It’s not just for turkey…
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Video calls won’t be going away any time soon. Despite companies eyeing “return to the office” initiatives remote work is here to stay. The new normal distributed workforce will continue to use video conferencing to support workplace collaboration. It is estimated that by 2025, 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely. That represents an 87% percent increase from pre-COVID-19 levels. U.S, businesses have more than 11 million video meetings a day Here is a list of things you can do to improve your effectiveness during your next video call.
1. Dress Appropriately – You want to appear professional. Wear attire that’s appropriate for the type of meeting. This doesn’t mean you need to wear a suit. Assess the situation and dress to match it.
2. Be Prepared – Before attending an online meeting, prepare yourself mentally. This helps you take part more effectively. This also includes preparing materials you may need. This is even more important if you are presenting or need to go through some documents with the team.
3. Arrive Early – Arriving early helps you get settled in and ready to begin. You’ll have time for small talk, which can help you connect with others. Arriving early also provides additional time to review any documents or presentations prior to beginning the session.
4. Frame Yourself – Position the camera to be straight in front of you or slightly higher. Don’t have the camera off to the side or below you. Sit close enough so that you’re in the middle of the frame. Fill at least one-third of the screen. If you sit too far away, you’ll appear small on the camera.
5. Clean Your Background – Look at what’s behind you and what others will see when you’re on camera. Don’t show a room full of dirty laundry or stacks of clutter. Use the virtual backgrounds available in Zoom and Microsoft Teams. And make sure others in your home know that you’ll be on video to avoid any potentially embarrassing situations.
6. Light Up – When you’re using a webcam, avoid direct sunlight because this can be too harsh. Don’t sit with a bright light behind you because it will be hard for others to see your face. Also avoid bright or harsh overhead lights. They wash out skin tones. Instead, choose soft lighting that lets others easily see your facial expressions.
7. Turn the Camera On – Many feel strongly video conference participants should leave their camera on during meetings. When you turn your camera off it is considered a sign of disrespect to everyone else in the meeting.
8. Sit Straight – Your posture should reflect confidence and strength. Do not hunch over your laptop. Keep your shoulders back and head upright. You’ll definitely look better on video calls if you sit up straight. Sitting up straight will help you be more energized while on the video call. Slouching can make you look unmotivated and lazy.
9. Look at the Camera – Eye contact conveys interest and engagement. When speaking, look at your camera so that it gives the impression of making eye contact with those you’re speaking to.
10. Pay Attention – Remain focused throughout the entire meeting. That means avoid multitasking. Multitasking takes your focus away from what’s happening in the meeting. The best way to avoid multitasking is to mute your phone. Incoming calls, texts, emails, and social media notifications disturb you as well as other stakeholders.
11. Speak Clearly – Speaking loudly may seem appropriate when communicating face-to-face, but it doesn’t work well over distance. Try using clear language and short sentences.
11. Don’t Interrupt – It’s rude. Interrupting makes it difficult for speakers to finish sharing their thoughts. Instead, 
wait until they finish speaking before responding.
12. Ask Relevant Questions – It shows that you’re engaged and paying attention. Even if you have nothing else to say in a meeting, asking a question gives you the chance to take part and get noticed.
13. Don’t Gossip – Be respectful of others. Even if you’re having a more casual meeting, spreading gossip makes you look unprofessional and will decrease others’ trust in you.
14. Stay Positive – Being negative does nothing to help anyone’s mood. Instead, focus on solutions rather than problems.
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Using these tips can help you appear more confident and elevate your presence in virtual meetings. This can help you get noticed, and others will take you more seriously at work. And they’ll help you build relationships that can help your career.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Less than 6 months after John McAfee was found dead in his Spanish jail cell, the anti malware company that still bears his name is back in the news. The anti-malware and internet security firm, McAfee announced Monday (11/08/2021) that it had reached an agreement to be bought. The McAfee has been bought by a global investor group in a deal worth more than $14 billion.
McAfee will move forward as a privately held company. The new firm will be a pure consumer cybersecurity play. McAfee has 20 million subscribers for its security services globally.
The global investor group is made up of Advent International Corp., Permira Advisors, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC Private Limited and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
McAfee sold it’s Enterprise business in July, 2021 for $4.50 a share to Symphony Technology Group. The sale equaled $4 billion.
The move takes the publicly-traded company private again after the initial public offering of McAfee by Intel and TPG last year.
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Confused? I don’t. blame you. The firm has a history of changing.
2020 – McAfee goes public again with a $740 million IPO on Nasdaq under ticker symbol MCFE. This marked its return to the public market after 9 years.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Followers for the Bach Seat know that printer ink is one of the most expensive materials on earth. Well, the U.S. Department of Justice just prosecuted one of the worst examples of the sky-high price of printer toner. The DOJ announced that Gilbert N. Michaels of West Los Angeles was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison. He was convicted of orchestrating a decades-long, multimillion-dollar telemarketing scheme that defrauded more than 50,000 victims by selling printer toner cartridges.
According to the DOJ, his firms, IDC Servco and Mytel International, with the assistance of boiler room call center operators, fraudulently sold over a six-year span more than $126 million worth of printer toner cartridges throughout the United States. Michaels’ companies handled the billing and shipping of the toner. He charged the boiler rooms at or above retail prices for the toner they were selling to victims. Michaels provided price catalogs to the boiler rooms to use in making sales. The catalogs listed the price of the toner at up to five to 10 times the retail price. Many of the victims already were receiving toner at no additional charge under their existing contracts for copiers and printers.
To pull off the scam, the telemarketers would pretend to be representatives of toner-supply companies many of the businesses already had contracts with. The telemarketers would then tell the victims that the price of printer toner had increased. The fake sales reps told the victims they could buy the toners at the previous, lower price, prosecutors said.
Believing they were dealing with their regular suppliers, the victims would sign order confirmation forms. IDC would then ship toner to victims along with highly inflated invoices. When the victim businesses realized they had been scammed, they called IDC to complain. The victims were typically told that IDC could not cancel the order or refund money because the victims had signed order confirmation forms. IDC also failed to disclose its relationships to the telemarketing companies that brokered the fraudulent deals.
IDC would threaten legal action or turn them over to collection agencies, prosecutors said. If IDC did agree to take the toner back, it would demand significant “restocking fees,” prosecutors said.
Michaels’s operation dates back to the 1970s. This is not his first run-in with the DOJ. Michaels and his companies were under scrutiny in 1988. At that time, the companies were reprimanded for making false statements. They were forced to use an independent sales company to sell printer toner.
As part of the sentencing, Michaels was ordered to pay a $200,000 fine. His net worth is said to be $6.7 million. Ciaran McEvoy, the spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said, “Mr. Michaels led a conspiracy whose deceptive practices were particularly damaging to the small business community.”
Six other defendants were also found guilty along with Michaels:
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
