I must admit that the article today began with a few blunders of my own, so I decided to lay them out in an organized manner, so you can have a laugh with me or learn from my faux-pas, or simply for me to pay more attention to details.

1 before video calls

1.1. close your multiple windows and tabs. #KeepItClean. This way, if you get to point 2.1 you can close the damn tab fast.

1.2 dress like you were at least walking on the street – pants and all. So if you get to point 2.2 nobody will scream “legs! legs! I saw legs!” In my defence, I was wearing a skirt, a short one 🙂

1.3 check your name, especially if you use the account for personal reasons or lend it to your kids. It is awkard to show up with a Pink Berry nickname.

1.4 check your background and how wide your camera angle is – some art, some photos should be for your eyes only, your bed included (if you’re still in it).

2 during video calls

2.1 don’t check stories on facebook/instagram – they will remain open and keep an endless playing loop, while you click back through windows and, in the middle, of your moment of glory everyone will hear the sudden rock-goth music your friends are doing tik tok challenges on.

2.2 while on laptop and grabbing something behind the laptop, you naturally slide the lid to reach the coffee mug; remember that when closing the lid the camera shifts focus and is now facing down at you legs, or pants or whatever. #DoWearClothes

2.3 don’t engage in personal messaging, or you will end up being the one that smiles silly and flirty, while the discussion is about closing a business line.

2.4 don’t cook while video calling with a bluetooth headset. You will manage to burn the food, run to put out the smoke and swear with the mic on.

2.5 announce yourself when you enter or (re)enter the conversation, if you lost connection. In a big group you could end up on the second or (worse) third screen and nobody would notice you are there. #WasHeHere?

2.6 listen to the entire talk or announce if you are away, otherwise you will hear you name called out and you won’t have anyone near to ask what the subject is. #NoCheatSheet

2.7 instruct the household of the importance of the call and the rules, so your kids don’t come yelling “I need to pee!” while you are talking budgets. I know the etiquette is not to video call with kids or pets, but let’s face it, we can’t help it sometimes.

3 after video calls

3.1 make sure you turn off the mic and camera before shouting at the partner or the kids.

3.2 turn off bluetooth and disconnect your headset, or you will put on spotify and you won’t know why it’s not working … while it is playing in the headset still. Take advantage of the break and charge them.

3.3 disconnect hotspot if you were using it for better signal, so you can avoid a larger internet bill, if you want to binge some netflix in the evening via laptop.

And just for fun, here is a video conference, in real life.

So … what blunders did you stumble upon?