Transcription
How do you establish executive presence on a Zoom call and show up as a confident, credible professional? Since the pandemic, virtual communication has become the norm. But the truth is, most of us haven't been taught how to properly communicate online in a way that's truly influential and impactful.
My name is Vin Jang, and over the last 5 years, I've delivered online communication trainings to Fortune 500 companies and millions of people around the world. And in this video, I want to share with you two foundational lessons that will instantly elevate your presence on virtual calls. These are the same lessons that I recently shared to over 500 professionals at a live event in Sydney. So, listen carefully.
"So, most of my professional communication is online via Teams and Zoom. What are your tips for establishing presence and communicating with influence when trying to build relationships with stakeholders?"
"Love this. You have wonderful presence. Wonderful presence. So, I'm going to answer the question for you, Kim. But let's mimic a Zoom call. Let's mimic a Zoom call. So, we're going to mimic it. And thank you, Craig. And if Craig, if you could stand here and I'm going to pop up on Zoom. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Craig. You can stand there. Yeah. So, am I there? Okay, cool. Cool. So, I'm there. Okay, cool. This is how most of you pop up on Zoom. Just keep it there. This how the majority of you pop up on Zoom. Okay. So, so you do this. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. this. So, what happens is you pop a call and you're like, "Hey, it's great to see you, everyone. Oh my goodness. Uh, thank you so much for joining the Zoom call and you're right next to the camera. You're like this. You're way too close."
So, what you've got to understand is if you want to make people feel more comfortable on Zoom, you have to understand something called Proxmics. Proxmics. Now, Proxmics is the study of distances. It's the study of distances. So, Dan, come up here, please. Thank you, Dan. So proxmics, what you've got to understand is because again it's the study of distances. So Dan, if you just stand here now, did you see how I popped up on the camera? That's the equivalent of you being in someone's intimate space. So Dan, close your eyes. Open it, Dan. This is the equivalent of the feeling that you're creating. And his reaction is what everybody feels immediately. They kind of go, "Whoa, that's too close." Because that's the intimate space only meant for sexy time.
So then so then the thing is now could you close your eyes again? Because the space that exists after the intimate space it's what's known as the personal space and personal space is here. Open your eyes. Still too close within arms reach. This still makes people feel uncomfortable. Have you ever experienced someone who they just have no context for space and then Dan? So say I stand here. here. What would you normally do?"
"I'd probably step back."
"Oh, but Dan, I really want to be able to talk to you about this. Yeah, Dan, like you got to understand. And then you just go, please. So then there's another space. And again, just close your eyes for a sec, Dan. And then the other space is around here. So open your eyes. How comfortable do you feel?"
"Yeah. Great."
"So again, this is what's known as social space. And the way we want to appear online is appear in the social space. And Craig, if I could bring you back out now to make things uber complex. And Craig, if you can capture my belly button to my just above my head. Okay. So, thank you. We want to appear in the social space. So, when you appear on a call and you appear like this and generally it means you could either be standing or you could be sitting, but you place the camera a little further away from you. And if you do this, it means you need a mic to be able to be able to still hear you. Okay. Now, you're immediately thinking, Kim, but but that's is showing so much of me. What if I'm not wearing pants? Right. Perfect. put on pants. And what you do is why is this more influential? Why does this help you build more better relationships? It's because my hand gestures are now present. So all of a sudden when I'm talking on Zoom, I'll be like, "Oh, hey. Oh my goodness. So good to see you." As opposed to, "Hey, so good to see you." You are now, "Oh, hey, it's so good to see you, Kim." Kim, I can't wait for us to get into today's session. I'm so excited about the entire agenda that we have. You now have again in the online world what we call visual presence. And if you've got a mic that's close to you and you're playing with all five vocal foundations, you've also got vocal presence.
What happens with most people on Zoom is because it's a virtual call, the first thing that people do is they just think to themselves, "Oh, this is just a virtual call." So they get on, they're like, "Oh, hey everyone. Thank you so much for joining the Zoom call." And they don't realize they do these things. Whereas what you've got to understand is the moment you're speaking to a camera and not a human being, your energy levels naturally drop by 70%. Naturally, it just drops because you're not an actor or an actress, right? So, if your energy levels are dropped by 70%. That means you need to bring it back up and it will feel unnatural because you're going to feel like I'm overdoing it. It's just a Zoom call. No, it's not overdoing it. It's called being effective and dynamic online because anytime my wife watches me do a class online, she goes, "I c I can't even I I I don't want to be in the same room. I don't want to be able to hear you, honey. There's no one there." But in there, I'm like, "Oh my god, so good to see you all. I'm so excited because I've got 20,000 people on the the webinar." Right. By the way, if you want to join me for one of my free webinars where I teach you three of the most powerful communication frameworks, then all you got to do is click the first link in the description. So, I'm playing up this big personality, but to my wife, she's like, I can't. It's just him. There's no one, you know, and my son, poor thing, is 8 years old, 7 years old now, and he doesn't know what I do. So, he tells his school that I dance online for money.
But again, can you see the idea of proximity up here where they can see from your belly button up to your head? Okay? And then from this position, extra things. Make sure you're well lit. Make sure you use a good quality camera because, and I'll get you to turn around and look at this. Because here's the reality of this situation. More and more of us are communicating online. But if we're not careful, let's say the value that you have to offer is 10 out of 10. Let's say that the communication skills you have are a three out of 10. So if your communication skills are a three out of 10, then when people look at you, do they see the three or the 10 first?"
"Three."
"So then they perceive you to be a three, right? But the world we live in now is you're speaking online. So there's another added layer of production quality. The fastest way to stand out. Get a better quality camera. Get well lit. There are infinite numbers of YouTube videos to watch on this. Get a better camera and learn how to light yourself well. Now you visually stand out. Get a mic. Place the camera further away. Now people immediately feel comfortable. Now you look good. Now you sound good. Now your production value is a 10 out of 10. So they see that first. Then you open your mouth and you talk and they perceive another 10 out of 10. And then the moment you distribute and share your content, they see the final 10 out of 10. And immediately people will be wowed by you. Does that help?"
"Very much so. Thank you."
"Big round of applause for Kim. Thank you. Lovely. Thank you."