you can easily play around with books, boxes and other household options, but this can often get a bit tricky with key board placement. Read on for our thoughts on how to ease the zombie arms! Hack N.2 – No Zombie Arms Allowed What this hack improves: Posture, Carpel Tunnel, Reducing unnecessary movement during a video call Why these things matter: Proper placement with your keyboard allows for an engaged and open posture, it also helps reduce tension in the wrists which can lead to very annoying carpel tunnel syndrome. (Who said office work wasn’t physical!?) How to enact this hack: This Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse allow you maximal flexibility in adjusting your lens and camera to the right height while also ensuring you still have the right set up with for typing. During video calls, you can easily take notes, use keyboard shortcuts without leaning in toward the screen. This helps your overall composure and keeps any distracting movements to a minimum. Hack N.3 – Presenting from standing What this hack improves: Energy while presenting, avoiding sitting down all day Why these things matter: Standing while presenting has long been known to bring a special energy to your presentations. I love giving virtual talks standing up. You have more room to move, feel more human and can usually connect better with your audience. Sitting is also hard on your body if you are seated all day. Alternating between being seated vs. standing can drastically alter the outlook of your day. How to enact this hack: There are two main set ups you can try. You can go this route with an electric powered desk that adjusts to your height. This product allows you to preset up to four different heights between 28 to 46 inches. You can also get an adjustable platform that sits on top of your pre-existing desk or table. This works in the same way as the standing desk except you manually slide the platform up or down whether you are standing or sitting. Whichever way you go, the height of your laptop matters greatly when you are spending so much time oriented around this device. This goes for whether you are working remotely, or in the office. Hack N.4 – Lighting What this hack improves: Overall confidence on screen, focus on you as a presenter, sending a strong first impression Why these things matter: How often have you signed onto a video call to a dark, looming shadow? Or a bright, halo/orb that obscures your fellow participant’s face? One of the biggest issues we tackle first at Virtual Sapiens is helping people with their lighting. Our tool looks for overall brightness, brightness on your image and evenness of lighting. When you have good lighting, your audience sees you, your expression and intention very clearly. You are able to more authentically connect with your audience as a result. How to enact this hack: Apartment lighting might not be ideal for a video call set up, however, you can solve most lighting issues with a Lume Cube or a Neweer Ring Light. Make sure you place your light source behind your lens – so you are not backlit. Hack N.5 – Noise Quality What this hack improves: Noise Quality Why these things matter: It goes without saying, one of the main problems with video conferencing is audio. There is a serious rabbit-hole to go down when it comes to upgrading your audio. Oftentimes, poor video quality will be excused so long as you have clear and quality audio. Captivating your audience and having your messages land with impact requires good audio. How to enact this hack: From the simplest perspective, using headphones can be hugely helpful. This helps the microphone pick up on your voice more clearly. Air pods are best and allow you to be wireless. The most recommended external microphone is this Blue Yeti USB Mic. This mic is easy to set up, filters out noise and you have the ability to control which part of the microphone is turned out. Your voice will ring clear when using this microphone. Just do everyone a favor and don’t have the mic in the screen – no need to have that take up your much needed space! Recap In the end, any one of these upgrades will significantly up
The Very Real Benefits of Powerful Virtual Presence
We at Virtual Sapiens, are in the firm camp of highlighting the many benefits of developing powerful virtual presence and communication skills across an organization. As the world opens up and we start to plan for hybrid work realities, keeping in mind the new skills which need to be developed, and the new benefits in need of being realized, will be a core strategy for companies who want to lead us into the future. Outlined below are some of our favorite benefits that can be unlocked by a team of skilled, virtual presence ninjas. SAVE TIME AND MONEY The narrative of saving time on both ends of our typical commute is significant with remote work. In a recent poll on Twitter, 100% of the respondents enjoyed the added flexibility that comes with remote work. From a business travel perspective, video conferencing reduces the need to travel to every client meeting in person. While the time savings for employees and serious financial savings for employers may be obvious, when you factor in the weighted stress of air travel and delays, we open up a higher quality of life for traditionally on-the-road professionals. We know in-person client meetings will resume to an extent. We also now know that high level video calls are much more personal than phone calls and emails. With increased video communication skills and aptitudes, we can use video to effectively connect with both colleagues and clients to GREAT effect. EXTEND YOUR REACH AND INFLUENCE In line with the opportunity of saving time due to the reduction in travel, you increase your chances of finding a convenient time to connect with that important client or colleague oversees. Consider the client who lives across the country or perhaps the globe. Because you no longer have to deal with the opportunity cost of traveling internationally to meet a new client, you can leverage video meetings and refined video skills to create impact much more effectively. Fun fact, Eric Juan, founder of Zoom, never travels for business meetings – and that was pre-pandemic! GROW RAPPORT THROUGH VIRTUAL PRESENCE While many associate the nature of video conferencing as an impersonal experience, this is mostly caused by the users’ lack of experience and skill when it comes to creating a powerful and personal virtual connection. In video settings, more so than in person, we can control what our audience sees. We have a distinct frame of reference – the lens – to which we can orient our gestures, our posture and our background. In those cases where you are video conferencing in to someone’s home, what cues are you able to pick up on that might help you build an even deeper rapport than if you had met in a stale office or at a coffee shop? There is real potential waiting for those who invest in real video conferencing know-how. Virtual Sapiens is being built as an empire to empower a hybrid workforce. Reach out with questions or to get an early quote for your team!
Staying Present and Grounded on Video
No matter what your remote from work set up is, chances are your body is spending a good deal of its time in the same posture. If you are like most other screen-facing professionals out there, chances are you get immersed in your 2D reality and leave your body behind. Whether you are tuned in to your discomfort or not, being connected to our bodies is a core way to stay present, connected and energized. And when we are present, connected and energized, we are better able to fulfill our goals in harmony with our audience. Since we are HUGE fans of keeping the body engaged and an active part of any conversation, here are a few things to keep in mind as you make your way through your day. WHAT CAN YOU DO? The simple answer is to stretch out regularly. The body is a constantly moving ecosystem. Our bodies are most happy when our blood can flow freely from one end to the other. When our bodies are in a stagnant or locked position (which happens just as much when you are standing and hunching, locking back into your knees, as it does sitting slouched over your laptop), our body’s inner circulatory system becomes compromised. The quickest solution is to arm yourself with a series of simple stretches to perform once every 45 minutes. We will soon have a tool to help keep you grounded and feeling good through our Virtual Sapiens platform. THE BEST WAY TO STRETCH IT OUT At the beginnings of any workshop I lead, I take my clients through a series of stretches all designed to alleviate tension, increase blood flow and overall body awareness. These stretches are all subtle – meaning you can do them while standing, or seated in your office or home, you can even do many of them on the go. When it comes down to it, your body craves movement. These movements don’t have to be anything fancy. Even just a few shoulder and head rolls can do the trick. When your body feels free and smooth, as opposed to clunky and stuck, you free up your full focus; ideas and energy are yours for the taking. It can even be as simple as getting up and going for a walk, taking a look outside the closest window and changing up your visual perspective. Research demonstrates that if you introduce breaks like this into your day, you will actually be more productive, not less in aggregate. SETTING REMINDERS TO HELP YOURSELF For those who don’t have a Virtual Sapiens account where you can access our Virtual Sapiens Academy of videos and exercises, here are some pro-tips to help keep you on track: – Set a timer to buzz every 45 minutes. Every time it goes off, do one or two stretches to get your body back into the picture. – Pay attention to how much time you are spending in prolonged periods of the same posture. If you can, move from seated to standing at least once every hour. Start with these two simple things and I promise you, your body and your brain will thank you for this relatively small effort, that will reap massive rewards.