1. Get rid of backlighting: Lights from behind you are going to make you look dark, grainy, or shadowy: “bad”. They will also point out every hair that’s out of place, and how far your ears really do stick out.
2. Have a light facing you. The light should be on your face…and the best light is straight-on so it doesn’t make those scary shadows that make you look angry.
3. Look behind you! Nobody wants to see your 1978 Farrah Faucet poster, your dirty clothes, and especially your messy room or office.
4. Don’t use Wifi. You will have much better bandwidth if you plug in a network cable and turn the wifi off. That means you’ll be transmitting more data faster, allowing the recipient to see you in full HD glory.
5. Find a quiet place to record. I know you have a cute puppy. That’s cute. Now get your little brother to go take him for a walk while you record your message. Turn off the background music – unless it’s part of your show.
6. Restart your computer! Why? Because Windows gets pissy, that’s why. You can argue with me on this one, but I promise you that you’ll have some crazy issue during filming if you don’t.
7. Quit any programs you don’t need running. This is especially for programs that will pop up messages and the worst possible time. It will also free up memory and processor to concentrate solely on your video production.
8. Turn off any programs that stream audio or video, upload or download, or anything else that will eat a fraction of your internet bandwidth. PirateBay can wait…
9. Ask people on your network to do #8 as well. They will be eating your bandwidth on a shared connection, too.
10. Position yourself so that you’re in the center of the webcam.
Here’s a couple more, may seem like common sense to most, but I’ve seen it all on the web…
* Dress appropriately for the occasion. If you’re doing a business conference, be dressed the same way you would as if you were there in person.
* Hygiene – brush your hair, wash your face, and make sure you don’t look like you were sleeping on a park bench!
At Palm Beach Software Design, Inc. we care about how you see us, and we also care VERY much as to how our software looks and the user-experience we provide.
