Dressed at your Desk
Zoom has become the new conference room, your dining room table your new cubicle, your kids have become your co-workers, and someone swapped out all the pens and staplers in the supply cabinet with chips and Cheetos. With all of us working from home, we have relied on Zoom as a way for us to connect, which is great, but for some, we’re bringing less flattering versions of ourselves. Here are my tips for how to present the best version of yourself to the virtual conference room.
1. Face your light source. This is the absolute most important one! Position yourself so that you are facing a window and the back of your phone or computer is in between you and that window. If there are windows behind you, close the curtains. I took two pictures of myself yesterday, completely unfiltered or touched, one facing the light and one behind me. See for yourself… my hair even looks better in the first photo!
2. Choose smart clothing. With all of the distractions that come with working from home, the last thing you want is for your clothing to be distracting. Avoid stripes and small prints as they don’t translate well over the camera. Blues and greens are calming and look good on most skin tones. Avoid reds and oranges which can come off alarming. Most importantly, make sure not to blend in with your background! The top that you wear will create a frame for your body on screen.
3. Check your background. Set up in a spot where a wall in close by and the background isn’t busy. Keeping a wall close by will help to frame yourself and can help to avoid people creeping into your frame.
4. Log on early and familiarize yourself with Zoom. Do you know how to turn the camera off? Do you know how to mute yourself? Both are really important things to know! Its ok if you have to turn your camera off for a bit- you can still hear everything and as long as you aren’t muted, your audience can hear you! Your name will appear or follow these steps to upload a photo to your profile that will appear while your camera is off!
Be well everyone. All we can do is show up everyday and strive to be the best versions of ourselves. There will be good days and there will be bad. Move on from the bad days and think of this simple phrase from my mom that I carry with me,
Tomorrow is a new day.
xo, Ashley
