We have collectively championed through countless remote meetings since the start of the pandemic. At times they seemed endless… And at times we were not seen at our best.

Remote sessions are here to stay. The predicted hybrid model of meeting both remotely and in-person has become reality for many. We have generally grown to like less commuting, saving time for more productivity in a workday.

It is definitely worth investing a bit of time to improve your user experience on Zoom. Here are my six tips:

Check Your Light Source

Light illuminates best when ­placed in front of an object (in this case, your face). Arrange your workspace so that the light source is behind (or next to) your camera and facing you. If you can’t make that work, your next best option is to position light to one side of your face Strong camera-facing natural light can darken your Zoom screen. To avoid this, try to position the camera in front of the window so the light source is behind the camera. You can also cover the window with a shade or curtain when it’s bright outside.

Adjust Visual Settings in Zoom

When you’ve done all you can and the light is still not good, navigate to your video settings, set the “Adjust for low light” bar to “Manual,” and slide it until it looks right to you.

Invest in LED Lights

You can find these inexpensively. Ring lights, commonly used for vlogging, also work well for video conferencing. 

Focus on the Camera

When you need to speak often or stay fully engaged, focus on the camera, instead of the faces in the meeting. If your camera rests on your monitor, you can also minimize your Zoom screen and drag it to directly below your camera. You can now look at other attendees with your gaze close to the camera. It’s a bit of “trompe l’oeil” that works well.

Record Meetings

When you want to save key information without looking away to take notes, take advantage of Zoom’s recording feature. To do this, click on the record button found on your menu bar. Always ask attendees if they’re okay with being recorded. Once you click the record button, each attendee will be prompted to accept or decline the recording, so ask first.

When your meeting ends, a conversion process will start and a progress bar will pop up. Once the conversion is done, the recording is automatically saved to your Zoom folder. I rename the file and relocate it to my client’s folder for future reference.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts for recording:

Type Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) or Alt+R (PC) to start recording any meeting.
Type Cmd+Shift+P (Mac) or Alt+P (PC) to pause/resume recording.

Share your Screen

Sometimes demonstrating is easier than explaining. Screen sharing is a key Zoom feature that I love and use a lot.

Here are keyboard shortcuts for screen-sharing:

Type Cmd+Shift+S (Mac) or Alt+Shift+S (PC) to start a screen share.
Type Cmd+Shift+T (Mac) or Alt+T (PC) to pause/resume a screen share.