Typically, when we look at a screen, we do so passively, sinking into the couch to watch our favorite TV show or listen to a webinar or how-to video. But when you’re facilitating an online meeting, you have to adopt an engaged, active persona in an environment that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to that.
There are a number of little things you can do to create warmth virtually. For starters, make “eye contact” with your participants by looking directly into the camera as often as possible. This can be hard to remember to do, especially when the image of your participants may be away from where the camera is on your computer. I often manually move that image as close as I can to the camera, so I’m simultaneously making eye contact with them and also seeing their response.
