Maximizing Efficiency in Video Conferencing

Video conferencing has quietly become the default way Indian offices run meetings, review projects, and even conduct job interviews. Yet most people plug in, switch on the camera, and hope for the best. A few small adjustments before and during the call can be the difference between a meeting that runs smoothly and one that leaves everyone frustrated with a frozen screen or a talked-over colleague. This post breaks down what video conferencing actually involves and how to run it efficiently, from the seating arrangement to the words you use when the connection lags.

What video conferencing actually involves 🔗

At its core, video conferencing connects two or more people across different locations through simultaneous audio and video transmission, letting them see and hear each other in real time. It is an online meeting between two or more participants communicating over an internet connection, and it works whether people are joining from a laptop, a phone, or a dedicated conference room.

This isn’t a niche tool anymore. A large majority of executives now say video conferencing has overtaken audio-only calls as the preferred way to communicate internally, and even more believe it works better for reaching clients and other outside stakeholders. For a business communication student, that shift matters: the skills that used to apply only to phone calls and boardroom meetings now need to translate to a screen.

Preparing before the meeting begins 🔗

Good video conferencing is decided before the call starts, not during it. Four things need attention: your equipment, your lighting, your seating and background, and what you’re wearing.

Test your equipment ahead of time 🔗

Nothing wastes a meeting’s first five minutes like a microphone that isn’t detected or software that decides to update mid-call. It helps to launch the conferencing app well before the scheduled time, confirm the camera and mic are working, and check for pending updates so they don’t interrupt you later. A quick test call with a colleague is a reliable way to catch problems while there is still time to fix them.

Get the lighting right 🔗

Lighting affects how clearly people can read your expressions, which matters more on video than most people realise. The simplest fix is to position a light source in front of you or to the side, rather than behind, so your face is properly lit instead of silhouetted. Sitting facing a window during the day works well; in the evening, a desk lamp angled toward your face does the same job.

Arrange your seating and background 🔗

Where you sit and what appears behind you communicates as much as your words do. A cluttered or noisy background pulls attention away from what you’re saying, and moving elements in the frame make it worse. It’s worth closing the door of the room you’re in, keeping pets and family members out of view, and turning off a television if it happens to be visible, since motion on a screen behind you is distracting even when you’re not doing anything wrong. Position the camera roughly at eye level, and sit close enough that your face and shoulders are clearly visible without being too close to the lens.

Dress the part: stick to neutral, solid colours 🔗

What you wear on camera behaves differently from what you wear in person. Fine patterns such as thin stripes or small checks can create a rippling distortion on screen known as the moiré effect, so it’s best to stick to pastels, earth tones, blues and greens, and avoid large areas of highly saturated colour such as bright red. Solid, neutral shades read cleanly on almost any camera and keep the focus on your face rather than your outfit, which is exactly the impression you want in a professional meeting.

Do’s and don’ts once the call is live 🔗

Once the meeting starts, a different set of habits takes over. These matter just as much as your setup, because they shape how the conversation actually flows.

Mute your microphone when you’re not speaking 🔗

Background noise from one participant’s end disrupts everyone else’s ability to follow the conversation. Muting whenever you’re not actively speaking is one of the simplest habits to build, and it also has a practical side benefit: an open, unused microphone still consumes bandwidth, so muting it frees up capacity and can improve overall call quality. Get into the habit of unmuting only when you have something to say, and muting again as soon as you’re done.

Avoid side conversations and distractions 🔗

Turning away from the meeting to answer a text, respond to a colleague sitting next to you, or check email is just as disruptive on video as it would be in a physical meeting room. It signals disengagement, and in a video call, everyone can usually tell. Treat a video meeting with the same attention you would give an in-person one; if a matter is urgent enough to interrupt you, it likely needs a message sent after the call rather than during it.

Allow for slight delays before jumping in 🔗

Even a stable internet connection introduces some latency, the short gap between when someone speaks and when you hear it. Video meetings can tolerate a modest amount of delay, but network delay is essentially the time between when a person makes a sound and when others hear it, or the time between a gesture on camera and when the other participants actually see it happen. That gap is why people sometimes talk over each other on video calls even when nobody is being rude. Pause for an extra beat before responding, and if two people start speaking at once, let one finish rather than trying to talk over the lag.

Use verbal responses instead of relying on visual cues alone 🔗

A nod or a smile might not register clearly on a small video tile, especially if someone’s connection is compressing the video. Saying “yes, that makes sense” or “go ahead” out loud removes any doubt about whether you’re following along, and it also helps the speaker know they haven’t lost the room. This matters more in group calls where several video feeds compete for attention on screen at once.

Quick reference: setup checklist 🔗

Why this level of preparation matters 🔗

These may look like small details, but in a professional setting, they add up quickly. Technical missteps, audio delays, and other lapses in virtual meeting etiquette can lead colleagues, clients, or a manager to question someone’s professionalism or technical competence, and that impression tends to stick. As hybrid and remote work formats become the norm across Indian workplaces, being reliably good on video calls is turning into as basic a professional skill as writing a clear email or making a confident presentation in person.

The good news is that none of this requires expensive equipment. A well-placed lamp, a tidy corner of a room, a plain shirt, and the discipline to mute your mic will cover most of what separates a chaotic call from a productive one.

What do you think? Which of these habits do you already follow without thinking about it, and which one do you think most people in your own meetings still get wrong?

References

1. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business-insights-ideas/resources/10-reasons-to-use-video-conferencing
2. https://resources.owllabs.com/blog/video-conferencing-etiquette
3. https://www.education.uw.edu/technologycenter/zoom-video-conferencing/video-conferencing-tips
4. https://thunderbird.asu.edu/thought-leadership/insights/video-conferencing-etiquette-dos-and-donts-work-video-calls
5. https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/about/offices/information-learning-tech/what-wear-camera
6. https://fastercapital.com/content/Bandwidth–The-Key-to-Reducing-Response-Lag-in-Video-Conferencing.html
7. https://fedtechmagazine.com/article/2020/04/common-videoconferencing-problems-and-how-fix-them-perfcon
8. https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/career-development/14-video-conference-etiquette-tips