If you want to train your skills regarding videoconferences, you might start doing presentations on web-tv like this one.

Executive summary: Using web-tv for a videoconference is one of the rapidly emerging ways for executives to communicate with their employees, upper management and customers. But you have to follow certain rules, says Kishore S. Swaminathan chief scientist, Accenture, in Outlook. Edited by Peter Horn Most executive have carefully cultivated and refined the elusive quality called “executive presence.” Perhaps might be about the cut of a suit or how you talk, listen and how benevolent—or intimidating—you seem. "Whatever the particular traits, they have become a critical part of the way you communicate. Most important, perhaps, a sense of presence is frequently correlated with leadership," says Kishore S. Swaminathan, chief scientist, Accenture, in Outlook.

"A new medium, the videoconference, is rapidly emerging as an important way for executives to communicate with their employees, upper management and customers. By understanding the medium and mastering its dynamics, you can significantly improve your effectiveness as an executive."

Many see the videoconference as an extension of TV for personal communication; others see it as a more “realistic” extension of telephone communication. "Neither perspective is apt or useful in learning how to use the medium," concludes Mr. Swaminathan.

Most video on TV is carefully choreographed, shot with multiple cameras and edited—and is meant to be a one-way broadcast. TV anchors do not see their audience, nor do they expect to be interrupted. "When we’re talking on the telephone, although we do not see the person at the other end of the line, we do have the real-world experience of talking to people without seeing their faces. The only reference point we have for videoconferences is a meeting in the physical world. But videoconferences are different in three important ways," says Mr. Swaminathan.

The eye contact
Whether your videoconference is via a laptop with a webcam or a more sophisticated system with a large display, what the people at the other end see is what your camera sees—and nothing else. (...)

When there are multiple people on the other side of the videoconference, you’ll make eye contact with every one of them if you stare straight into the camera. If you turn away from the camera, you’ll lose eye contact with every one of them.

We see each other
In a physical meeting, not only do you see the other attendees, you also see what they see. They, too, see what you see as well as the other attendees. In other words, you share the same physical context in a 3-D world.

In a videoconference, your image appears on other attendees’ screens, and vice versa. (...) Tis no way to know exactly how much of what’s in your physical space will be seen by other videoconference attendees. You could just as easily be shown on a giant screen, viewed by a large audience seated together in one room.

For that matter, you don’t know if your image will appear on only one screen. If, for example, you are giving a presentation to many attendees who are gathered in one physical location, you and your presentation may be displayed on two different screens: one on each side of a room. If this is the case, when you turn to look at your own presentation, some viewers would see you turning away from them.

The different conversational rhythm
"We use many subtle signals to coordinate conversations in the physical world. If you are speaking and you want to elicit a response from someone else, you would make eye contact with that person and pause. Alternatively, if someone wants to interrupt you, they would make eye contact with you and lean forward," Mr. Swaminathan says.

Videoconferences distort such visual cues and often have a time delay. As a result, video conversations proceed in fits and starts, arbitrary interruptions and apologetic withdrawals.

Getting the basics right
To be effective in videoconferences, you need to think like a cinematographer. Camera angles, lights and sound are three critical elements you need to get right. When using a personal computer with a camera—a common scenario for conferences from home or while traveling—this is what you need to do:

Camera
Laptops come with webcams that have wide-angle lenses. During a videoconference, most people sit 12 to 16 inches from the camera both to see the screen clearly and to stay close to the built-in microphone. This means that the tip of your nose is about two inches, or 12 percent, closer to the camera than the tip of your ear, which creates the so-called “fish-eye distortion.” If you get yourself a good-quality, narrow-angle camera and sit about three feet (a meter) away from it, you can dramatically enhance how you look to your audience.

Lighting.
You should be the brightest object the camera sees, with light evenly distributed across your face. That means never sit with a lighted window behind you—you’ll appear as a silhouette. Overhead fluorescent lighting will make your skin look pale and sallow. Turn desk lamps toward the wall so your face is lit evenly by the light bouncing off the walls.

If you wear glasses, wipe them clean before you start your meeting and find an angle so that light does not glint off the frame or obscure your eyes. Avoid wearing jewelry or anything else that’s shiny.

Sound.
If you sit far enough away from your screen, you need a microphone. An unobtrusive lapel mike is one option; alternatively, an echo cancellation speaker/microphone combination, placed between you and your computer, will project your voice very well, especially if you are giving a presentation. Unless you want to look like a call center operator, avoid headphones with microphones sticking out at all cost.

Frame yourself
In a videoconference, you are nothing more than a few thousand pixels in a rectangular frame on a remote display. Imagine this frame and how you want to look inside it, and everything else will follow.

There should be nothing in the frame that takes the viewer’s attention away from you. Avoid sitting in front of a picture, bookshelf or moving objects. In particular, make sure there are no plants or protruding objects behind you; since the frame is only 2-D, any such objects will seem to be coming straight out of your head or shoulders.

The simplest way to frame yourself is to sit in front of a neutral-colored wall. Make sure the camera is at eye level—if not, you’ll either be looking down at the people you’re talking to or looking up to them. If you are presenting from your computer, to ensure that you maintain eye contact with the remote party, move anything you need to see—your notes, for example, or your computer screen—as close to the camera as possible. 

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Read more:
www.accenture.com

See presentations here:
www.executive-speeches.dk