Video chatting for professionals

Two years ago the images of professor Robert Kelly went viral. Sitting behind his home desk in Busan he was being interviewed live on BBC News about the political situation in South Korea when, to the amusement of half the people on earth, he was interrupted by his two toddlers Marion and James. Eventually his wife sneaked into the room on all fours, blushing slightly as she rushed the children out of the room and closed the door behind her while her husband kept his composure. An instant viral hit.

Of course you don’t need to fake a conference room at home but a basic professional attitude will definitely promote a good relationship with your customers and business contacts. Check your surroundings - and especially the background - before the start of your video chat. Plants, a bookcase or an artwork are ideal. Dirty laundry is a no-no. Don’t mix too many light sources and keep doors - professor Kelly - out of sight.

Don’t start rolling around or wiggling on your office chair because it looks funny. And wear a headset during conference calls - or did you really think background noises from the neighbours bring added value to your meeting? Uh-uh. Before you start be sure to check the volume and the picture quality. You don’t want to come across as an unprepared amateur. Don’t forget to take off your dressing gown and test one of the following online aids before the start of your virtual meeting.

1. Whereby

With Whereby you can work from anywhere in the world thanks to flexible online video conferences. Bonus: you can simply use the program in your browser, you don’t have to download or install it. Also, participants in meetings don’t have to log in anywhere. The program is free for personal use. Professional users pay a small fee while large companies have to take out a monthly subscription.

Discover more on: Whereby.com

2. Google Hangouts

Google has also developed excellent communication software. Hangouts was originally included in Google + but as of 2013 it was offered as stand-alone software that incorporated characteristics of Messenger and Google Talk. Hangouts allows two or more users to have a conversation online or via a mobile application. The chat history is saved and can be synchronised between different platforms. Meanwhile Hangouts can easily handle group discussions with more than ten participants.

Discover more on: google.hangouts

3. Uber Conference

A similar video application but with an interface that has many more functionalities than the competition. With Uber Conference you can easily mute a noisy participant, call someone else in the middle of a meeting or share your screen with your interlocutors in the blink of an eye. Undoubtedly the most futuristic feature of this conference program is ‘Voice Intelligence’, which gives you a transcription of the conversation in English.

Discover more on: Uber Conference

4. Zoom

As its name suggests, Zoom goes that little bit further than the above-mentioned competition. This is a conference and chat program on steroids. For instance, you can buy a subscription with which you can equip the conference rooms in your building for video conferences. There are also solutions for webinars that let you reach an audience of 100 to 10,000 people.

And Zoom also supplies ready-made systems for specific sectors such as education, healthcare, finances and the government. For a starter this may be a bit overwhelming but you never know how fast your business will grow thanks to your stellar negotiation skills at the virtual conference table.

Discover more on: Zoom

We wish you lots of conferencing fun!