Unless it's a 1-2-1 scenario I always have video disabled. It's too much of a distraction. Not only am I distracted (and infuriated) by people who don't know how to act in front of a camera, making it obvious that they don't really care about the exchange, but also by having to concentrate on camera etiquette rather than being able to focus on the matter at hand. For those situations when I do have to have video enabled I will shrink the video window to as small as it will go and place it right under the camera so that it looks as much like I'm looking at the person on the other end as possible.
I've always preferred standing when on phone calls, being able to pace about if possible, it lets me relax and gets the brain ticking. Wasn't it Neitzsche who said "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."
I have been working remotely for over 10 years now and I never use video. My team doesn’t use it and our customers don’t use it. We have great conversations with audio and there’s nothing gained by looking at each other’s faces. One of my favorite features in Teams is “turn off incoming video” when there is a random straggler who wants to show their face.
I am also a big fan of walking while on a call. If I’m not presenting I enjoy taking my dog for a walk and enjoying the outside time.
The problem with videoconferencing is video
Unless it's a 1-2-1 scenario I always have video disabled. It's too much of a distraction. Not only am I distracted (and infuriated) by people who don't know how to act in front of a camera, making it obvious that they don't really care about the exchange, but also by having to concentrate on camera etiquette rather than being able to focus on the matter at hand. For those situations when I do have to have video enabled I will shrink the video window to as small as it will go and place it right under the camera so that it looks as much like I'm looking at the person on the other end as possible.
I've always preferred standing when on phone calls, being able to pace about if possible, it lets me relax and gets the brain ticking. Wasn't it Neitzsche who said "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."
I have been working remotely for over 10 years now and I never use video. My team doesn’t use it and our customers don’t use it. We have great conversations with audio and there’s nothing gained by looking at each other’s faces. One of my favorite features in Teams is “turn off incoming video” when there is a random straggler who wants to show their face.
I am also a big fan of walking while on a call. If I’m not presenting I enjoy taking my dog for a walk and enjoying the outside time.