Make sure your camera is at a good angle – not so far down that your face is covered in a shadow or that you’re looking down your nose at everyone. If you have to elevate your laptop a bit, you can do that easily with a box or a laptop stand. You can also invest in a standing desk for another easy way to place your laptop to the best possible height.

The last thing about camera placement is where on your actual screen you put the box with your face in it. Something about video calls makes us all a little narcissistic in that it’s really easy to just watch your own face! Make this less obvious by shrinking down your own little window and placing it just below the webcam. This way, if you catch yourself watching your own face, it will still look like you’re looking in the webcam. It’s like the good old looking-at-someone’s-forehead trick.

1. It’s been said before that people will watch a bad-looking video with good audio, but they will not watch a good-looking video with bad audio. Of course, you can manage to have both a good-looking video and good audio with some simple tips and tools.
2. For lighting, you want to make sure that you’re not sitting directly under a light, or it’ll cast a shadow around your face and make it hard for others to see you. But you also don’t want to sit with the light behind you. Then you run the risk of blowing the whole screen out, and again, making it hard for others to see you. For the best result, use a lamp or other light source – an open window works great! – in front of you, toward your face.
3. For audio, it’s not always a safe bet to rely on your computer, phone or headphone’s internal mic. That allows a lot of background noise to be picked up, and your voice can get lost. The best solution is to invest a bit of money into an external mic. And another pro tip? Make sure to turn off ceiling fans to prevent any other unwanted noise.

1. And last but not least, let’s talk about backgrounds. In general, people are very understanding about getting a glimpse of your home during a video call, but make sure before you start the call that your background is free of anything you wouldn’t want to be seen. Make sure to tidy up. For example, if there’s a bookcase on the wall behind you, take a minute to straighten the books and remove clutter.

We hope this is helpful for you as you keep working through social distancing. What tips and tricks have you learned for setting up a great video call?