1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,800
Speaker 1: Through the dozens of virtual keynotes I've been doing since

2
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,200
Speaker 1: the pandemic hit. Along with the work that I do

3
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,920
Speaker 1: for this show how I work, I get a lot

4
00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:14,160
Speaker 1: of questions about my setup. People ask me things like

5
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,800
Speaker 1: why is your image so clear? Where do you record

6
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,239
Speaker 1: your podcast interviews from? Why do you sound like you're

7
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,560
Speaker 1: in a professional recording studio. So the answer to all

8
00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,880
Speaker 1: of these questions is that I have a dad who

9
00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,600
Speaker 1: is an electrical engineer and a computer programmer and does

10
00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:33,919
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot of research to tell me

11
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,559
Speaker 1: what to buy and how to set it up. So

12
00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,080
Speaker 1: today I want to take you through the key bits

13
00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,960
Speaker 1: of equipment in my home office and how I have

14
00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:46,080
Speaker 1: created what for me, is the ultimate home office setup.

15
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,920
Speaker 1: My name is doctor Amantha Imbat. I'm an organizational psychologist

16
00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 1: and founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this is

17
00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,400
Speaker 1: how I work, a show how to help you do

18
00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 1: your best work. So for context for this episode, I

19
00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:12,040
Speaker 1: should add that as of January twenty twenty one, Inventium,

20
00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,320
Speaker 1: my organization officially became a remote first organization.

21
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,160
Speaker 2: So we made this decision midway through twenty twenty.

22
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:24,759
Speaker 1: And since then I've gradually been improving my home office setup.

23
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,319
Speaker 1: So while I don't recommend that you need to mirror

24
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,760
Speaker 1: my exact setup because that would be overkill for the

25
00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,000
Speaker 1: average at home worker, there might be a few things

26
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 1: here to take inspiration from. Okay, first up with my computer,

27
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,360
Speaker 1: which is an iMac with a twenty seven inch monitor.

28
00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,480
Speaker 2: So for the last decade of my working life, I

29
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:48,400
Speaker 2: have been a very.

30
00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:55,000
Speaker 1: Loyal MacBook laptop user, oscillating between thirteen and twelve inch screens.

31
00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,320
Speaker 1: I needed my computer to be portable, as my pre

32
00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 1: COVID schedule required me to travel once or twice every fortnight,

33
00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,160
Speaker 1: either interstate or overseas, and I like to travel light.

34
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,639
Speaker 1: But since the pandemic hit and all my commitments moved

35
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,240
Speaker 1: to being virtual, I decided that it was time to

36
00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:19,240
Speaker 1: think about investing in a real computer. So I use

37
00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,440
Speaker 1: a iMac twenty seven inch, and now that I've been

38
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,400
Speaker 1: using it for the better part of a year, I

39
00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,240
Speaker 1: would really struggle to switch back to a laptop, and

40
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 1: on the rare occasions where I do so, I may

41
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:35,520
Speaker 1: be on the move or working outside of my home.

42
00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:41,799
Speaker 1: It is bizarre how difficult I find it to make

43
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,520
Speaker 1: that transition back. So my iMac is super fast and

44
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,000
Speaker 1: super big, and even though most of my work involves

45
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,480
Speaker 1: writing or speaking as opposed to work that traditionally benefits

46
00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,959
Speaker 1: from a large screen and fast processor, like graphic design

47
00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,200
Speaker 1: or video editing, it has been a game changer. I

48
00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,800
Speaker 1: love being to fill the huge screen with a word

49
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,959
Speaker 1: document or a keynote file. The next thing that's part

50
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 1: of my setup is a Dell twenty seven inch four

51
00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,080
Speaker 1: K monitor, so this was another computer related game changer

52
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,680
Speaker 1: for me moving to a two screen setup. I used

53
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,920
Speaker 1: to think that the two screen setup or even a

54
00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,760
Speaker 1: three screen setup was just for video editor types and

55
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,440
Speaker 1: those finance folks who seem to require having fifteen spreadsheets

56
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:27,640
Speaker 1: up at the one time.

57
00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,560
Speaker 2: But no, it is for people like me too.

58
00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,440
Speaker 1: It has dramatically reduced the amount of command tabbing that

59
00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 1: I do, and is also very helpful for virtual keynote

60
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,880
Speaker 1: so that I can see my slides as well as

61
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:44,040
Speaker 1: my speaker notes at the same time. Okay, Next on

62
00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,680
Speaker 1: the list is a Canon XA twenty video camera, and

63
00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:50,760
Speaker 1: I do link to all these in the show notes. FYI,

64
00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,680
Speaker 1: So I've experimented with a few webcams this year, such

65
00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,680
Speaker 1: as the Logitech Brio, which was pretty good and the

66
00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,680
Speaker 1: Huddlecam HD Pro, which was good, but I found it

67
00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,520
Speaker 1: almost impossible to get the color mix right. And then,

68
00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,040
Speaker 1: after being inspired by Yob van Dervoortz setup, who I

69
00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,280
Speaker 1: had on the show a few months ago, I asked

70
00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,200
Speaker 1: my dad if he could hook up his Canon video camera,

71
00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,600
Speaker 1: the XA twenty into my computer, which I tended to

72
00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,839
Speaker 1: just use the Canon Video camera for filming online training videos.

73
00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,840
Speaker 1: So again this has been awesome. What I particularly love

74
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,160
Speaker 1: is that I can be in focus in the foreground

75
00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,040
Speaker 1: when I use this video camera while my background looks blurry,

76
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,640
Speaker 1: which I think looks super profresh.

77
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:39,839
Speaker 2: Okay.

78
00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,479
Speaker 1: I also use an Elgado Kamlink four K, which is

79
00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,040
Speaker 1: the device that turns the video camera into a webcam.

80
00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:51,640
Speaker 1: Very important, although slightly boring, but important alright. Next is

81
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,520
Speaker 1: the sure KSM eight dynamic microphone. So I own two

82
00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,960
Speaker 1: of these beautiful microphones, which I purchased nearly three years

83
00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,240
Speaker 1: ago when I started the How I Work podcast. So

84
00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,640
Speaker 1: if you are looking for a high end ish microphone,

85
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,880
Speaker 1: I recommend going to a shop and.

86
00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,560
Speaker 2: Trying out a few. So I've learned that different.

87
00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:16,680
Speaker 1: Microphones actually sound better for different voices, so in that sense,

88
00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 1: reviews online only get.

89
00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:19,120
Speaker 2: You so far.

90
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,039
Speaker 1: So there were some mics that came highly recommended, but

91
00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,400
Speaker 1: I just didn't like the tone they produced with my voice.

92
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,479
Speaker 2: But I do love these Shore microphones.

93
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,960
Speaker 1: Now I should add that this mic is overkill if

94
00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,599
Speaker 1: you're only using it for meetings, but if you're looking

95
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: for something in between the quality of an inbuilt mic

96
00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:44,200
Speaker 1: in your laptop or on your AirPods. I did love

97
00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,640
Speaker 1: the blue Yetti, which I used for a few months

98
00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,920
Speaker 1: before I merged my home podcast studio with my work

99
00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:51,679
Speaker 1: computer setup.

100
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:53,680
Speaker 2: Okay, I also.

101
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,200
Speaker 1: Use a focus right Scarlet two two I two, which

102
00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,200
Speaker 1: is the device that connects the mic to the computer.

103
00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,120
Speaker 1: Next up, one of my favorite pieces of equipment is

104
00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,360
Speaker 1: the sound device is Mixed Pre six. So I larned

105
00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,039
Speaker 1: my lesson the hard way about recording backup audio for

106
00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 1: all podcast interviews, as I think many podcast interviewers do.

107
00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,640
Speaker 1: I now use the Mixed Pre six for recording backups

108
00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,880
Speaker 1: of all my interviews, and back in the days where

109
00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,839
Speaker 1: I could actually interview my How I Work guests in person,

110
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,359
Speaker 1: I would take the Mixed Pre six out as my

111
00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:32,040
Speaker 1: portable recording device. It is amazing at cutting out background

112
00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:32,480
Speaker 1: noise and.

113
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,000
Speaker 2: Is super simple to use all right.

114
00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,840
Speaker 1: Next up is lights, and I use the Algato key

115
00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:40,039
Speaker 1: Light Air and I've got a couple of those. So

116
00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,440
Speaker 1: over the last twelve months, I've experimented with a few

117
00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,520
Speaker 1: various ring lights, which ended up being really tricky to

118
00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,440
Speaker 1: position and also annoying to look at. So the Algado

119
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,839
Speaker 1: key light as was a great solution. I've got two

120
00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,120
Speaker 1: of them and they sit either side of my computer.

121
00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,479
Speaker 1: So this gives me even lighting for virtual keynotes and

122
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,760
Speaker 1: meetings because the lighting is coming from the side, and

123
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,640
Speaker 1: as a very important bonus, they are not shining right

124
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,000
Speaker 1: in my eyes because they are set to the side,

125
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:13,440
Speaker 1: so that's awesome. Now. I also love my controller, which

126
00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,320
Speaker 1: is an Algato stream Deck. It is a little device

127
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,080
Speaker 1: that sits in front of my keyboard that lets me

128
00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 1: program in various shortcuts that I can do with the

129
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:23,800
Speaker 1: touch of a button. So, for example, if I want

130
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,360
Speaker 1: to switch on my lights, instead of having to go

131
00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,760
Speaker 1: into the app which has the remote control on my phone,

132
00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,160
Speaker 1: I can simply hit one button on my Elgado stream deck.

133
00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,360
Speaker 1: And if I want to open up my calendar, for example,

134
00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,160
Speaker 1: I just press one button. If I want to open

135
00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,200
Speaker 1: up a specific page on a website, such as Inventiums

136
00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:42,760
Speaker 1: Events page. Again, I can program the stream deck to

137
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,040
Speaker 1: do just that at the touch of a button. Okay,

138
00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,600
Speaker 1: couple of more recent editions. One is the glide Gear

139
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,280
Speaker 1: tellyprompter stand. So a pet hate of mine and probably

140
00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,600
Speaker 1: of millions of zoom ms, teams, WebEx and so on

141
00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:58,240
Speaker 1: users around the world.

142
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,880
Speaker 2: Is that you can't actually look at the.

143
00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,560
Speaker 1: Person on the other side of the screen, on the

144
00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:08,120
Speaker 1: other side of your virtual meeting and make direct eye

145
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,960
Speaker 1: contact with them at the same time because the computer

146
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,480
Speaker 1: pro the computer camera is located in a different spot

147
00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,120
Speaker 1: to their image on the screen.

148
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:17,920
Speaker 2: This is so annoying.

149
00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:23,840
Speaker 1: So enter the glide Gear TMP one hundred teleprompter stand,

150
00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,679
Speaker 1: which I've attached to my video camera with a lily

151
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,880
Speaker 1: Put eleven inch monitor. So this allows me to actually

152
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,480
Speaker 1: make eye contact with people in video calls while I

153
00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,640
Speaker 1: look directly at the screen and look at them on

154
00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,920
Speaker 1: the screen. It's a game changer. It's so good. Now

155
00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:47,080
Speaker 1: finally I have invested in a Lifespan fitness treadmill desk.

156
00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:48,920
Speaker 1: So I've been wanting to get a treadmill desk for

157
00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:52,320
Speaker 1: a while and I finally did it. It comes with

158
00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,800
Speaker 1: a standing desk and I use it to work from

159
00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,240
Speaker 1: at least a few times a day, and I'll walk

160
00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,960
Speaker 1: slowly well doing my work so I don't fall over.

161
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,720
Speaker 1: And I also use it for phone meeting so that

162
00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,959
Speaker 1: I can take notes while I'm chatting on the phone.

163
00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:13,040
Speaker 1: And this helps me effortlessly get to ten thousand steps

164
00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:18,240
Speaker 1: every day without fail. So that's my home office setup.

165
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,240
Speaker 1: And that is it for today's show. If you've been

166
00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:25,960
Speaker 1: loving how I work and require something else for your

167
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,800
Speaker 1: podcast fix, you might also enjoy Mom and MIA's latest

168
00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:34,439
Speaker 1: season of Lady Startup Stories, hosted by Georgia Love, who

169
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,560
Speaker 1: you might remember from The Bachelorette.

170
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 2: Every week, female.

171
00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,840
Speaker 1: Entrepreneurs from across Australia and abroad sit down with Georgia

172
00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,400
Speaker 1: to talk about how they built their businesses. Recently, Georgia

173
00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,280
Speaker 1: was joined by sisters and co founders Hannah and Rachel

174
00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,000
Speaker 1: vassd sec I hope I pronounced that correctly, the ladies

175
00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,800
Speaker 1: behind popular jewelry label Francesca.

176
00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:57,640
Speaker 2: They chat about growing their.

177
00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:01,280
Speaker 1: Business from a market stall to a flat, as well

178
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,320
Speaker 1: as what it's really like to work with your family.

179
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,600
Speaker 2: Have a little listen to these sisters.

180
00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,800
Speaker 3: I remember I was doing cash flow forecasts back then,

181
00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,160
Speaker 3: being like how long can I survive? But you know,

182
00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:17,520
Speaker 3: some days you'd get someone come in and spend a

183
00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,680
Speaker 3: couple of hundred dollars, three or four hundred dollars, and

184
00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,679
Speaker 3: I'd be able to breathe again, you know. And we

185
00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,480
Speaker 3: started getting really busy that Christmas, and it's almost like

186
00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,600
Speaker 3: we'd started nurturing this customer base and everyone wanted to

187
00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:32,520
Speaker 3: support the local business. And it's funny, like I didn't

188
00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,760
Speaker 3: even have enough money to have extra stock made. We

189
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,960
Speaker 3: would literally have stock out, and then when we'd close

190
00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:41,760
Speaker 3: the store, we'd go upstairs and make more stock and

191
00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:43,079
Speaker 3: put it out for the next day.

192
00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,520
Speaker 1: Oh, Michael, so you're still handmaking it all yourselves at

193
00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:46,959
Speaker 1: this point.

194
00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, we handmade everything. I'd probably say ninety five percent

195
00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:52,240
Speaker 3: of the stock we handmade.

196
00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,240
Speaker 1: You can listen to the Lady Startup Stories with Georgia

197
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,800
Speaker 1: Love wherever you get your podcasts.

198
00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,520
Speaker 2: And that is it for today, and I'll see you

199
00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:01,440
Speaker 2: next time.