From bedroom to boardroom - 5 video essentials for every professional - Virtual Office

Take your video meetings to the next level!

Video meetings have never been more important in our work life. Thanks to the Covid-19 “new normal”, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other video communications platforms are not only useful but absolutely essential to do business in today’s world.

Put simply, video meetings are the new, well, meetings. As such, the impression we create at these meetings is as important as it is in person.

Here are five ways to make your video meetings more effective, right now.

1. Install a Virtual Office

Your kitchen worktops just don’t look as professional as a company-branded office. Sorry, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve tidied them. Swap your home backgrounds for a pure, professionally branded one with Virtual Office: a simple service that allows selecting an office, upload your logo and instantly receive your new, branded background. Suddenly, all your video calls will look sleek and serious. Branding has never been so simple with background images.

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2. Make all your calls sound Krisp

Whether you’re working around the background noise of a family home, or are tired of muting yourself on video calls, Krisp is all about canceling the noise you’d rather not have others hear. Plus, not only will you not have to worry about the background noise you’re sending to call participants, but you’ll also be able to cancel your caller’s extra background noises being sent to you. Family noise, fans, office sounds, traffic - it’s all muted from your meeting. Krisp delivers the sound of silence.

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3. Make meetings your own Gong show

Gong is a true remote sales tool, delivering you insights into not only what is going on with your sales team but in the market as a whole. The useful service instantly gives you visibility on your own customer accounts and timelines, while also offering insight into how your market is reacting in real-time. It’s an invaluable tool when you can’t be discussing the same stats in person, and will instantly elevate the efficiency of your video meetings.

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4. Go green screen

Already using VirtualOffice? Take your background game a step further with a green screen. While virtual backgrounds work great without a green screen, using one will make your appearance impeccable. The best thing about green screens is that they’re dirt cheap and are great value for your money. Green screens vary in size, canvas quality, and mounting systems, but here are three of the best versions we personally like:

1. Cheap

2. Expensive

3. Value for money

5. High res, high reward webcams

It doesn’t matter how persuasive the points you make in a video meeting are if the participants can’t see you clearly. Built-in laptop cameras can be low-res - and that’s not to mention, placed at an immovable, unflattering, upward-looking angle. Do yourself some justice by investing in a quality webcam that has the added benefit of being free to position wherever you like in your home office setup. We recommend one like the Logitech Pro Webcam, which allows you to make high-definition 1080p HD video calls, contains high-quality stereo microphones, and uses Logitech Crystal technology for faster and smoother video. It’s 2020 - an office must have full HD video capabilities.

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