This blog is brought to you by the team at Blue Jeans Network. We write about video conferencing, work from home, telecommuting, mobility and startup culture.
Here at the office, we love using Blue Jeans for our meetings. But we tend to forget that there is a segment of the larger population that is simply afraid of being on video. I got some fantastic insight about why that is and wanted to explore it further.
The benefits of video over audio-only calls are clear: better engagement, improved collaboration, and increased productivity. Not to mention, it’s fun to see your colleagues and build rapport faster than you normally would over the phone. So if the advantages are apparent, why don’t people just do it? Here are some general fears that surround video conferencing.
‘Video is creepy’
Through video, you can pick up on nonverbal cues that you would never be privy to during an audio call. This gives a person a sense of vulnerability that can be truly uncomfortable. It’s true that I’ve had to learn to stifle my laughter when ludicrous comments are made, but being able to see others’ facial expressions actually helps the meeting overall. I can tell whether or not I have to backtrack or move on from a topic.
‘People are watching me’:
Somehow, people think that if there’s a camera around, it’s always on. We live in a world of live-stream, where at any time of day you can watch kittens play at the local shelter or bears hunt for salmon in the Alaskan wilderness… so this fear is somewhat warranted. But person to person video does not work this way. The meeting has been called for a reason - to meet! The point is you're not being recorded - your mom won't be showing the video to the family at Christmas.
‘I can’t multitask’:
Ok, you know you shouldn’t be doing this anyway, but and it’s easier to ‘hide’ and multitask while on an audio-only call. But remember that they can't multitask either, so this means shorter, more effective meetings. In fact, by switching to other tasks, your productivity goes down as much as 40% and you lose 10 IQ points - that's the equivalent of losing one night's sleep. Read this eye-opening experiment on a man who decided not to multitask for one week.
With video, you’re forced to focus your attention on the person speaking - and it goes both ways! Now you see that being on video isn't so bad. Try out our 14-day free trial to see all the fun you're missing.
