How to Make Sure You Appear OK on the Screen of Other Participants

In these Zoom days some of us dress up a bit for meetings.  What you may not know is that your "grooming" appearance" is probably far less important than your apparent position on the screen of the other folks at the Zoom meeting.  Here below is some of the things that affect your technical appearance to others:

Are you steady on the screen. It is very difficult to be steady on other screens if you are using a cell phone or ipad or other tablet.  It can be done though.  You just need to find a place where you can stand or set your device so that it is aimed at you but remains steady and unmoving.  You cannot do this just holding your device.  You need to find a setting place aimed straight at you and at about your face level.

Position on the Screen. Do you appear straight on like the anchors on TV news, or do folks see you looking up from your floor or desktop or down from a high shelf.  Of course this happens when you find a steady place but it is down low and you are up high.  The solution for this is not easy because you need to find a "steady resting place for the device" that has the little camera on the top edge of your phone/pad straight across from you, rather than up looking down or down looking up.  Sometimes a bookcase can help.  Or you may have an old non-functioning computer screen on which you could "hang" or attach the device.  It is possible to use coathanger wire to make a rack to hang the device on the screen like a plate hanger for plates on a wall.  Lots of possibilies, but worth it since most of us look pretty bad looking up from a desktop or down from a high ledge.

Even with a Laptop. A laptop or console computer with a built-in camera or a webcam sitting on the screen top is probably the ideal device for Zoom meetings.  The picture is steady and the camera position puts you into the center of the other screens at about the right distance.  Sometimes though we forget, move about or even unknowingly tilt the screen which throws everything off.  Your best guide is to watch the square where your picture shows.  Make sure you are centred both from side to side and up and down.  Watch that you don't just appear as a head just above the bottom edge or with your head missing altogether.  The little square where you appear is your best guide.

Finally. If none of this works for you then just join and we will put up with it.  We would rather see you than not see you in these times.