Do you ask yourself, should I turn on my video or not during virtual meetings? If the answer is yes, here are some pros and cons on this important topic.
The pros of Video Conferencing:
- Boosts productivity
- Saves time
- Reduces travel expenses
- Promotes collaboration
The biggest advantage of video conferencing is the ability to facilitate all of those benefits without requiring constant travel for face-to-face communication.
The cons of Video Conferencing:
- Lack of personal interactions
- Video “burnout” (too many hours in front of the camera is exhausting)
- Network connectivity issues
- Keeping meetings secure
The biggest disadvantage of video conferencing is the inability to work and interact in person, and to focus on the content and purpose of the work, and not the way you look or how the technology is operating on a given day.
How to counteract these disadvantages? The AMO suggests the following:
- Don’t try to use video for all meetings all day; one strategy is to look at your calendar every morning and decide which meetings to use video for;
- If you are part of a team, create a team norm together that says you will use video for specific meetings and events and have video optional for all others. This gives the team clear boundaries on when to turn the video on and when to keep it off.
- If you are unclear about specific meetings where you think it might be important to put your video on, ASK. Contact the meeting organizer, or a colleague on that meeting who may know. Don’t assume.
- Try not to schedule your on-camera meetings back to back. This can create video fatigue and burnout.
Please note that some jobs require on-camera meetings by necessity: Educators teaching remotely likely experience more video calls than software engineers, for example. Again, when in doubt, ask.
With companies across the country delaying their return-to-office dates, plenty of Americans could be working remotely for the indefinite future.
