The New Normal
With video conferencing, work from home, remote working now a major part of life; so is your video conference, profile picture.
Many businesses are making work from home (WFH), or remote work, now a standard part of business life. And don’t forget video/face-time communicating while traveling.
Professional networking organizations such as BNI, Toastmasters and Chambers of Commerce are now making zoom (or alternate suppliers) video conferences a standard part of their networking.
One key element to the experience you give other video conference participants includes your video profile image. If you are not on the video screen/camera, your Zoom/video profile picture is part of your professional persona you present to others. This is one way to use zoom/video conferencing to enhance your career.
Details:
Also, keep in mind that your Zoom video picture shouldn’t exceed 2MB in size and should be one of the following formats: PNG, JPG, or GIF. Often access to profile image is on your video conferencing software system’s Settings page.
Remember your video profile image is what people see if you take a break on your video camera/lens. Make it the most beneficial and powerful you can.
This is a new world. In the past people used funny or casual images for video profile pictures, even emojis and cartoon-type avatars, or worst of all, no video profile picture at all. The problem is that all of these modern technology images do not show you as approachable, competent or trustworthy. The only thing that can do that is a Top 1% Headshot for your video profile image.
Otherwise, instead of being seen as a real player, and someone who can solve their problems, you can look like a non-effective, self-indulgent person, or at worst, a joke. If you are not using a Top 1% Headshot in these scenarios, you are damaging a key and critical element in your branding program.
I explain these Top 1% Headshots in more detail in this article. https://www.donmannphotography.com/what-is-the-best-picture-for-your-business-website.
Where to Use Your Zoom-Video Profile Picture. Remember there are several places to use your zoom/video conference profile image in these work from home, remote activities.
This video profile image should be the same image as you would use on your LinkedIn profile, and if it up to Top 1% Headshot standards, your company website and your business cards.
Your Branding Program: Branding is how others perceive you. This means anytime others can see you in person or in an image of some kind, whether in video or in a photograph. You are branding yourself every time you get in front of other people, whether in person or in media. This means you are branding yourself in every video conference. Control or manage your video branding as you do your appearance.
You may say, "I don't have a branding program." Yes you do, but you say that, you are not managing it. You are letting it happen by random chance and not intentional management.
However you appear in person or any media, or social media that is your branding-marketing collateral (words and images). And today, if people learn of your name, they will Google you and see your planned or un-managed marketing collateral. Having Top 1% Headshots in your collateral can be a great career enhancer.
What is most effective is a high lookability, commercial marketing, Top 1% Headshot.
Whether it is remote, office-centric or hybrid model, more than likely you will be involved in more video conferencing than before COVID. If you are in a customer/client contact function, for sure you will be using video conferencing.
Adding a video profile photo is more personal than having just your name displayed during a meeting when your camera is inactive. And it can be far more useful for your career.
Airline Impact: Telling my age a little, I have been doing business-video conferencing since the 1980’s. First it started with telephone conference calls. People soon agreed this left out a lot of interpersonal communications. Then we moved to video conferencing. While perhaps an adjunct to in-person interactions, to the sadness of accountants, video conferencing did not replace airplane and automobile travel expense for business purposes.
The warning was that, with all this video conferencing, the airlines would see major cutbacks in business travel. So whether it was meeting with prospects or customers, recruiting staff or team members, addressing investors, or even weekly team meetings, these modern telephone and video meetings did not significantly cut business travel.
In my opinion, the best use of video meetings is for education and perhaps training. During COVID we had no choice, but why is business travel now picking up in the airlines? Nothing replaces in-person interactions for depth and relationship building. They may work for top-down or past-agreement-rehearsal communications, but not team building and negotiations. This applies to all workers, especially remote workers.
Here to Stay: Even though video conferencing is not the end-all, be all, for communication, it is now even a greater part of our lives than ever before. I project that while video conferencing is not going away, how you use it is even more critical than ever.
For many of us the reality is that often video conferencing is the only way we will ever interact with many people. The issue is, how do you make it most effective?
Casual Viewing: There is a certain joy in attending a video meeting in a suit and tie, while in your shorts. Even prestigious news announcers have confessed to doing it. Modern psychology has proven that how we perform and interact is superior when we are wearing business clothes. So dress professionally at all times, with your pants/skirt on.
Remote workers disadvantage offset by a Top 1% Headshot. WFH (Work From Home) or Remote work is now a part of life, so is the loss of the key benefits of in-person communication. The best way to counteract the isolation of remote, WFH is to use a Top 1% Headshot as part of your video branding program. At least with such a video profile headshot you will remind all viewers you are a team player, and one to solve their problems in an agreeable manner.
Can you imagine getting a job from a headshot? It happens all the time, especially for those who have and use Top 1% Headshots in all their communication opportunities, especially business related zoom/video conferencing. If possible use a small version of your Top 1% Headshot at the bottom of your emails, or other business communications.
Profile Image On Start Up: If you can, make your default view "not your camera," so the default is your video-profile image. For example on Zoom, do not join with your video camera active. That way the first thing they see is your high marketing, video profile picture, and not you unprepared, or the room empty when you are away from your position.
Next time you are on a Zoom video call, and decide to turn off your camera, other participants will see your career enhancing, Top 1% Headshot, profile picture. No matter what their opinion of you, they will know you are a trustworthy person from constantly viewing your Top 1% Headshots. Other popular. but lessor headshots or images do not do this for you.
Changing Your Profile Picture: you can also add a profile picture even during your Zoom video call. In case your Google profile is without an image, you can add it there first, and then log into Zoom. That way, you will have the same picture in both locations with just one upload. Do similar for all your communication systems.
You can change your Google profile picture from your mobile device as well. But keep in mind that regardless of where you make these changes, you’ll have to wait a little bit until they apply. But once they do, the same image will appear in all Google products, wherever or however you sign in with your account. Make the same profile picture on all your communication and video conference devices.
A Word on Backgrounds: Don’t forget a professional background during your Zoom/Video conference. The best is simple, a single, muted-color or gray. Try to use a simple, uncluttered wall as a background, and no chair rails. I use one of my pop-up photography screens, or fix-up a single-color, hanging curtain.
On my Zoom program, the background picture called "Blur" is a good neutral background. This tool blurs the existing background. Instead of the shapes and clutter, it blurs all features. It still can leave light and dark shapes, so it is not perfect.
Another option is called the Workaround Big Shot. It is a screen that mounts on your chair and provides a simplified background that can be chromakey or gray. It is simpler than a pop up or curtains.
The point is you may love your homey, cluttered background, but the other members of your meeting only see distracting clutter. Simplicity is more courteous and shows you as more trustworthy.
Look at the screen above from a video conference. Notice how cluttered and confused it is. This scene is unprepared and casual. For business purposes, simple and uncluttered is far superior for your image to the other viewers.
You don’t want any cluttered backgrounds. No pictures or baseball bats or clouds sprouting out of your head! No woodland or race track scenes! SIMPLE is best so they look at mostly your face, especially your mouth and eyes.
One of the best ideas for a professional video background might be the most underappreciated. How about taking a photo of your own home in perfect order, and make that your virtual background? Just make sure it is simplified. Install this on your video conferencing software. No one will be any the wiser in your video calls, and yet you won't have to worry about cleaning up before your next meeting.
This will be separate from your video profile picture, so you will need two images:
1) Your Top 1% Headshot, and
2) Your simplified background photo.
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a Top 1%, Marketing Headshot is worth 10,000 words of the best marketing copy there is.
And you can drive home that message in every video meeting you are attending.
But make no mistake, you are always driving a message every time you are on video; so make it the one you want.
I can save you from wasting money, or losing any more prospects or opportunities.
I live and breathe images that accelerate your business/career, and I do not rest until all your images are high octane.
I will be happy to do a consultation with you on your marketing imagery and give you my honest opinion.
Just use my contact page and shoot me a request. Contact Page
Wishing you all the Best,
Don
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