Zoom Etiquette

*Good lighting, good angle, plain background*
*Poor lighting, backlit by window, busy background*

Think of a Zoom Meeting as a face-to-face meeting and conduct yourself as you would if you were all present in the same room.

There’s just no substitute for good manners in all of our daily interactions, and they’re certainly appreciated more than ever in workplace meetings. There are some age-old guidelines that comprise good meeting etiquette — being on time, maintaining eye contact, paying attention — and applying those same principles to our video meetings can go a long way toward a productive business environment.

“It can also help elevate your personal reputation into “great meeting host” territory.”

Traditional business meetings are too often considered unproductive because there are so many delays and interruptions. Reliable, easy-to-use video conferencing platforms like Zoom have helped to restore meetings’ reputations, but there are still ways to ensure all of your attendees get the most out of the allotted time.

Some of the most common-sense meeting decorum — avoiding eating and drinking, minding your body language, and being respectful to whoever is speaking.

At the Australian Finishing School we recommend the following additional etiquette tips to help ensure a focused and effective Zoom Meeting.

In addition there are some additional useful tips below to observe to help ensure the meeting goes smoothly for all involved:

Join early – up to 5 minutes before the meeting start time
If you haven’t used Zoom before click the link to download Zoom prior to the day of the meeting and familiarise yourself with any features you may need to use on the day – mute/unmute microphone, stop/start video, screenshare etc.
Have your video on unless you are experiencing connection issues.
Find a quiet space without interruptions / background noise. Notifications from messaging applications, ringtones, and applications running on your desktop can be distracting, which can make your attendees feel disrespected and undervalued. Mitigating these distractions helps keep the meeting focused and free from interruption.

Have a plain background – avoid backlight from bright windows, Also clean up! Don’t have dirty washing around or too much clutter it is distracting
do not take a professional video meeting in bed
Have good lighting on your face so you can be seen clearly. Lighting from above can make you look washed out.

Adjust your camera to be at around eye level if possible – especially take note of the angle of your laptop screen if using the built-in camera.
If you are the host, stick around. The general rule for meeting hosts: Wait until everyone else has left the meeting before hanging up, so attendees can leave at their own pace and get any final words in before disconnecting. Zoom will assign an alternate host if the original host exits first, but it’s not a good look. A host leaving everyone else in the meeting is much like bailing on your own party.

Mute your microphone when not talking
Make an effort with dressing well, we do not need a suit and tie or ball gown but we want to be remembered as someone who takes pride in their appearance
Try to avoid talking over / at the same time as other participants
Be aware you are on camera and try to avoid doing other tasks, checking emails, looking at your phone etc.
make sure you say goodbye when leaving the zoom meeting

Reference: Zoom

For more information about our Online Etiquette Classes Contact us

Zoom Etiquette - How to Video Conference Etiquette