Setup · 4 min read
Your First Video Chat: 9 Things Worth Doing First
The first one is the awkward one. Most of what makes it awkward is fixable in about ninety seconds, and almost none of it is about being interesting.
Put a light in front of you
A window, a lamp, a bright wall. Anything, as long as it is not behind your head.
Get the camera to eye level
Books under the laptop, a mug behind the phone. Filming upwards flatters nobody.
Sit somewhere with depth
A visible room behind you looks warmer than a wall thirty centimetres away.
Use headphones
They stop the echo and mean you can actually hear a quiet microphone.
Check what is behind you
Post, parcels, work badges, that shelf. The camera sees all of it.
Have one question ready
Not a script. One question you can fall back on when your mind goes blank — because it will.
Give it ten seconds before you judge
Almost every conversation starts badly. The good ones recover on the second exchange.
Do not apologise for being new
Nobody can tell, and saying it out loud invites the other person to treat you as a beginner.
Say goodbye out loud
One sentence turns a dropped call into a conversation that ended well.
The first sixty seconds, roughly
Nothing clever happens in that exchange. It works because every line takes the previous answer and asks about it.
What to do when it goes wrong
- They skip immediately. Standard. It says nothing about you.
- You freeze. Say "sorry, brain empty — where are you?" It always works.
- The audio echoes. Headphones, or one of you mutes while the other talks.
- You want out. "Nice to meet you, I'm going to keep going." Done.
If the camera itself is the problem, go to the camera and microphone guide. For openers, forty of them here.
First-time questions
I am nervous about my first video chat. Is that normal?
Yes, and it lasts about one match. The second one is noticeably easier because you already know what the format feels like.
What should I wear?
Whatever you would wear to answer the door. Solid colours read better on a small screen than busy patterns.
Should I plan what to say?
Have one question ready, not a script. A script sounds like a script within about four words.
What if I look bad on camera?
It is almost always the light, not you. Face a window or a lamp and the difference is dramatic.
Read next
The second one is easy
Which means the only thing standing between you and easy is the first one.
Adults 18 and over. Skip, block or leave at any point.