{"id":462,"date":"2022-04-28T13:01:55","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T17:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/businesswritingessentials2\/?post_type=chapter&p=462"},"modified":"2022-08-22T17:20:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T21:20:41","slug":"16-5-meeting-enhancing-technology","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/businesswritingessentials2\/chapter\/16-5-meeting-enhancing-technology\/","title":{"raw":"16.5 Meeting-enhancing Technology","rendered":"16.5 Meeting-enhancing Technology"},"content":{"raw":"Given the widespread availability and increasingly low cost of electronic communication, technologies that once served to bring people together across continents and time zones now also serve people in the same geographic area. Rather than travelling to a central point for a face-to-face interaction via plane, car, or even elevator within the same building, busy and cost-conscious professionals often choose to see and hear each other via web conferencing or telephone conference-calling. Though these channels sacrifice some nonverbal communication to the convenience of not having to leave your office, their advantages make them a necessary part of workplace communication. Knowing how to use them is a key skill for all job seekers, especially if they\u2019re used for a long-distance job interview. We will discuss the technologies by category, beginning with audio-only, then audio-visual, and finally social media.\r\n

Audio-only Interactions<\/h3>\r\nWhen participating in a meeting via phone because you can\u2019t be present in person, most of the same rules of both in-person meetings and telephone calls apply. When joining the meeting, however, it\u2019s much more important than an in-person meeting to announce yourself as being present by saying your name and your role (\u201cHi everyone, I\u2019m Natalie Legere, HR Payroll Specialist. Thanks for having me here today.\u201d) so that the meeting includes you despite your being a disembodied voice.\r\n\r\nIf your role in the meeting is relatively minor, you may be silent for long stretches, which requires some responsibility both on your part and that of your fellow meeting participants. Your responsibility is to continue to be \u201cpresent\u201d in the sense of listening carefully for when you can and should contribute, as well as recording notes if necessary. Mute your microphone if background noise (e.g., a barking dog or crying baby) will come through to intrude on the meeting. The responsibility of the in-person participants, especially the meeting chair, is to not forget that you\u2019re there, to include you when addressing the group as a whole, and even ensure you\u2019re still there by asking occasionally for a response.<\/b>\r\n

Web Conferencing<\/h3>\r\nIf you\u2019ve ever used Skype, Apple\u2019s Facetime, Google Hangouts, or the like socially, you\u2019re well familiar with online video conferencing. Given the easy availability of these and a wide variety of other online applications, web conferencing is now standard for both one-on-one and group meetings with coworkers, managers, clients, and other stakeholders. It\u2019s so easy that some will use it for meetings with others on different floors of the same building let alone across the province, country, or the planet. Following some basic principles on how to prepare for and conduct such meetings can help make you a more effective communicator in this relatively new channel, or at least help you avoid embarrassment.\r\n\r\nWhen preparing for the meeting<\/strong>, especially in your home, ensure that everything in the frame\u2014yourself and the background\u2014presents professionally. If you\u2019re doing a job video conferencing interview or the expectation of your audience is that you dress formally, dress as you would if you were meeting in person, including your bottom half. Just because the framing is such that they only see your top half doesn\u2019t guarantee that you won\u2019t have to get up at some point and be seen head to toe.\r\n\r\nThe angle of your computer\u2019s camera is also important. Usually located right above your screen, the camera should be eye-level and 1-2 feet away to place you as the dominant figure in the frame. If it\u2019s about a foot (12 inches) away, your head and face will dominate, but the slight wide angle of the lens will distort you, making your nose more prominent relative to the rest of your face. At two feet away, your upper body and head will properly dominate and be in the correct proportion. Once your computer\u2019s camera is positioned three feet or more away and higher than eye-level, you minimize yourself too much and are swallowed up by your background. If the camera is too close and low because your laptop computer is literally on your lap or on a low desktop, on the other hand, the view up your nostrils will be unflattering.\r\n\r\nYour background could include a general office scene or neighbouring cubicle if you\u2019re in the office, a bookcase if you\u2019re in the home, or a wall with tasteful art. If these are unavailable, a blank wall is an appropriate option. If your background is a window, ensure that it isn\u2019t so bright that you\u2019re backlit to the point of being a dark shadowy figure. A light positioned near your camera and shining directly in your face will make you look like you\u2019re being interrogated, and a dim or unlit background will make you look like you\u2019re in a dungeon. A diffuse light from overhead lighting throughout the room or side lighting is best.\r\n\r\nFor the acoustics, choose an appropriately-sized room that doesn\u2019t echo strangely. A room with high ceilings and wood floors might echo too much. On the other hand, a room that\u2019s too small might make you sound like you\u2019re in a closet. A carpeted and furnished 16\u2019x16\u2019 room will soak up the sound well enough to make your voice resonate normally.\r\n\r\nAlso, control your environment to ensure that no background interruptions will embarrass you. If you\u2019re interviewing from home, talk to your cohabitants about not entering the room or making loud noises until you give the all-clear signal that you\u2019re done. If children or pets are around, ensure that you can lock the door to dampen or silence noise and avoid intrusions like the one that embarrassed Prof. Robert Kelly during a live BBC News interview about South Korea.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[embed]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Mh4f9AYRCZY[\/embed]\r\n\r\nKelly looked like he had properly prepared for the interview as he had several times before. You can see a world map on the wall behind him, a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, and some books on the table. With the camera properly framing him in his nice suit, everything was set up to make him look like the professional expert he is\u2014except this time he forgot to lock the door. Suddenly, a toddler in a bright yellow jumper burst in and marched in with a swagger behind him, forcing him to pause, push her back, and apologize repeatedly to the interviewer on air. Matters got worse for him\u2014but even more hilarious for viewers\u2014when his infant son followed, rolling into the room in a walker, as well as his panicked wife chasing them down, dragging them back out of the room while knocking books off the table in the kerfuffle, and, from a crawl on the floor, slamming the door behind them. Though the video immediately went viral and amused the world in the days following the March 2017 incident. A less cute and slapstick intrusion may have ruined his career as a TV talking head in the way he thought it would just after it happened (Usborne, 2017)<\/a>.\r\n\r\nFinally, test the connection with someone else to ensure that it works if you\u2019re not used to communicating in this way. Check that the framing, lighting, your appearance, and the background are all in order. Test the volume so that you can be properly heard and hear your audience in turn.\r\n\r\nDuring the <\/strong>interview or meeting, ensure your professionalism by doing the following:\r\n