One Trait that Makes Video Conferencing Less Awkward

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, more business than ever are now conducted via video chat. You may be using it yourself as a tool to work remotely. Nevertheless, while these conversations may help keep your team connected to one another, the experience certainly isn’t the same as what would be found in the office conference room. There is one specific trait that can help video conferencing be as smooth as possible for everyone, though. 

Video Conferencing is a Different Beast

There is no denying that having a conversation through video conferencing just feels different to those used to in-person conversations. There’s a reason for this.

Comparing face-to-face communications to remote conversations and how long we’ve had to grow accustomed to them, it is no surprise that conferencing seems so awkward. After all, we’ve been having the former for about 70,000 years while we’ve only experienced remote voice communications for about a century. The human brain has developed to speak as efficiently in a conversation as possible, not talking over someone but picking up immediately after they are finished.

This is exactly why “awkward silences” are so awkward.

Still, because the signal can take a few milliseconds to reach us, these pauses become unavoidable as we are conferencing, which is where the following scenario comes into play:

“…and that’s where we're at so far…”

“Awesome, going off of that, I think—”

“..Okay then, moving on to…oh.”

“My apologies, I thought you were done. Continue.”

“I wasn’t done, but—no, that’s fine, you go ahead.”

Patience is the critical virtue in making these video chats less awkward. Being patient with your co-workers, bosses, or other people you are video conferencing with (including clients and vendors) will ultimately assist your team in cooperating with one another and accomplishing more. While some individuals may be more experienced utilizing and communicating with this technology, keep in mind that everyone is nonetheless having to adapt in some way to these tough times. 

For more assistance with your collaboration tools, or any of the other technologies your business relies on, reach out to our team of professionals at Macro Systems today at 703-359-9211.