Book review How to Own the Room

How to own the room by Viv Groskop

I admit it, I'm a big Viv fan! Everyone should read Lift as you climb, and right now we all need the confidence of How to own the room! Eleanor

Here are some brilliant insights and advice from Viv Groskop's book How to own the room.

We have to find a way around it. You can ’t avoid it but you can make it work for you. As Viv says “We need to make Zoom our bitch” .

Think about what it is you hate about it. How can you change that? You can own your Zoom. Try reducing the time – a quick 30 minutes rather than an hour, breaks in-between, camera off if someone is presenting.

Don ’t overthink when using Zoom, but make sure you do some prep. Thinking about audience experience will help everyone have a better and more productive meeting.

Can you send out reading, questions, and topics in advance, so everyone knows

why they are there, what will be covered, and the purpose of the meeting – it’ s no different from an in-person meeting. If you are running a big meeting, appoint a moderator to check the waiting room and chat while the presenter can present/run the meeting. They can also help pin the speaker, deal with any tech issues and make sure everyone is happy.

Use the chat to check in rather than a round-robin of check-ins. Ask people to use to chat to share: How are you arriving at the meeting?’ ‘What’s on your mind’

Ask these questions before:

Why am I at this meeting? How can I be useful? (Not everyone needs to talk to be useful) How can I make sure we have equity on this call?

Are you on mute?

Laugh through mistakes, it’ s ok –remember the Cat Face call that went Viral (if not search on YouTube for two minutes of joyous distraction).

Some recent industry research found that 23 minutes is when your mind wanders. People will get restless fidget and perhaps start to multitask. We ’ ve all seen it when eyes start to wander and people start to surreptitiously check their phones. Could you put in a break at this point or start a Q&A?

Zoom Fatigue

Try to avoid multi-tasking temptation! We know, we know, it’ s so tempting, isn ’t it? To just do that other thing. But think of it this way – when you multitask while on Zoom you are sending your mind into overdrive. What happens when we get into overdrive, we get too hot, and burn out.

Did you know? The first commercially packaged video conference took place in 1968 at the World Fair in New York.

According to recent research in the Harvard Business Review trying to do multiple things at once cuts into performance. Because you have to turn certain parts of your brain off and on for different types of work, switching between tasks can cost you as much as 40% of your productive time.

Researchers at HBR also found that people who multitask can ’t remember things as well as their more singularly focused peers. The next time you ’ re on a video chat, close any tabs or programs that might distract you, put your phone away, and stay present. Whatever that other thing is – it can wait.

Eye rests

Take mini rests by looking away from your computer completely for a few seconds now and then. It is possible to listen without staring at the screen for a full 30 minutes? This is not an invitation to start doing something else, but to let your eyes rest for a moment. Also, think about when you go off camera. The general etiquette is it’ s ok for people to be off camera if someone is presenting. But if there are people in the zoom room you want to make an impact on, staying on camera may be a wiser option.

Short and to the point Consider making meetings 25 or 50 minutes (instead of the standard half-hour and hour) to give yourself enough time in between to get up and move around for a bit.

Stop looking at yourself!

Recent HBR research shows that when you ’ re on video, you tend to spend the most time gazing at your own face. This can be easily avoided by hiding yourself from view. Still, onscreen distractions go far beyond yourself. You may be surprised to learn that on video, we not only focus on other people ’ s faces but on their backgrounds as well. The brain is processing all of these visual environmental cues at the same time. To combat mental fatigue, encourage people to use plain, simple backgrounds or agree as a group to have everyone who is not talking turn off their video, especially if you are on a longer call.

You can still have a phone call!

When did we stop phone calls? Maybe you don ’t need a Zoom. It now feels like the default, but for a short 15-minute catch-up, maybe it’ s time to go old school and pick up the phone. You could even encourage a walk and talk where you get to leave the laptop and get some steps in instead.

Viv Groskop’s book How to own the room is THE go-to book for speaking and confidence. In 2020 she added ‘How to own the Zoom’ a brilliant guide to embracing the technology which is now our go-to communication tool.

“How do you own the room when you aren’t actually in it?”