We have now almost completed five full years of non-stop Zoom. I hope all of you are having as much fun as I am.

Yes, it was so nice back in the “old days” meeting people for coffee or lunch. One of my big fears after COVID-19 ended was that I had forgotten how to tie a double Windsor. Did I really remember how to hand someone my business card and ask for one of theirs?

Business casual had gotten pretty far before the pandemic. I’m not sure anyone is going back to wearing suits every day after such a long absence. I’m also not sure everyone is really going to be going back to the office on a regular basis, although a lot of companies are starting to require it.

Zoom meetings are actually pretty efficient. You can have a lot more Zoom networking meetings in any given day than you could ever have “in real life.” I have actually gotten to really know people with whom I previously only talked to on the phone.

Friends, as they used to say when I was in the Army: “It’s time to get with the program.”

Remote meetings and working from home (now cutely abbreviated as WFH) is here to stay. Whether it is a good thing, or a bad thing doesn’t matter. It is what is.

Here are some things that each of you need to do (whether you like it or not) to fool everyone you “meet” on Zoom that you actually know what you’re doing.

1. You need proper lighting. It isn’t expensive either. Get a white light for your laptop or desk that shines toward you so your “smiling face” isn’t in the dark. There are circle lights that clip to laptops. There are square lights that clamp to your desk that you can shine on the ceiling.
2. Check your surroundings as seen by your camera. You are on stage. Distracting pictures need to be removed. Take a good look at what’s behind you. EVERYTHING communicates. Open closet doors, piles of papers, dogs and cats running through, all need to be attended to.
3. Where is your camera? If your laptop has a camera at the bottom of the screen, put your laptop on books or get a laptop stand or external camera. I don’t like looking up at people. Don’t try to take Zoom calls on an iPad. Your natural tendency is to look at the person on the screen, and that’s not where the camera is. Certainly, don’t try to take a Zoom call on an iPhone.
4. Turn on your camera. Unless it is strictly a lecture, it is discourteous to someone running a “networking” meeting to have an audience with their cameras turned off. If you don’t want to attend a meeting, don’t. If you are going to be there, be there. Would you go to an in-person meeting wearing a bag over your head? Try to look engaged. As you know, “pretending, pretending has no beginning or ending.”
5. On Zoom, if you right mouse click on your name, the last item on the list is “rename.” Change your name from john to John Smith, [email protected]. It is actually possible that someone might see you actively engaged in the meeting and contact you. This is how networking worked “back in the day.” You would look around the room and try to make eye contact. Anyone dumb enough to connect got a business card and had to give you one of theirs.
6. Actually, be engaged in the meeting. If you have lots of really important stuff to do, don’t go to the meeting. If you are going to bother showing up, ask questions if they let you speak or post simple messages in the Chat box. Don’t write a book. It doesn’t work. Include a Zoom outgoing signature: Matt Bud, [email protected]. (This is in lieu of being able to pass out business cards.)

Zoom is now part of our lives, and it isn’t going away. If you want to participate in our modern world and be successful, you need to present yourself as the consummate professional that I know you are.

Either that or you will be “a deer in the headlights.” And we all know what happens to them.

Anyone with additional points to make on this very important topic should send them to [email protected] and we will publish them in our newsletter under Notes from Members.

Regards, Matt