How to Make Your Zoom Calls Look Professional

Most professional settings have some sort of video conferencing in their day-to-day operations. This is a recent change from strictly in-office meetings, and some people might not be technically advanced enough to understand how a computer uses a camera and microphone. We have compiled a short list of tips to help you look as professional as possible on your upcoming Zoom calls.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the professional world had a gigantic shift in how meetings would be conducted. No longer could people be crammed into an office conference room, so the natural progression was towards video conferencing calls. Before 2020 rolled around the most used video conference app was Skype, but somehow that company completely dropped the ball and was destroyed by their direct competitor, Zoom. We went from “Skyping” someone to “I’ve got a Zoom call with…” in a matter of months.

You want to present yourself better and look more professional on these calls, everyone does, but you have to understand the technological strengths and weaknesses of a webcam, a microphone, and a computer. This will be much less painful than you realize, and you’ll never have a sloppy-looking video call ever again, promise.

A real estate agent would say, “location, location, location” when we talk about placement of your video call. If you have a space at home to set up and leave, then you can always just come right back to this spot. If you have multiple video calls on the go you will have to improvise certain aspects of this insight.

Find a quiet, well-lit area for your setup. Usually in an office at home, or in a room that doesn’t get a lot of traffic around your house. If you do not have a light to put on that desk, get to a store and pick up a reasonably cheap desk lamp and a soft-white bulb for it. We prefer daylight bulbs, but the color of it is not that important. If you want to go the extra mile, consider picking up a ring light that can be attached to a stand and put on the other side of your desk. This will light everything completely and look cool when your eyes have a soft glowing ring around your pupils. If you can, make sure this set up is close to a window and use natural sunlight during the day on your calls. Sunlight is completely diffused and creates a well-balanced light that will cover your setup nicely.

Lastly, get your background in check. Do not have garbage laying around, or laundry that needs to be folded up in a laundry basket resting on the living room table or something. If you have no choice but to use a less-than-ideal background, make sure to turn on the background blur or to use a digital background that most video conferencing apps provide. A professional-looking background will make your Zoom calls look formal and presentable.

The camera and the audio are what compose the entirety of a video call. We recommend a somewhat simple camera like the Logitech line of webcams. We personally enjoy the Logitech C920 but do not overcomplicate this. A thirty frame per second webcam at 720p is going to suit your needs perfectly. Most video conference apps will cut the resolution off at 720p regardless of your camera’s quality. Place the camera at the same height as your eyes, if not a little above them and slightly angled downward. When the camera is angled upwards at you it displays the underside of your chin more prominently, and you do not want to show that off, trust us that it is incredibly unflattering.

You might think the most important facet to a video call would be the camera. You would be wrong. Any professional in the video production industry will tell you people can stand an occasional bad video, but no one will stand bad audio. You want to sound clear and concise. So we are going to mention two strategies here: using the on-board microphone on your webcam, or purchasing a dedicated microphone for video calls. The microphone on the webcam is going to sound more muffled, will cut in and out repeatedly if you are not a loud talker, and if the camera disconnects your audio will go with it no matter what. We recommend getting a dedicated microphone. The price can range from $20-40 for something more reasonable, or if you want something that is going to impress people you can get something like the Blue Yeti for around $150 and sound like a podcaster.

Make sure you test this setup first, as your room or location might be very different than most. We usually recommend closing your fist, extending your thumb and pinky, then putting the thumb to your chin with the pinky straight ahead of you, and this should be about where your microphone is located. You can search on your desktop for the Camera app, it’s on all computers, and try to record a video with your light on, webcam and microphone in position, in your Sunday best. If you do not have time before a call to sit and open other apps, video call services like Zoom and Teams will let you test your microphone and camera before entering a call. Make sure the audio meter is not peaking into the red areas of the sound bar constantly or you are going to sound overblown and muffled. Final tip here, use headphones if you can. Video conference apps are pretty good at filtering out noise from outside the call, but using headphones makes you sound clearer, and it helps you hear others on the call. We want our Zoom calls to look professional, but we also want it to sound professional.

Familiarizing yourself with the interface of any program is an incredible tool to have. Here are a few shortcuts on Zoom and Teams to get you started, you can easily fit these on a post it note and stick them to your computer for a quick reference guide:

Zoom

Alt + V – Start and stop your webcam. This can be helpful if you need to step away or do something like blow your nose.

Alt + A – This will mute and unmute yourself if you need to cough or if there is an unexpected noise in the background.

Alt + S – Share your screen with others in the call. This will bring up a small menu where you can select a window or monitor to share.

Teams

Ctrl + Shift + O – This will activate and deactivate your camera.

Ctrl + Shift + M – This toggles your microphone on and off.

Ctrl + Shift + E – This will share your screen or selected window.

See? That was painless, right? Keeping these on a post it note on your computer or laptop will help you out if you can’t find the correct menu/button inside of Zoom or Teams. Being able to immediately mute your microphone instinctually when you cough or have an emergency comes off as professional and clever. If you want full lists for all of the shortcuts available check out the actual sites’ listings:

Zoom Shortcuts

Microsoft Teams Shortcuts

We all know computers can crash, misbehave, or be downright confusing, so we hope to save ourselves the embarrassment when we can. Having a backup camera or microphone can be helpful, but it is more expensive to have a second set just laying around. Try to at least have a cheap webcam available to plug in quickly if your main camera on your desktop or laptop bites the dust.

Also, video calls use up a lot of bandwidth on your internet. Most companies offer an internet package that can handle them, but the faster your connection the clearer your video and audio will be, and it will be much more consistent. If you have the option to run an ethernet cable from your router to your computer, do that. Wired connections are much more stable and reliable than wireless connections. If you aren’t sure how fast your internet is you can use a site like Speedtest.net by Ookla for free and see where you stand and if you need to upgrade to a better plan with your internet provider.

Keep your computer and video call app up to date. This may sound trivial, but you need to open these programs up well before the call and see if they have an update. Sometimes Zoom or Teams will not let you join the call if you haven’t updated your software. Running late for a Zoom call is anything but professional.

Now you’re ready to hop on that call with a perspective client, a future employer, or even a board of directors. Make sure you have on a nice outfit and your face and hair are well kempt, and you should have all the tools available to knock your future video calls out of the park. Remember, presenting yourself as professional on a Zoom call will only help you in the business world.

Remember:

• Your camera should be at eye-level, maybe slightly above
• Your microphone should be about 8-10 inches away from your face, use the thumb and pinky trick to gauge it
• Make sure to be near a window with natural light, or have a light on your desk by you to illuminate your face
• Learn some shortcuts to navigate Zoom and Teams quickly
• Update your applications regularly
• Plug your computer directly into the router, or make sure your wireless internet connection is fast enough to handle a video call
• Sit up straight and speak clearly

Hopefully you learned something about setting yourself up for success. Maybe this could be the article you send to a coworker who consistently has trouble with their video calls, or maybe this could be a useful tool for someone trying to teach their grandma how to video call their family back in the old country. Regardless, if you ever want to talk about looking more professional in video calls, you can always reach out to us here at Acclaim, we would be happy to help.