In the last months, most, or all, conferences have gone virtual.

I’ve delivered many virtual sessions with mixed results.

I had a difficult time balancing work and personal time, and sometimes the virtual sessions that I wanted to deliver didn’t fit really well in my day to day agenda.

I always tried to prepare great sessions with the right content, and I tried to give my best, but sometimes I couldn’t, even if I prepared the session as always.

 

After reflecting a little bit, it was clear that the main differentiator between normal, good, and outstanding sessions wasn’t related to session content.

It was related to turning the camera on, smiling on camera, having the right posture, keeping my spine up, and dressing for success (a.k.a. wearing my favorite hoodie or t-shirt).

Every time I knew I could keep my camera off, and I wasn’t in a good mood, I was lazy, I kept it off. I tried to deliver a great session, but I always failed, at least by my standards.

If you want to turn the camera on, you’ve to prepare for it, you’ve to concentrate on having the right mood, at least during the session, even if it’s a difficult period.

Next time I’ll try to do my best and will turn the camera on. And, if the session environment doesn’t allow that, well, I’ll do everything, including dressing for success and smiling, and I’ll pretend that the camera is still on!

-Photo by Andreea Pop on Unsplash