Zoom: upping your video conferencing game

1. Close the curtains. turn off the lights. Now turn on a video light (or best of all 3 lights) to illuminate what you want the viewer to focus on. You’ll see a lot less of the clutter in your office and you’ll look better on screen too.
2. Use a microphone – it needn’t be an expensive one. If you have a dedicated video conferencing speakerphone, the sound will probably be fine, as long as you’re at a desk. But if you’re connected to your phone or tablet and you want to move around, best option is a clip-on mic (also known as a lapel or lavalier mic). You’ll get really good sound and it won’t pick up background noise.
3. To improve your video quality, if you’re using a PC or Mac, you have two main options.
   • Firstly, you can buy a high-quality webcam such as the Lumens B10U.
   • Second option is a Panasonic UE4 camera. At around £1,000 this may sound steep, but as well as being an amazing USB webcam, it’s got the ability to stream straight to YouTube when controlled by a tablet, PC or Mac.
     For a quick guide to using the UE4 as a webcam, click here.

For a slicker production you can add on-screen graphics and titles with Wirecast, split the screen between the video and a presentation using Epiphan Pearl-2 or Inogeni Share 2. Or you can create TV with the ATEM Mini, but that’s for later.