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. This is a mistake…

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Why do we get so incredibly fatigued by these video conversations? What is it about connecting through a screen that sends us into a deep slump over our computers?

It really is no wonder that spending a full day sitting in the same place, staring at the same screen is exhausting. In addition to this stagnant physical experience, there are a few video-specific things like the asynchrony between voice/audio and body language cues and the intensity of facial close-ups that all contribute to this fatigue.

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Yes. First impressions still matter over video. Those first couple of seconds are enough to send a strong, confident, weak or unprepared impression ricocheting across your audience.

How many times have you started a meeting and had participants enter with their mute button off, poor lighting and jostling about in the frame? Even in this split-second what has your impression been of these individuals?

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While natural light can be glorious when it hits exactly the right spot, at the right time, in the right way, it can also be very finicky. If we are solely dependent on natural light for our video calls, we may run into more problems than we are solving for.

Here are three things to be wary of when you are using natural light in your video calls.

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Understandably, we have been focused on the challenges of virtual communication and video conferencing over the past six months. But what about the opportunities? More specifically, what benefits do we unlock with effective video conferencing skills?

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As we see some parts of the country opening up, some businesses bringing in parts of their workforce and schools organizing students into cohorts, the newest challenge is managing a team or a meeting with some members being together, in person; while others are separate and remote.

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For those of us who are now looking at many more months of continue virtual work, our daily experience is limiting to the confines of our remote office set up.

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. Regardless as to what the posture is, any body that is not moving around on the regular, is going to experience discomfort. Here’s what you can do to counteract this discomfort.

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As summer days get shorter, this is an ideal time to take a moment for yourself, before zooming ahead into the fall. Many companies and organizations are instituting hybrid work environments that include both in person and virtual scenarios - but many are remaining entirely remote.

What can you do to manage your energy in such an overwhelming sea of change and uncertainty?

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Many of us have a colleague or two (three, four etc.) who consistently show up to virtual meetings with terrible lighting, a distracting zoom background or easy-to-fix tech issues that end up delaying or even uprooting an otherwise effective meeting.

With virtual communication being a serious part of our present, and likely future realities, it behooves us to figure out how to deliver feedback effectively, including feedback on our team’s ability to effectively show up and communicate on video.

Here are a few best practices to keep in mind when giving feedback on virtual presence.

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