By Bev Creamer
With business in every sector increasingly determined by digital connectivity, how you look has become a growing and important part of the on-screen equation. But making a great Zoom impression takes more than pulling on a fresh shirt. So should you be thinking about your shiny face and whether it looks like you slept well?
“Absolutely, and much more,” says Elisabeth Steele Hutchison, Director of Admissions at the William S. Richardson School of Law, who has been the point person for training faculty and staff for Zoom teaching and conferences, and is now teaching others across the country and the Pacific. Recently Hutchison presented a webinar to more than 500 registrants to the New York State Bar Association, with other presentations coming in the weeks ahead, including a presentation for the Continuing Legal Education Association of Australasia.
In 2020 Hutchison chaired the Richardson Law School’s COVID Task-Force Subcommittee on Online Instruction Readiness, to teach law professors and legal professionals how to feel more comfortable on (web)camera. But now she is also assisting state bar associations as far away as Texas and the East Coast, national law networks and legal conferences, and college and university professionals in fields other than law.
Her teaching highlights the work of cinematographers, YouTubers and online gamers of color.
Hutchison offers these 10 tips as a starting point:
- Drink lots of water before, during, and after your video conference.
- Brush your teeth with baking soda to whiten them.
- Splash cold water on or mist your face before and between calls to reset.
- Massage your face with a jade roller chilled in the freezer or ice cubes.
- Use eye drops to whiten the whites of your eyes.
- Apply a light, non-greasy moisturizer to your face.
- Blot any shiny places.
- Apply tinted lip balm to define your lips.
- Clean your eyeglasses and webcam lens.
- Brush your eyebrows.
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