Do you regularly communicate with clients, business partners or staff using video calls? In many ways it is the next best thing to having a face-to-face conversation or meeting – provided the quality of the call is good.
If you find that the quality of your business video calls leave a lot to be desired or are inconsistent, there are a few ways that you can improve them:
Check the quality of your internet connection
A better internet connection is vital if you want better quality video calls. For the best quality you may even want to plug in directly to your router using an Ethernet cable rather than connecting over Wi-Fi.
It is important that your bandwidth isn’t being taken up by other apps (or users) either. Turning on the Quality of Service setting on your router can help to prioritize bandwidth to your video calls.
Use a good microphone – and wear headphones or earphones
Using a good external microphone can make a world of difference to the sound quality, especially compared to the built-in microphone on most webcams or laptops.
On top of that you should wear headphones or earphones during your business video calls so that the audio from the speakers isn’t picked up by your microphone. It can cause an echo on the other end of the call – which is the last thing you want during an important business conversation.
Make sure the lighting is good
Ideally you should conduct your video calls in a room that is brightly lit. If possible you should have a soft and diffused light positioned somewhere in front of you (behind and above the monitor), and another one somewhere out of frame behind you.
Place a prominent white object or item in the frame
Keep in mind that different types of lights have different temperatures, and the automated white balance on your webcam will help correct any issues. However for it to work properly there needs to be a prominent white element in the frame that it can use.
Try to use a white background, or even just wear a white shirt when making a video call and you’ll see the difference that it makes.
All of these steps can help you to improve the quality of your business video calls. In fact you could even record Google Hangout or Skype calls with great quality, using a screen recorder such as Movavi Screen Recorder for example.
At the end of the day there are lots of other ways that you can improve the quality of your video calls, but the 4 listed above tend to have the biggest impact. Go ahead and try them out, and see the difference that they make for yourself.