Ten Etiquette Rules for Videoconferencing

This information comes in part from an article in the Wall Street Journal (March 14, 2016).

There are right ways and wrong ways to act during a video conference, and we all have probably been in one where someone has done the following:

1. Don't type. (Handwrite your notes or tell the others that you are using a digital voice recorder and ask for their permission.)
2. Make eye contact. Doing this builds trust and credibility that yu are really interested in what is being said.
3. Don't eat or drink. "Would you bring your tuna salad sandwich into the board room?" No, I don't think so.
4. Discourage Interruptions. Put a note on your door: "in video-conference! Sssssh!"
5. Don't leave without telling anyone. If it's a large meeting and you have to leave it for a few minutes, text message a colleague that you feel familiar with.
6. Pay Attention. Stay focused, don't do any other work, people will know.
7. Remember the Outliers. This is a big one. If you are the only one "calling it in," then you should talk to the person running the meeting about the protocol to participate, ask questions and not me "forgotten."
8. Control Your Background. This is something that most people won't necessarily think about, but make sure that you do. Make sure the background that you are sitting in and your fellow conference attendees are seeing is not distracting. By the way, an intentional "interesting" background can strategically work in your favor.
9. Head-off Technical Difficulties.  This is a must. Don't let your technology make you look like a "newb" --- make sure that you test-drive your system with someone else.
10. Act At-Home as You Would At-Office. Don't let these statistics be a part of your reputation:

• Stats by Lab42: 
• 7% of conference attendees have said they have seen someone conference from their bed
• 17% of conference attendees have said they have seen a conference attendee's pet
• 20%+ of conference attendees have said that they have seen attendees wearing pajamas or sweat pants
• TIP:  Get out of bed; put fido outside, dress professionally.

There's more at WSJ.