This story is part of How to Get Better at Public Speaking, the Forge guide to talking in front of a crowd.
I don’t actually believe she was too old to Skype — she was Nora Ephron! A legend — but she wasn’t wrong about the lighting. At the turn of the last decade, when our conversation took place, it was invariably terrible for home video-chat dial-ins.
I remembered her comment about a year later, when I was doing a CNN segment via Skype from a random startup office, with nice big windows. The lighting was great. But I couldn’t hear very well, and so even though I was wearing earphones, I kept on moving closer to the screen, resulting in my face smooshing way up close in the little box allotted to me, I looked ridiculous next to the other appropriately framed panelists.
Then there was the time I was offered a segment on CBC while home alone with my baby daughter. I let them know the only way to keep her quiet was to nurse her, and I did so discreetly out of frame while opining on air. No one was the wiser until the end... when her little hand came up to say hi.
These are just a few of the things that can happen in the home studio, when you’re responsible for sound, lighting, wardrobe, backdrop, and quiet on the set. It’s delightful for the viewer when a clip of a tiny TV interloper goes viral — hi, BBC South Korea expert Professor Robert Kelly! — but it’s mortifying in the moment. Sometimes you just want the people on the other side of the screen to see you looking polished, professional, and calm.
Even if you’re not a talking head on TV, with more and more people working remotely, giving presentations via video is becoming increasingly commonplace. Presenting via video chat is essentially a very weird and artificial kind of public speaking. So whatever your line of work, you’d best get good at it. And yes — lighting is everything. As are setup, and framing, and clothing choice, and whether your child will stay asleep in the other room. Here is some expert advice to help you make the best of it neatly and efficiently, so you can get back to working peacefully on your couch.
Think through your home studio setup
You can configure almost any space to be a studio. Just be mindful of three things: Light, background, and camera level. “I always face a window and aim to have the camera at forehead height, even if it means making a pile of boxes for it,” says Allyson Downey, the founder and CEO of Stellar Reviews, a consumer-product review company. “We use video for everything — client calls, team meetings, sales calls, webinars.”
Jeanne Pinder, the founder and CEO of the New York health journalism company ClearHealthCosts, swears by bookshelves as an attractive backdrop that both signals a lively mind and acts as conversation fodder. “People’s backdrops are an icebreaker,” says Pinder, who video-chats from her dining room table flanked by “shelves and shelves” of books. She also props her laptop up to eye level, positions herself in natural light from a window, and typically puts her ceiling light “on medium dimmer setting, depending on the light outside,” she says. “You want it to be even and warm.”
It’s not just that lighting should be flattering. The goal is also to make sure it’s not distracting (desk lamp in your face can result in some Norma Desmond-esque chiaroscuro.) The actress and writer Tia DeShazor, who frequently sends out self-taped auditions from her home, invested in a standing LED light for a nice, diffuse illumination.
Of course, you may well be video-chatting from your office, or your coworking space, over which you have little control. “Coworking phone booths often look creepy, poorly lit, and up the nostrils,” says Pinder, who says she’d rather turn off the video than go that route. (There’s also not a lot of room between you and the webcam, for those who want to avoid that extreme Tom Hooper close-up). If you can find a windowed conference room, great. But sometimes, the lighting is what it is.
Put some thought into your appearance
Just because you’re sitting in your living room in sweatpants does not mean you should look like you’re sitting in your living in sweatpants. And if you have something on your shirt or between your teeth, it’s best to find out before the video is published on ImportantWorkWebsite.com.
The author and marketing executive Christina Wallace offers a word of caution for what she calls “the most fraught” form of video calls: the ones where the video element is a surprise. “A lot of companies use Zoom or Webex in lieu of a conference line and the unspoken rule is that everyone will just be on the voice line,” says Wallace. “And then one day, someone says, ‘Let’s turn on our video capabilities.’” Wallace solves for this by being camera-ready whenever she has a call: “neat hair, basic makeup, and business casual attire from the waist up, just in case.”
De Shazor, the actress, discourages conspicuous fashion choices: “I’d say keep it simple, no prints or big earrings,” she says, noting that a bold look can be distracting on camera. “Find a color that always looks good on you — for me, it’s blue and green — and buy a bunch of tops in that color.” I personally am a big fan of a nice jewel-tone sweater and stud earrings, a combination that always looks neat without pulling focus. And I keep a mini-sized bottle of Moroccan Oil handy for smoothing those unwieldy hairs that love to pop up randomly.
Mind your body language
“Video is a microscope for body language,” says the speaking coach Leah Bonvissuto. “It picks up on every small movement and amplifies it.” For this reason, Bonvissuto recommends paying attention to how you use your body in conversation, and being mindful of how that might translate on camera. “If you use hands to speak, make sure they are completely in the frame and used deliberately, or not in the frame at all,” she says.
But you can also use movement to your advantage, she notes: “Unlike the phone, you can give a visual indication that you are thinking rather than a verbal one.”
Also, actually look at your audience. “The one thing I often emphasize for clients is where to look during a high-stakes session: at the green dot of the camera, not the screen,” says the media coach Matt Kohut, the author of Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities that Make Us Influential. “Some platforms such as Zoom make this easy, because you can drag little frames of the people you’re speaking to right under the camera. It allows you to look at them while also appearing to look at them.”
If your video platform doesn’t allow you to do that, Kohut suggests covering the screen so you won’t get distracted (just don’t cover the camera!). In a less formal video chat where multiple participants are in conversation, video can still function as a means of connection. “Even in those settings, it’s worth remembering that when you’re trying to emphasize a point, looking in the camera has the effect of looking directly at your audience,” says Kohut.
As a performer, DeShazor is very aware of how she sounds, too. “I usually do some vocal warmups,” she says, as well as articulation warm-ups, like tongue twisters.” For those of us without children, spouses, or roommates, an early-morning video call may be the first time we speak all day, so it’s worth actually speaking words before getting on the call to avoid phlegmy croakiness.
Show respect in small, meaningful ways
All the video-chat enthusiasts I spoke with emphasized not just the efficiency of the medium, but the opportunity for genuine connection. But part of connection is letting the other side know that you respect their time and attention as your literal audience. This includes not dialing into a scheduled meeting from the back of a car or in some other attention-challenged circumstance.
“If you anticipate extraneous noises due to your environment or connection, over-communicate that upfront so that everyone is on the same page,” says Bonvissuto. “Prioritize your audience’s comfort first and foremost, and you will feel more in control.”
This probably sounds like a lot to remember. But really, it’s simple: You’re just talking to people through a camera, and trying to make it as natural as possible. All of these suggestions are meant to allow you the freedom to just talk without you or your audience getting distracted by basic and avoidable issues. But if, at the end of the day, this really seems overwhelming, it is perfectly fine to say, Thanks, but I prefer the phone.