(I hate turning on my camera during zoom calls. I find video calls drain all my energy. I still had to compromise and turn on video atleast for our All Hands. To get better at video calls, I ended up doing a few Skillshare courses on camera confidence and body language. Here are my notes.)

Eyes: stare directly into the camera. 90% of the time. Be expressive. Use eyebrows, Eye muscles.eyes 70% open. Moderate engagement. Don’t look too engaged or low engaged. Observe favourite speakers.

Face: camera drains energy. Not natural to talk. So exaggerate emotions. Act high energy. Tell childhood stories to a camera. Turn off audio. And observe just the visuals. Then you focus on expressions and understand the difference vs a great speaker’s engagements. Emulate someone. Smile more. Smile genuinely. Use microexpressions.

Arms and gestures: Hand gestures done well show confidence. Gestures should stay close to the body. Don’t fidget. Don’t move hands all the time. Make it natural. Focus on flow. Compare gestures with someone famous who is amazing at it. Copy theirs and then iterate.

Vocal tonality: 3 times of rapport: seeking, breaking, and neutral. Use breaking or neural when talking to camera. Assume rapport/ demonstrate confidence. Assume familiarity/ audience already likes you.

Loudness & timber: Be louder on camera as it demonstrates confidence. Bring energy. Place microphone further away so you can speak louder. Breathe using diaphragm.

Cadence: Pause a little more at the end of sentences. Speak 10% slower.

More dangerous the body language the more confident you appear. Example. Under attack you open chest, put arms on waist, then you are at risk as vital organs exposed, but it shows you are not worried. You are confident.

Your body is a radio tower. Always sending signals. Make sure you send high value signals.

More dangerous the body language the more confident you appear. Example. Under attack you open chest, put arms on waist, then you are at risk as vital organs exposed, but it shows you are not worried. You are confident.

Body is radio tower. Always sending signals. Make sure you send high value signals.

(Disclaimer: I probably don’t do any of these.)