“Hey, let’s Zoom!”
I just love it when we turn words that were verbs into nouns. They become the new name of things! It really is a lot of fun! The word ‘zoom’ is really a verb, however in this day capitalize the first letter and you get the name of virtual meetings. A lot of people are “Zooming” it. And you know what I mean!
Yes, I too have been doing a lot of virtual meetings. And it really got me thinking about, ‘who’ am I bringing to those meetings. Is it my ‘best’ self or is it just my mediocre self? As a business professional, when going out to meet a person, network, or just in general, I always made sure my best foot was being put forward, by dressing well, make-up on, hair done, etc. Then I noticed that in some of my virtual meetings, a different person was showing up, no make-up, hair done, but not to the standards that could be, and well there was a t-shirt or two involved.
Why would I do that?
If I knew the person, was definitely one reason, because my thought process was, ‘they know me’, ‘they will forgive me’. If I only had one meeting that day, am I really going to go through all that work for one meeting? They will understand. Oh, and I forgot I was on camera!! Wasn’t my stagnant picture up? There were so many reasons, that this could be a longer list, however, I am probably in denial about a few of them!
Then I started looking at the people on the other side of the camera.
That woke me up! Some of them, I realized I was mirroring some of their behavior and it wasn’t the good behavior. Then, there was one of my clients, Nancy Piatt of IPR-Group. Nancy always looked great in every meeting we had! Hair done, make-up done, dressed nice, attitude awesome! She always, looks great whether it is in person or on camera. She was always bringing her best self to every meeting. Of course, there is the opposite end of the spectrum. On one of my meetings a person was actually getting dressed on camera in front of me. Yes, you read right! It was a crazy experience. They even acknowledge that they were doing this and wanted to know if I was ‘OK’ with it. Well, yes, I was, because being dressed was better than not being dressed. I am sure if you have been doing some virtual meetings you have your own stories.
There is also a discussion of the backgrounds.
These are the ones you have while on camera. Let me tell you, I am not opposed to kids bopping in, or animals. We are working from home and sometimes our ‘co-workers’, kids, and animals do not understand what is going on. So, that is Ok with me, as a matter of fact, I enjoy it. And aren’t we building relationships? The backgrounds of our homes and the goings-on are letting people know a little bit more about us. (Mostly, that we are not alone!) We are setting impressions there too. My only suggestion here is to make sure that your background looks as neat and tidy as it can because again it is about the impressions you make. Then there are virtual backgrounds. I use one of these and have several different ones for different meetings. One is designed for business meetings and the others are for casual meetings I may have. Those are pictures from places I have been. My best friend has found some backgrounds online, that always make her look like she is in a very cool location and people do believe she is in that room! So much fun! One day in one of my sessions with VanDyk Mortgage group, we were having a discussion about this very topic and as we were, several people were changing their backgrounds every few minutes that displayed funny topics like Tiger King. Now it was fun, however very distracting for the person(me) trying to facilitate the meeting. I wouldn’t recommend doing that! It did, however, give us some chuckles and taught us how easy it was. Also, is your name spelled correctly in your block? Make sure it is! That is another impression.
As you can see, this is about who you are bringing to your virtual meetings. Nancy was a role model for me. I made the decision that I can be like her. That I was going to bring my best self to the meetings I attend because that is what I would do if I would meet them in person. You see, each person we meet likes to feel for a moment that we thought them to be special in some way. Part of making them feel special is how we present ourselves to them. The first thing you can do for your virtual meeting or in-person meeting is smile at the person across from you with your heart. A smile is the first impression no matter where you are that can draw people in, make them relax, and make you feel like you are bringing your best self.
Enjoy this fun video also!
I would love to hear your stories on your business virtual meetings! Please share it below! It would be so much fun!!
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