Started working on the material for my presentation at Crime Writer’s Week at ProWritingAid. Material is prepared, so I just need to design the small slide deck tomorrow.
I also finalized my evil plan to eliminate the problem of “no eye contact” in conference calls.
I don’t know about you, but it drives me absolutely crazy that I can’t look at someone AND at my camera at the same time. When I’m on a call, the result is almost always that my eyes are looking down whenever someone is looking at me, and vice versa. The result is that people on conference calls never really get to look at each other, which can be problematic if you’re doing sales calls, for example. Being able to see someone’s nonverbal clues is everything. Also, it’s just nice to feel like someone is looking you in the eyes when you’re talking to them.
I found a solution to the issue and it wasn’t that hard—just required some thought and the right equipment. It’s not 100% perfect but it’s 1000% better than the alternative, which is looking at your computer screen and your eyes not at camera level. It’s actually shockingly simple, and a lot of people will go “duh” when they see. A lot of folks online overcomplicate it or give up altogether.
Anyhoo, you probably don’t care about that, but if you do, let me know and I’d be happy to share my setup on how I solved this. It’s shockingly simple and will make a world of difference when you’re on Zoom calls or even working from home. It’ll instantly elevate your “presence,” even if others don’t say anything. Might just be one of my top ten victories of the year, to be honest. Might even help you out at work, too. Anyway, enough geekery for one night.
Have a good night.
