Me and 312 others spent 30 minutes staring at a human shadow and listening to unclear, muffled, audio. It undermined the entire presentation the community manager was giving – a rather important presentation too.
The community manager was using the default laptop camera for both the webcam and audio – and had the window (or light source) behind him.
What might’ve been the norm a few years ago now looks distracting and unprofessional. Almost two years into this pandemic, there really isn’t a good excuse for still giving members a poor experience like this. Especially when you can take four relatively simple steps to fix it.
1) Make sure the light is in front of you (turn your desk around if you need to).
2) Invest in a simple ring light. Even the cheapest one will have a big impact.
3) Get a simple microphone (I’ve had a handy transportable one for years).
4) Buy a good webcam (I use this one).
Then take twenty minutes to set it up and test it all before your next meeting. For a relatively tiny amount of money, you can give members the experience they deserve.
No one is asking you to deliver a world-class experience, just to recognise the baseline has moved.
