Greetings from NYC in this wild and challenging time! With all of us working and participating in Zoom events, we are being seen much more.
One of the challenges we’re having is how to look good signing off Zoom.
Read on to see what other people see, and what to do about it.
I feel fortunate to have myself and AccentsOff featured as a “Best E-Learning Company” in DataBird Business Journal. My team of instructors and I are keeping busy both on (and off) the webcam: accent coaching sessions, wedding plans, babies being born!
We’re enjoying seeing our students getting more comfortable navigating the virtual world, improving both verbal and non-verbal communication.
>> Check out my short (2-min read) interview with DataBird’s founder Leo Kangin here.
And now, on to some spicy new Zoom tips for signing off.
Do you ever wonder what you look like to the person on the other end of your Zoom call, right before you disconnect, 99% of the time? You’re smiling, you just said your “good-bye’s”, “great talking to you’s”, and then you go looking for the ‘End Meeting’ button. But, right as you start looking for the button, here is what people see (Screenshot #1):
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| And you thought (hoped!) you looked something like this (Screenshot#2): |
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Of course, no one but the other person sees you with that sad and kind of creepy face in Screenshot #1! ARG.
Here are some ideas on how to fix this very troublesome (and hidden) Zoom problem:
1. Be the last person to disconnect. Maintain eye contact and let the other person go through this!
2. Learn and memorize where that End Meeting button is, rehearse putting your cursor on it, and when you are winding down, have your cursor already poised over it while you are starting your goodbyes.
3. When you do disconnect, keep the smile.
4. Stay with the feeling that made you smile before you disconnected (to make it authentic).
This takes practice and you will probably forget. As a visual reminder, you could try drawing a picture of a smiley face on a post-it and stick it next to your computer. Or just print out Conan and Nikki’s photo from this post and use that!
Watch the whole (very funny) video sketch from Conan O’Brian’s show here.
Stay strong, speak well!
