I have been a remote worker for 10 years or more. I made sure my company had a 'work anywhere' culture and so when the lockdown started the household had it's fair share of technology to make keeping and building relationships without physical presence as easy as possible. This tech is now battle-hardened for both business and pleasure use. Here's what we've found.
Video Meetings
Having tried a lot of these over the years, here's a top selection of meeting software and systems:
- Zoom. Yes it is being criticised for privacy issues and I don't like that BUT it works. I hosted my birthday drinks on Zoom with an awful lot of people dropping in and out and it held up.
- Google Hangouts. I've used hangouts a lot for smaller meetings and it holds up pretty well.
- Skype. The old staple still works, which is remarkable as Microsoft have owned it for a long, long time!
- Whereby. Not as flashy as the others, BUT runs entirely in the browser so no software to install (or spy on you). Not good for anything over 4 participants, but pretty good nonetheless
- Facebook and Whatsapp video calls. Pretty good quality, but I only really use for one-to-ones
Hardware
The key thing with hardware is to be flexible. I have made sure that we can participate in video calls on a variety of platforms to suit.
- Phones are great for one to ones, but suffer with screen space and processing power when it comes larger gatherings
- Tablets are better than phones at most things but you need to solve the problem of speakers and microphones (see below)
- Laptops and PCs are the best if you are going to attend a long session because you can be hands free
- A big screen (via HDMI) makes a huge difference for pretty much all calls. Get yourself and HDMI output capability from at least your tablet and PC
Speakers and Microphones
When you use a PC or tablet to connect, you really need to consider the microphone for input and speakers for output. The tinny speakers in most small devices don't hold up well for long meetings. If you have an HDMI connection to your TV, then you can pipe your audio output down that and it will pay through the TV speakers or whatever tech you have like a sound bar or surround sound system. The results are much more conducive to a longer virtual gathering.
If you haven't sorted out your microphone, you may get a few of the people you call complaining about background noise. The microphones in laptops are general purpose and pick up just about everything in the room, even what other people on the call are saying. Everyone on your video call gets to hear that and will moan about echo.
The best quality you can get (at household costs) is a digital headset with an echo-cancelling microphone. I use one all the time for phone calls at work. The problem is that they are not good if there's more than one of you at your end on the call. This is where a dedicated 'conference' speakerphone comes in useful. We use a Jabra 510 which can connect to pretty much anything via Bluetooth or USB. These little devices will transform your experience of a large video call.
Video Socialising
So all of this tech to make companies able to work at extended geographies has really come into its own to facilitate virtual socialising. Who could've predicted that?
Can you have a really good time on a video get together? Yes, absolutely, I have had the hangover to prove it.
The key steps are:
- Get your tech and environment set up AND tested
- Choose the right software fo what you want to achieve (see above), remembering that some free software only allows limited time calls!
- Get comfortable. If you are uncomfortable you'll be calling it to a halt early
- Make sure you can see what you look like and make changes. This also let's you check if there are some visual gags you can do to the camera. Walking behind the sofa and down into the cellar never gets old!
- Set up your drinks and snacks
Once you set up, invite your friends to The Zoom Inn for the evening!
