These days so many of us are doing our work via video meetings. It is a great technology and has helped many businesses stay open while having their employees working remotely. But has it made us all a little too casual?

As I look at my own picture while sitting on the 3rd video meeting of the day; I notice that the closet door in the background is wide open! Yikes, winter coats mixed with spring coats spilling out the open door because I have not had time to pack the winter coats away yet. Was that mess showing in my other meetings too or did one of the kids just open it up a few minutes ago?! It got me thinking over all the video meetings I have attended recently, there seems to be at least one person who is oblivious to how they are coming across. Maybe there should be some rules established.

Try to establish a place with an uncluttered background, at least close your closet doors. This is mine; I own it and will be working to make improvements.
Mute yourself unless you are speaking. How distracting is it to hear the background noise from five different places interrupting the speaker which in turn causes them to pause and say, “what/” repeatedly. The sound of typing keys (this also applies to rule #4), dogs barking, the breathing from the people that are using the phone feature instead of the video feature and have their mouth too close to the phone. It is not that difficult to click on mute.
Don’t eat or chew gum. No one wants to watch or hear you eating food of any kind, crunchy or otherwise! Chomping on gum, really?!
Be engaged at the meeting, that may mean you choose not to attend every meeting. I have seen people texting through an entire meeting without even the slightest effort to hide the cellphone and what they were doing. Typing on a computer, no doubt multitasking, but that is rude to the speaker. Either be engaged in the meeting or do not show up.
Be aware of your movements while on camera. It is very distracting for others to watch someone rock back and forth in their chair or playing with their hair throughout the entire meeting.