Stop Hiding Under Your Desk
COVID has changed the way we work but we need to come out of hiding. Your approach to online meetings could be harming your career.
In Never Stop Learning this week I will be covering the following 1-2-3:
One Big Thing - Stop hiding under the desk and make yourself visible in online meetings.
Two Recommendations
My Top 3 articles of the week
One Big Thing: Stop Hiding Under Your Desk
Well, I know you’re not really hiding under your desk.
Well actually I don’t know that as I haven’t rigged your house full of cameras. You could be under your desk right now for all I know.
Anyway, I digress but only a little.
Would you sit in a meeting in the office and hide under the desk so people couldn’t see you? Maybe you’d put a blanket over your head? Or pull your jumper over your head?
No. You wouldn’t.
So why do so many people not put their cameras on in meetings? I find it very strange.
Firstly, I will try and understand why this may be the case and then explain why this behaviour really needs to stop. (minus a few exceptions).
Look, I can see how it could have started.
Let’s rewind a little. It’s April 2020. We’re deep in COVID. Suddenly you have invited your office into your kitchen. You’re in your PJs and the plates from last night are still left unwashed on the side. I get it.
The world has shut down.
News flash. It’s now mid 2023. We’ve all moved on from that. And, so too does your approach to work.
People will not engage with you as much in meetings
Let’s think briefly about how it looks to everyone else on the call.
You’re a blob at the top of the screen. People aren’t 100% sure you are paying attention so they start to ignore you in conversations. People naturally talk to those people they can see.
So you miss out on the opportunity to engage and be heard in meetings. Not intentionally but it will happen.
As a junior member of a team you won’t get the opportunities to progress
If they aren’t engaging with you they aren’t getting input from you and so you don’t get the opportunity to show what you can do.
This starts to harm your career.
It’s actually quite rude to those presenting
I’ve been there in meetings presenting to 20 blobs and one person with their camera on. It’s demoralising.
Are they listening or have they gone off to load the dishwasher?
You are much more likely to participate if you’re being seen
If you’re actually being seen you will naturally start to engage in the conversation and use body language to participate in the meeting. A gentle nod or a smile. Human stuff. Be human.
There are of course exceptions
You could be on your way to another appointment and squeezing in this meeting while you walk. Or you could be feeling a little ill having a camera on would just be a little cruel.
But my point is, if you can put your camera on and participate fully you really should.
Come off MUTE
And for bonus points, if you are in a quiet place, come off mute too. It needs to be quiet or you need a noise cancelling microphone but you’re more likely to participate in a conversation if you don’t need to come off mute each time you speak.
Keep that spontaneity.
So, please put your camera on. Be present. Engage in discussions. You will thank yourself for it.
What’s your view? Should we keep our cameras on?
Two Recommendations - what to consume this week
1. by
From early on in the evolution of Never Stop Learning Tobi and I have recommended each other’s Substacks. Over this time Tobi has developed his writing immensely.
Writing about life, sabbaticals and making the most of our time, his posts have become an inspiration for me. I suggest you check it out and add this to your list of Substacks.
2. Simon Sinek Masterclass: The Key Steps To Finding Your Purpose
You can find many interviews with Simon on the web. All brilliant in their own way. Each one slightly different as we check in on how Simon’s one life is progressing alongside his work.
This video comes at a time in my life where I’m questioning my next career move. Once more we are invited to find our Why.
Top 3 articles of the week
Finding great articles on Substack can be difficult. Fear not, I have been digging deep into the discovery areas of the platform so you don’t have to.
Here are my top three posts to read this week:
What I've Learned From One Year on Substack, from Humor Meby
A.I. will never replace us right? ... Right?, from
I Have 14 Ideas to Transform Your Life. Do You Have 4.5 Minutes?, from
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As an educator, I have dealt with Zoom for language teaching quite a bit. In that context, while I tried to enforce a “camera on for attendance” rule, the university pushed back on this. It was frustrating, but as the courses were student-focused, they mostly remained active.
I have also done a fair bit of Zoom management for language conferences, and in such cases having at least a few attendees visible and unmuted is crucial. You need a few people (in quiet locations) to allow for natural reactions; otherwise, you cannot use humor as a tool for engagement. Nothing is worse when presenting online than sharing a humorous anecdote to blank screens and muted participants.
After all, if everyone is going to be invisible and muted, you should post the presentation/meeting to YouTube and go asynchronous for follow-up questions. However, this is just modern-day alchemy, as you are transmuting a meeting into a presentation, and the two are not the same.
Platforms like Zoom and Teams having backgrounds to obscure backgrounds makes it easier to go on camera now. It expresses personality and helps as a conversation starter with new people🙂