9 Rules to Beat Zoom Fatigue

9 Rules to Beat Zoom Fatigue

Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Zoom isn’t going away. Neither is Google Meet, MS Teams, WebEx and about a million other ways to conference online. Podcasts, webcasts, and livestreams are all really great ways to get your message out. Since we’re all stuck doing a lot more video conference meetings, here are a few great tips to master the media that I’ve learned the hard way.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Most people feel like doing video conferences is mentally taxing and tiring.

Well, it turns out that is.

Here’s an article that makes the science of Zoom Fatigue pretty approachable: Dealing with Zoom Fatigue – https://leadership.garden/zoom-fatigue/

The takeaway? Zoom Fatigue is real and there are some steps you can take to make those days where you’re on camera five plus hours a day less mentally taxing.

Here are some ways I’ve found to make video conferencing less fatiguing: 

Setting Up Your Stage

First off you don’t have to invest a lot – just find a quiet enough place with a background that works.

Background

Three Rules:

No windows or bright lights

Light sources in the background will confuse the camera and will cause the camera to darken the subject (you) or cause issues with color.

No grids/plaid, pattern backgrounds

Grids, stripes, plaid and repetitive patterns can cause moire, which are repetitive details that exceed the camera sensor resolution causing a strange-looking wavy pattern.

Be clean

If you are going to have a wall behind you, make sure it is clean because scuffs and smudges will really show on camera.

Clothing

Aside from appropriate and inappropriate, there is one thing to worry about: moire. Stripes, checks, plaids, and dots can all cause a very distracting moire effect on the camera. I keep a solid blue shirt in the closet at work for days when I’m not camera-ready.

Equipment

Cameras and Lighting

Usually, bad cameras are a lighting problem in disguise. Good lighting is the secret to making cameras work well. Especially cheap cameras like the one in your laptop. If your camera looks grainy, crank up the light and you’ll be amazed how much better it works. A good ring or diffused desktop light can make you look 10-15 years younger by removing all the shadows from the wrinkles, battle scars, nicks and other accumulated wear and tear on your face.

Use Your Phone

Believe it or not, the camera in you mobile phone is probably about 10,000x better than the webcam in your computer. Why? Well, the face camera on your phone is probably capable of at least HD-quality recording and has AI video processing to automatically deal with light, white balance, and about 500 other thing that can ruin a video. If you have an iPhone and a Mac, you can use your iPhone as a webcam. If you are on Android, IruinCam and DroidCam let you do the same thing.

Sound

If you follow these three rules, you’ll solve 90% of audio problems before you have them:

Never use the mic in a Bluetooth device.

Don’t use the mic in any Bluetooth device. Here’s the story: Bluetooth has a ton of modes. The one that almost every headset, earbuds, or pods uses when you turn the mic on is “headset mode” where you get low-quality mono sound from the speakers, and the mic is set to a low bit rate, which makes you sound REALLY BAD. Use a different mic than your Bluetooth headset, and your Bluetooth headphones will work.

Get a Good Enough™ microphone.

Don’t panic. A good enough mic is $40-$70 including all the wiring, a boom arm, a shock mount and all the hardware. There’s a reason why in front of every great podcaster is a pretty good mic. I use Tonor’s Q9, Tonor TC40 or a Blue Snowball depending on where I’m working from.

Don’t pound on the table.

If you talk with your hands, chances are you also inadvertently bump into things. When you bump the table where the camera is, it shakes. Even worse, if the mic isn’t shock mounted, that little tap tap tap will sound like a cannon.

Recruit Smarter, Not Harder! How to Make Technology Do the Heavy Lifting

Recruit Smarter, Not Harder! How to Make Technology Do the Heavy Lifting

We all know that recruiting can be daunting, especially when you have a large pool of candidates to choose from. However, with the right technology, you can recruit smarter, not harder, while maintaining the human touch.

 1. Identifying the Right Tools for Your Team

One of the most critical steps in making technology work for you is identifying the right tools for your organization. Many different software programs and platforms are available to help streamline the recruitment process. These tools can help you sort through resumes, schedule interviews, and even conduct initial screenings.

2. Reaching the Right Audience

Another critical factor in using technology to recruit smarter is ensuring that your job postings reach the right audience. By using targeted job boards and social media platforms, you can increase the visibility of your job postings and attract more qualified candidates.

3. Keep it human 

Finally, it is essential to remember that while technology can be a valuable resource, it should never replace the human touch in recruitment. Make sure you are still taking the time to interview candidates and get to know them personally.

By following these tips, you can make technology work for you and recruit smarter, not harder!

 

Spotlight Interview: Alex Murphy, CEO of Jobsync

Spotlight Interview: Alex Murphy, CEO of Jobsync

Overview

In this podcast episode, Mike interviews JobSync’s CEO, Alex Murphy as they delve into a few of Alex’s recruiting secrets to improve hiring success.  

Together they talk about the mission of Jobsync to get recruiters out of email and excel docs and get their applications directly into their ATS. Native Apply integration combines the best of the native apply experience on job boards together with the recruiters’ work process in the ATS database, creating a consistent and seamless recruiting process.

Alex Murphy is the CEO and Co-Founder of JobSync. Alex has been an entrepreneur in the recruiting space for the last twenty years having founded or co-founded multiple businesses including Job.com, WorkHarmony, A3 Staffing, Epic59, and oPub Media. In addition to founding companies, Alex previously worked with Beyond, now Nexxt, as their SVP of Business Development and Candidate Acquisition, growing the business to over 60 million users. Alex currently and has previously advised a number of businesses and organizations including TAtech, Jobiqo, FounderCorps, and CaddieNow.

If he weren’t working, Alex would spend as much time as possible skiing through the trees on the steepest mountains he can find.

 JobSync empowers Talent Acquisition professionals to get more quality candidates from their existing sourcing solutions by emulating the ATS application process directly on job sites, creating a seamless direct apply experience for the applicant, doubling their candidate volume.

To learn more about how JobSync can help improve the efficiency of your Talent Acquisition team visit www.jobsync.io/#contactus.

Podcast: Creating Valuable Solutions in Tech

Podcast: Creating Valuable Solutions in Tech

This podcast interview focuses what product innovation and creating valuable solutions should be really all about and how complacency can kick-in silently and give you a slap in the face. The guest is Mike Seidle, Co-founder and CTO at PivotCX.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

    1. The importance to start paying attention to the early signals from customers that you are on the wrong track instead of listening to your own stories.
    2. How shifting focus from selling “cost savings” to “giving your customers a position of advantage in the eyes of their customers” can be the difference from having no traction to winning 8 out 10 deals.
    3. Why we often think we are smarter than everybody else – and why that doesn’t help at all.
    4. How small ideas can mean the difference between having 10 users and 10000 – and how to find them. 

Links in this episode:

LinkedIn: @IndyMike (Mike Seidle) 

The Tech Entrepreneur Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/valueinspiration 

Featured Image background by Dominika Roseclay