Virtual EI (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)

6

Elevate Your Presence in a Virtual Meeting

By Joel Schwartzberg

Communication practices that work well among colleagues in a conference room don’t always translate seamlessly to a computer screen. Elevating both your point and your presence in a virtual or hybrid meeting requires not only engaging in videoconference-friendly tactics but also disabusing yourself of potentially detrimental misconceptions about the medium.

To help keep your impact actual when your presence is virtual, follow these six basic best practices.

1. Focus on your camera, not your colleagues

Every presentation coach will tell you that direct eye contact is a vital way to reinforce your point. In a videoconference, this means looking into the video camera, not at the smiling ...