Video Conferencing Etiquette is expected by most professionals who communicate with professional in their chosen field.
Etiquette is described by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as, "the conduct or procedure required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be observed in social or official life."
So in other words, Video Conferencing Etiquette is knowing how to act during a video conference.
There is a difference between Video conferencing and Video Chat and knowing when to use it.
Video Chat is usually for informal social gatherings when friends or family members "chat" with each other.
Video Conferencing is exactly what it is . . . having a conference by video.
A conference usually involves a group of people having a meeting who are working on a common goal, usually pertaining to business. If you are having a conference with a group of people you want to appear as though you were physically present in the room.
There was a story about a young man that had a video conference with a group of his business partners. He appeared to be professional in every way, including a neutral professional background.
As the meeting came to a close, he thanked his business partners for the opportunity to meet. He disconnected the video (or so he thought). As he got up from the table, his partners on the other end noticed he was dressed from the waist up, but naked from the waist down.
Video Conferencing Etiquette goes far beyond a dress code. It involves personal appearance, background, speech, etc.
The following are a list of simple but most important things to pay attention to while video conferencing. It could mean the difference between a successful video conference and a failure.
If you take heed to those video conferencing etiquette tips your overall experience will be improved tremendously.