<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> This page is part of The Toolbox by Danny Smith.
</aside>
<aside> 🔗 If you haven’t read the pages below, do that before reading this one.
</aside>
Once you’ve mastered the basics and got your audio up to quality, it’s a good idea to give a little thought to how else you can improve how you appear on video calls.
Eye contact is extremely important for building genuine connections with people - imagine meeting someone in real life and never actually making eye contact with them!
On video calls, it's really easy to forget this. Especially because (unlike in real life) looking into the other person's eyes on your screen does not necessarily mean you are looking at your camera. Look at the images below and you'll see what we mean...
Looking at the bottom right
Looking at the top center
Looking at the bottom left
Looking directly at the camera
The easiest way to resolve this is to put your video window on a screen that's as close to your camera as possible (see Looking at the top centre 👆). It's also a good idea to occasionally glance directly at the camera when you're speaking.
<aside> ➡️ Exercise: Next time you're on a video call, open gallery mode and take note of who is making eye contact and who isn't. Are you making eye contact well? Can you move your camera or window to make it better?
</aside>
Just like in real life, your rate of speech will affect how you're perceived by others. This is more important than ever on video calls because you don't have body language to help make your point.