You Really Need To Stop Taking Video Conference Calls On Your Laptop

You Only Have One Chance to Make a First Impression. Make you video conference calls standout!

It was a milestone morning, for sure. After months in the making (years, if we’re being honest), all of your ambition was confirmed in the course of a 20-minute video conference. The agreement that was hatched, the sly smiles from both sides that followed, legitimized your startup in a way that all the time, and effort and money you invested to that point couldn’t. Just like that, you’re an entrepreneur with a whale of a client.

The deal was already pretty much done before the meeting, the video conference more of a round of back-slapping, really. And yet it hung in limbo more than you’d like to admit. Startups can get away with a lot these days—eccentricity has somehow come to equate to genius—but the five of you crowding around your laptop gave off more of a nerds-crammed-into-your-parents’-basement vibe than the-tech-industry’s-next-giants.

But there’s still time to correct the oversight. There are going to be a lot more of these video conferences to come—as long as you stop crowding around your laptop and start conducting these meetings in somewhat-grownup fashion: a large-ish room where everyone has their own seats and a video projector lift. Now everyone’s got a clear vantage point, as do your clients of you. Short of that, there’s the tried-and-true wall-mounted flatscreen TV. But that may feel a bit conventional for your liking. Whereas the projector conveys more of a modern, life-size presence.

If you’re planning to host some of these meetings in person at some point, the power of presentation can’t be overstated. The projector, in that regard, is still pretty high on the impression scale. But an ultra-silent TV lift’s also worth some consideration. Advanced as our tech’s become, we still love the ol’ rabbit-in-the-hat trick—especially when the rabbit’s remote-controlled.

You’ve sunk so much thought into piecing together your infrastructure. But the conference room is, for all intents, your public face. It’s where the bulk of your interaction with clients, potential and established, will unfold. Make sure that it meets your brand’s standards. After all, as the adage goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression