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Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,

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Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the

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Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more

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Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to really

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Speaker 1: think about your backdrop. After a month of social distancing,

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Speaker 1: Eve long since realize that when you're on a video call,

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Speaker 1: your colleagues see whatever is behind you. You may have

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Speaker 1: already experimented with goofy backdrops. I get it, we're all

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Speaker 1: desperate for entertainment in tough times. But even when things

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Speaker 1: return to normal, video calls are going to be a

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Speaker 1: more common form of communication. So now it's time to

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Speaker 1: recognize that your backdrop can actually be a form of

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Speaker 1: personal branding. By thinking about what you're sharing a screen with,

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Speaker 1: you have a chance to shape how people perceive you.

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Speaker 1: And yes, that may be superficial, just as clothes and

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Speaker 1: haircuts are superficial, but if you think about those things,

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Speaker 1: there's no reason not to put some proactive thought and

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Speaker 1: to what's floating behind your head. I'll offer three principles

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Speaker 1: for thinking about your backdrop and your personal brand. First,

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Speaker 1: consider what message you want to convey. I would venture

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Speaker 1: that all of us want to communicate to our colleagues

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Speaker 1: that we are steady and self possessed. There may be

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Speaker 1: disorder and uncertainty in the world, but we are the

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Speaker 1: calm in the storm. You know better than to have

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Speaker 1: a pile of laundry or an unmade bed in your background,

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Speaker 1: but even chaotic bookshelves and messy stacks of paper might

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Speaker 1: be problematic. So either turnip minimalist or shift your position

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Speaker 1: until you find a view behind you that's more appropriate

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Speaker 1: for work. Second, be aware that anything in view in

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Speaker 1: the backdrop is fair game for conversation. This should be

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Speaker 1: taken as both warning and opportunity. If there are parts

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Speaker 1: of your personal life that you don't want to discuss,

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Speaker 1: like say, a photo of a relative who passed away recently,

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Speaker 1: find a new home for it. Of course, you've also

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Speaker 1: seen in dozens of video calls now that people are

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Speaker 1: often desperate for a subject for small talk, so you

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Speaker 1: might purposefully put something in your backdrop that allows for this.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it's a rotating set of houseplants or fresh flowers.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it's your current reading material stacked so people can

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Speaker 1: see spines. I have a video call once a month

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Speaker 1: with a gentleman whose pet turtle is in view. It's

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Speaker 1: hard to control a pet dog's noise and cummings and goings,

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Speaker 1: but something like a turtle or fish don't distract as

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Speaker 1: much and offer ready options for conversation. If there's something

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Speaker 1: you're particularly proud of, you could also make sure that's visible.

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Speaker 1: I do video chats with a friend who's got framed

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Speaker 1: covers of her books behind her. You know immediately what

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Speaker 1: she's accomplished. You might consciously display a favorite piece of

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Speaker 1: art or something that conveys lesser known details about you.

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Speaker 1: If you're viewed as a strict taskmaster, for instance, you

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Speaker 1: could lighten this image with something fun, like a model

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Speaker 1: airplane or a lego creation. Third, you want to look

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Speaker 1: good and not be upstaged. If the best spot for

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Speaker 1: your home office features a bright pink wall or busy wallpaper,

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Speaker 1: well be careful what you're wearing. Television personalities tend to

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Speaker 1: wear bright, solid colors, and this is a good idea

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Speaker 1: for video chats too. Lighting really matters. Experiment with this.

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Speaker 1: If there's an open window behind you, the light will

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Speaker 1: put you in the shadows, so close the shutters or

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Speaker 1: draw the drapes. Bright overhead lights can also wash you out,

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Speaker 1: not to mention that the lights will show up as

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Speaker 1: bright dots behind your head if your screen is angled

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Speaker 1: in a certain way. Many people do best with a

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Speaker 1: lamp that is somewhere offscreen, luminating your face. Of course,

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Speaker 1: all of this is harder if you are quarantined in

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Speaker 1: a small apartment with multiple people. You can use the

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Speaker 1: background feature or tack a tapestry to the wall, use

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Speaker 1: a folding screen, or, suggest Sophie Donaldson in The New

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Speaker 1: York Times, a tablecloth will also do. But try taking

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Speaker 1: a screenshot and see what message you are conveying. It's

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Speaker 1: easy not to see things in our homes that have

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Speaker 1: long been there. Now that everyone is seeing them, it's

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Speaker 1: worth taking a closer look and seizing this opportunity to

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Speaker 1: shape perceptions. In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The

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Speaker 1: New Corner Office is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts,

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Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.