The Do’s and Dont’s of Video Conferencing

Fast forward to this March, the outbreak of coronavirus not only in Malaysia but also affecting worldwide – “The Pandemic” has suddenly transformed and considered video conferencing as an ultimate solution and tools enabling global operation by connecting with remote works, employees, and clients and at the same time, to prevent direct contact with the people has since deliver the community the unprecedented results.

Working from home, in other words, remote working it calls might seems to be pretty novelty for some industries in line however for legal sectors which has globally recognized as the traditional occupation that comes in mind, it is a new norm. In order to get things moving, e-meeting has now become the new trend in the industry and courts are moving to the era of involving e-hearings, e-case management, e-trials. If you do not have a lot of experience with video conferencing, it may take some getting used to.

Here’s a guide to share on do’s and don’ts of video conferencing to present yourself in the best manner through a screen:-

# Set up the space

First thing first, clean up the surrounding around you. Open up the camera on your laptop or desktop or switch on your external camera i.e. webcam and see what is visible in the background before the call, and check that you are comfortable showing that on a video call. Setting up a virtual background could be an alternative to ease the burden of tidying up space for video conferencing.

Otherwise, find a private place to take the call, use earphones or headphones to minimize background noise. Let your roommates, partners, or family members who are also working from home a heads up before your video conferencing kick starts.

# Check your appearance

Getting to wear sweatshirts and sweatpants all day can be very much a privilege when you are working from home, but that may not be the right move for a video call. Dress how you would for an in-person meeting or in courts hearings. Doing so shows respect and professionalism to your peers and prospective clients or even judges. You do not need to do anything extra, but it is a good idea to dress the part if you want to be taken seriously with the reasonably good appearance. It also does not hurt to have a good posture and keep your body language in check. Sit up straight, keep your shoulders back, and pull your stomach in. Having a good posture will not only show that you are professional, but would benefit you in so many ways

That would inevitably earns the respect from the person that you are meeting. As the saying sings, ‘dress how you want to be addressed’ because you only have one chance to make a first impression and wins your client’s or judge’s heart.

# Check your video and audio quality

A good video and audio quality conference can possibly set a good start of negotiating a deal or conducting a trial. Make sure you are placing yourself in a well lit room or with natural lighting and side lighting shining on your face. Do not sit too far or too close to your camera or webcam to ensure that the participants is getting a clear, unobstructed view of you. Set up your laptop camera or device at eye level. There are few options, you may use a height adjustable chair to adapt to the working table or else to stack a few books below your laptop to reach the same level as your eyes so that when you are looking at the screen, it appears as if you are looking at the person you are talking to. By chance if you need to get up or move around or do something else during the conference call, practice good pattern to switch off your video to avoid any unnecessary distractions to your participants.

Also, set a good habit by muting your side of call if other person is conducting the meeting or if you are not speaking at that juncture. Your microphone can pick up a lot of background noise, so muting allows others on the call to easily hear who is speaking and also to ensure you are getting the right gist of the plot especially during hearings in court.

# Stay focused and be prepared

Do not multitask during video meetings! Be attentive and engaged during the call. As tempting as it is, try not to do any other work or read articles or send emails. Most importantly, do not attempt to look at your phone too often. Turning off notifications and muting your cell phone are the basic etiquette rules taken during video meetings.

Stay focused and try to look into the camera when you talk. If you look at yourself or others on your screen, it may give others an impression that you are looking at something else. When you are presenting yourself, make sure you are paying attention to whoever’s speaking or sharing their screen and that you are looking at any materials you may need to reference. Bear in mind that, others are in the same “room” as you do, you are much more visible on video calls than in the old fashioned offline meetings, and they can see what you are looking at, vice versa.

Beyond general, lawyers should equip themselves with such skillsets or to brush up their basic equipped video etiquette skills as the world is changing rapidly to adapt with advanced technologies which soon taking over the old-fashioned practices in used. It is time to get use to the digital era as it is very much foreseeable that these practices may continue and taking over the traditional norm in the legal sectors even after the world has recover from this unprecedented period.

This article is written by 

Liew Chen Siang
Partners, Low & Partners

Anastasia Lim Yee Zing
Senior Associate, Low & Partners