Is my Zoom Ettiquette off putting and what are your observed Zoom behavior on camera?

Anonymous

February 22,2023 at 4:55PM UTC

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Is my Zoom Ettiquette off putting and what are your observed Zoom behavior on camera?

When I am on remote video meetings I like to make sure Im camera ready by at least doing my eyebrows and putting on concealer and a bit of powder so I can look "alive" haha! While other days I will do light full face makeup with eyeshadow simply because I spent too much money on my eyeshadow to let them be reserved for a "special occasion." I wear toned-down colors so not stressing over that.

Where Im getting self-conscious is how I appear to others e.g. if Im looking at myself the whole time as opposed to everyone else. I make sure to hide on Zoom to resist the temptation and when others are talking I notice that I tend to look directly at where they are located in the panel so I can take in the facial expressions as they're talking. I do make sure to look at my camera and nod from time to time while they're talking. When its my turn to talk I look directly at the webcam which is located two inches above my eye level.

I wonder if my habits may be off-putting? During this recent zoom meeting whoever the host was switching the placement of the panels where the active speaker resided and I wondered if they were doing that specifically for me, to see if I was actively looking at the person or not ( I hope Im overthinking it though)?

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Cyndi RosenblattFebruary 22,2023 at 6:11PM UTC
My observation is that locations change for whatever reason with no input from the host. And I think everyone looks slightly off-center during presentations. I promise the vast majority of people don't have faces large enough to notice any of that in the first place. Don't make yourself crazy over-analyzing unless you're presenting an entire meeting or to a large group (like 50 or 100+) - you are likely under at least a little more scrutiny in those circumstances.
AnonymousFebruary 22,2023 at 9:24PM UTC
Zoom locations can change when: a different person speaks - the camera finds them so everyone can see them. If the speaker/host changes the direction of their slides, the view panel changes as well. When speaking to the group, it would be expected you look into the camera just like you would if you were speaking to them in public. And for what it's worth, the camera should be eye level or a tad higher and aimed down a bit...that way people aren't looking up your nose if you're using a laptop on your desk thats regular level.
AnonymousFebruary 22,2023 at 10:15PM UTC
It’s great to be conscious about these things, but I definitely think you are reading too much into looking into the camera and placement.
Also, it’s nice to have make up on, but as long as you’re not overdoing it, I don’t think that’s also going to be offputting either! Kudos to you for being so aware during a time where zooms are so prevalent though!!
Jennifer TannerFebruary 24,2023 at 4:19AM UTC
I don't notice other people looking directly into the camera when I do video meetings.
I tend to watch myself as well.... I do light makeup, especially my eyes, so I look as awake as possible. I have an ultraHD webcam too so... yikes.
My best advice is don't be so self-conscious, just try to focus on expressing your thoughts and project who you are! I know it's hard not to care so much what they think of you because you are trying to make a good impression. The big secret is, everyone is mostly focused on themselves and worrying about how they appear to everyone else, too!
As I have seen said elsewhere "The good news is: nobody really cares that much what you do! The bad news is: nobody cares that much what you do." LOL.
AnonymousFebruary 24,2023 at 2:10PM UTC
What you're doing sounds normal, and I don't think you have anything to be concerned about. Zoom will also rearrange panels so it may not have been the host at all. Don't read too much into it. Don't over think it! As long as you're not picking your nose or clipping your nails on camera you're doing just fine.
AnonymousFebruary 24,2023 at 10:02PM UTC
You might be overthinking it. You be you and yeah zoom is weird if its comfy for you then just keep things as it is. You could as an aside query the person you are concerned about if it bothers you that much.
Joanna PoeFebruary 25,2023 at 6:32PM UTC
You're definitely overthinking it. Studies show that people mostly look at themselves to make sure they don't look weird or have strange expressions on their faces. Zoom introduced the option to turn off self-view to alleviate that, but most people are too self-conscious to turn it off. Honestly, your webcam isn't as good as you think it is, and unless you're the only person in the meeting, your face is usually only going to be the size of a coaster, so even most makeup is overkill. Personally, I skip the concealer unless I have some kind of breakout going on, and just do a bold lip and call it a day.
Stephanie Hill AlexanderFebruary 25,2023 at 8:08PM UTC
I understand feeling self conscious on zoom calls. A few things to consider- a ring light can be a real game changer as most lighting is not flattering. You can also adjust the filter on your zoom camera to soften your face - I do that! And finally- remember that zoom is often set so that the square with the person speaking moves to the top. It’s not you. ??????
Danielle SimonFebruary 25,2023 at 10:36PM UTC
You might not be overthinking it as much as people here believe. About a month ago, maybe, I saw a LinkedIn post from a connection who is a recruiter listing some of the top comments/critiques he gets about candidates he sends on virtual interviews but who ultimately don't get hired, and "not making eye contact" was still a comment he listed. And the recruiter did something like noted in parenthesis that, yes, this is even for video interviews.
I think of it this way--you can't please everybody all of the time. And as far as job interviews, any company that will eliminate you because you somehow "didn't make enough eye contact" over Zoom, Teams or whatever is a company that would be picky af and hard to please with your work (and/or is idiotic when it comes to technology), and you got lucky. This doesn't sound like it's about job interviews, but still--the point is it's unrealistic to expect people to look into the camera through most of a video meeting, and it makes perfect sense that you'd want to see facial expressions and cues.
Kathy LeskiFebruary 26,2023 at 10:04PM UTC
You're doing what most of us do when the camera is just above their screen. Nothing off-putting at all.
Liz MilneFebruary 26,2023 at 11:14PM UTC
I think you're overthinking it, to be honest. I will occasionally fix the order of a call because otherwise it jumps around depending on who's speaking and I find that distracting (having to hunt for the face belonging to the voice I recognise!) But aside from that I'm not bothered about what people look like and where they're looking when I talk - I also do the same as you: look at the speaker and address the camera when I'm talking, I think that's normal???
AnonymousFebruary 27,2023 at 3:50PM UTC
Zoom will focus the pane of whoever is speaking automatically, it's not the host doing it. I promise you no one is worried about where your eyes are tracking. What they do notice is when people are clearly multitasking, or otherwise not paying attention.
Joanna PoeFebruary 27,2023 at 9:29PM UTC
I think she means that the host was rearranging the actual speaker tiles, which you can do in any Zoom meeting by dragging a person around on the screen, and if you're the host, you can enforce your order on everyone else. In my experience, most people do not realize they can do this, and if they're hosts, they may not realize their actions are impacting the attendees, or if they did, then most likely they were just trying to keep the speaker central to the view, or perhaps keep the captions from overlaying the speaker window. Honestly, if you're hosting a Zoom meeting, any individual attendee is likely not your focus unless they are speaking.