Zoom Video Tips and Recording
Camera Positioning
When setting up your webcam,whether you’re using a laptop camera or external webcam, to look your best you will want to position the camera at eye-level. It looks even better if the camera is a little further away from youso you’re not right on top of it. Choose your best angle, move furniture, whatever you feel is necessary to position you comfortably and to make sure that you can be seen in a professional manner. Stay away from heavy patterned shirts and clunky jewelry. Patterns are distracting to the viewer and clunky jewelry makes noise.
Proper Lighting
If you don’t have a light kit and fancy lighting, don’t worry. Simply set-up facing a window so that it lights your face, the larger the window the more light you’ll have, even on a cloudy day. Do not have backlight, this means that you should set-up looking out the window and make sure that it is not behind you. Doing so will make you look like a silhouette and viewers cannot see your nonverbal expressions. Turn the lights on in the room to light dark corners as well. Avoid overhead lighting. This casts unflattering shadows on your face.
Choosing a Location
Consider the location and what’s behind you on camera. Make sure the room is tidy and move items out of camera view that are distracting. Choose a room that will have the least amount of interruptions, preferably one with a door that you can close.
Microphones
You can use your built-in microphone, an external microphone, or a headset. Best audio quality is achieved by limiting the distractions, so make sure your phone and emails are set to silent or off. Tell people in your surroundings know that you are video conferencing and/or recording so that they do not interrupt you. Minimize distracting noises around you, microphones are very sensitive and can pick up the sounds of typing, papers shuffling, or jewelry clanking on a desk.
Best Practices
- Whenever possible, hardwire with an ethernet cable to your router for best quality video and audio, this will limit or eliminate most all video and audio problems depending on your internet provider.
- If you are using an external camera and/or microphone be sure to plug them in before you start.
- Only 1 microphone and speaker system should be active per physical location. Using 2 systems may cause a loud screeching sound and create a feedback loop.
- Be sure to mute yourself when you are not speaking, especially if you are co-presenting.
Zoom Virtual Background
If you don’t want to show everyone the room that you’re in, Zoom allows you to change your background to a photo or video by installing Virtual Background. This is a one-time install. Zoom’s Virtual Background works best if you properly light yourself following the instructions above. It works even better with a light kit and a green screen if you have it, but it’s not necessary for it to work. Follow the instructions below to use it.
To use Virtual Background:
- In a Zoom meeting, click the ^ arrow next to the Start/Stop Video icon and click on “Choose
Virtual Background”.
- If prompted, click “Download” to download the package for virtual background.
- Once it’s downloaded, you can choose a background using photos and video.
Zoom Recording
You can set-up your meeting to record and if this is your plan, don’t forget! Recording to the Zoom Cloud is best in case your computer crashes. You can always download the file from the Zoom Cloud to keep on your computer later. When setting up your meeting, click the box in your meeting that says “Record” and choose “to the cloud”.
Or, you can record your meeting when it’s live by clicking on the “Record” button and then click “Record to the Cloud” as seen below.
Access your recordings on Zoom by logging onto your account or by using the app.
Zoom Online Support Center
Go to https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us to search for what you want to know on Zoom.