Video Calls - etiquette and top tips

A fundamental part of Hubbler remote working, and recommended to be used as much as possible!

These guidelines are designed to make our calls as smooth as possible and break down some of the barriers of remote collaboration and communication.

Using Zoom

We use Zoom for video calls. It's the best for hosting multiple people, and deals very well with poor or spotty internet connections.

A few tips we’d recommend on all group calls can improve the conversation a lot:

Mute your microphone if you’re not speaking: this is essential on a large call so that background noise from one person doesn’t degrade the call for everyone else.
Raise your hand if you’d like to speak when someone else is talking. This is a simple visual cue that everyone else can follow.
Show a thumbs up or thumbs down sign to agree/disagree on a group call.
Make fewer ‘listening sounds’ on group calls. If you’re saying “uh huh”, “yup”, “definitely” while someone is talking, this can interrupt and distract them and make it harder for others to follow.

Here are some practical tips that can make calls a much more enjoyable experience:

First, the most obvious one: find the quietest environment possible before joining the call. Don’t make calls from noisy shared spaces.
Speak up immediately if you can’t hear on a call - even if it’s not fixable on the current call, making people aware of potential issues allows them to fix it next time. Most of the time, they’re probably not aware that it’s an issue.
If you happen to be in the same place as another participant, don’t sit in the same room! If you do have to be in the same room, make sure that you never have both microphones switched on at the same time.
Be aware of environment quality: hard surfaces + no sound insulation in your room + bad microphone = echoing and bad audio for other participants.
Get the fastest internet speed possible. Pay careful attention to upload speed, not just download, because this is usually the bottleneck on most video calls.