Video Conferencing Quick Tips & Set up

· Find a workspace that is comfortable and productive. Preferably a desk or a table and separate yourself from outside noise, family activities or pets. Be sure your backdrop or background environment is neat and proper. You may consider taking out anything that is personal or possibly offensive to others. Preparation for your call is important so gathering all you need including screen share files for your call before you start.

· Make sure you have a good internet speed, web camera, external microphone, mouse and keyboard that will keep things running smoothly, so test your systems with a friend a few times before going live on your call. If you can connect a direct internet cable to your Laptop or PC do so VS a Wi-Fi connections in which can cause video lagging. 

· Connect face-to-face using your favorite video meeting platform. If you don't already have one, we suggest signing up for Zoom,  Skype, Microsoft Teams or GoToMeetings. It is always best to use a video platform that is common to the public and often free to sign up. See Cherokee’s "Video Connect" Tab for video conferencing options. Once you have pick your video platform, load in on your desktop or portable device's for a fast connection.

· Put your best face forward with a high-resolution a USB 1080 dpi webcam. Check your lighting since you may have to shaded windows, an over head super bright light bulb.  Add back drop lighting for better video quality and to reduce video shading. Some of our favorites personnel web cams are the Logitech C930, C925 and the BCC950.. For personnel use consider using of a USB external dual microphone web cam for best audio, they will increase voice clarity or work better if there are multiple people in the same room on the call. We use a wireless mic by RODE called Wireless-Go and Blue Microphones (Snowball) and have had great success. (Embedded webcams can drain your laptop battery and leave you with a bad camera angle, audio issues, shadows and visual adjustment limitations.)

· It is a business meeting! If you normally wear a  logo company shirt, dress shirt or suit, wear it for this video meeting and be on time or early just like any other appointment. Just keep in mind that if you need to stand up you do not want to be in your shorts. It a good idea to turn off any back round music and mute your cell phone ringer during the video call.

· When you connected, look up eye level, not down.  Be very conscious on how you look and stay centered on  your screen. If you are using a smart phone or tablet use a device holder to try to get it up eye level as best possible. Consider using a backprop screen provided by the video conferencing platform if your back drop is messy and not ready for viewing. You can also add your company logo as a back drop .

· Mute your microphone if necessary during a meeting when not talking to reduce background noise issues and consider saving general question for the end of the meeting. Consider using the "Raise Hand" or "Chat box" to ask a question.

· Finally, turn your video & Audio on, introduce yourself and connect to the world. Meeting face to face instantly is way better then make a phone call.