Unit 5: Non-verbal communication during virtual meetings

"Eyes are the window to the soul”, as the old saying has it, seems to be particularly true in terms of eye contact maintained during a meeting. It builds trust, reliability, understanding, confidence and even increases empathy. In negotiations, for example, it indicates being in control over the situation signaling at the same time partnership and equality. Transferring eye contact into the virtual life, it suddenly appeared that it is pretty difficult to maintain it, not because of an intimidating situation so to say, but simply because people do not know how to maintain it. Even though we naturally tend to catch people’s attention and we actually look at people while looking into tiny images if we are lucky enough to have our interlocutors with cameras on, still people miss one important aspect, i.e. the camera itself. It is usually located slightly above the icons, so do not treat your display as a mirror, do not look at your reflection. Just look either into the middle of the display or straight at the camera. If you want to make your life easier, just glue the image of your beloved ones to the wall behind your display and talk to them. Also, if you just listen to somebody, try not to look away, checking your phone or notifications since it is all visible and probably your interlocutors will not like it. “People can determine how you’re feeling by this six-inch image of you on their screen,” said Solloway, assistant director for daytime MBA career services at the Fuqua School of Business. “That means every blink, every grin and every time you lean toward the camera has much more power because they can’t interpret your full body of energy.”