Dress for your Virtual Meeting

Dress for Success in the virtual world too

                                          Show up Professional for that Virtual Meeting!

I would like to follow up on last week’s blog about the etiquette of virtual meetings with another aspect of this type of business communication.

One of the great advantages of working from home is that you do not have to wear professional attire every day.  But if you have scheduled a virtual meeting with colleagues or clients, then you don’t want to be seen wearing your pjs with uncombed hair and not even a trace of makeup for the ladies.

Be professional and show respect for yourself and for whoever will be participating with you in that virtual meeting

The key to selecting how you should look during your meeting is very simple. You must dress to meet your audience’s expectations. If your company has a dress code, to which you comply on a daily basis, and which your employer expects you to respect, then the logical thing would be to dress as if you were attending an in person meeting in your office.

If the meeting is with your clients or potential ones, then dress as you would like them to see you if you were to have a meeting under normal circumstances, not during this stay at home period. The idea is that your client, even on a screen, perceives you to be professional and responsible, the same attributes that you like to portray in any face to face interaction that you have during your professional life.

The new normal for doing business includes a lot of screen time and interaction. In spite of that,  the general rules of business etiquette continue to have the same importance as in your personal contact with bosses, colleagues and clients.

The professional appearance rules continue to apply, that means no transparencies, no low cut blouses (the camera will catch you) and no sexy off the shoulder style either!

Business Etiquette courses and Workshops emphasize the importance of giving a great first impression in your business encounters. That is even more important when using virtual platforms to conduct business, since there are not other aspects that can help you portray the professionalism that you wish to convey.

Dressing for success is not the only aspect you have to consider when having virtual meetings, but it is certainly a very important one. You will also have to remember the importance of the background that is visible during your meeting, how noise and interruptions affect the effectiveness of your meeting and technical aspects such as lighting and how you position yourself for the camera, among others.

We will continue posting about other aspects of virtual meeting etiquette in the next few days, in order to provide you with practical tips on how to become a polished professional while using these platforms.