One of the most important things I personally use in business is video calls.
As you can see by this scientific chart, video calling for work has gone up massively:
The one thing about video calls is that it’s changed the way your office should be setup!
Basically all the cool looking stuff in your office should be BEHIND YOU when you’re doing video calls. I call this “The Reverse Office.”
The ↳Reverse↵ Office:
At one time you would decorate IN FRONT your desk. You’d put all your chachkies in front of you so you’d have something fun to look at while working.
Now I think it’s more important to have a “Reverse Office” which showcases all that stuff BEHIND the desk so your webcam can see it.
For example this guy took some care to setup what’s BEHIND him so it looks nice for people on video calls:
This is a “Reverse Office” where all the pretty decorations are BEHIND the camera.
Home offices used to be private, now they are semi-public because of video calls.
I’ve gone through several versions of home offices over the years, and here are some of the important rules I’ve learned about home offices:
- Have one-touch lighting.
- Have place for others to sit.
- Control for echo.
- Don’t decorate TOO much behind you or it distracts from your face.
I’ll go over these lessons below.
Getting The Lighting Right (Important)!
One of the biggest problems I had with calls was getting the lighting right when starting a video call.
If someone pays me hundreds of dollars an hour to speak with them, I at least want to make it look like I put some effort into getting the video quality decent.
I used to (and still do) use these portable battery operated LED lights to help with lighting:
I mostly just set the lights on my desk aiming at the wall for extra light, I rarely use the clamps except when traveling.
It’s just two Aputure LED Lights with two Dinkum Systems Clamps. You don’t need to plug them in, and you can just set them wherever. I generally aim them at a white wall and the reflected light is more than enough to light my face up.
I learned that aiming them directly at my face was a little too intensely bright and very distracting.
I also take these with me when I’m out of town so I can light up wherever I’m working.
In a previous office setup if I wanted a “city scape” background the natural lighting caused a real problem as it backlit my face so much you couldn’t see me.
Adding some portable lighting to the desk solved this problem beautifully!
The difference adding lighting makes!
The only problem with “adding light when needed” was that you had to set up the lights each time. So for offices I now like to have a setup where I push one button and the lighting is done:
Have A One-Touch Lighting System:
Even though I loved having little portable lights handy, I’d have to take them out, set them up, and then re-charge them after every use. This added an extra layer of work for each video call.
This is what lead me to my new favorite products (I swear I didn’t mean this to be a promotion):
Phillips Hue products.
I already had a Phillips Hue Hub and some lights around my place, so I decided to use the Phillips line for the office.
I setup 4 Phillips Play Lights around the office:
2 lights behind the desk. 2 lights behind the couch:
I also have a cool little Philips Hue Smart Dimmer switch that controls the light like a normal switch (rather than having to tell Siri to control the lights).
It sticks on the wall (no holes), and the remote magnetically detaches if you want.
When I walk in the office, I simply push the “ON” button, and all 4 lights automatically turn on to their optimal levels. If you push the “ON” button again it will cycle through my other light settings (Bright Yellow, White Video Call Lighting, Relax Mode, Cherry Blossom Color).
For an additional boost of light I use this Brightech Sky Lamp, which is a simple lamp with 3 brightness settings. I plugged that into a smart plug so it turns on along with the rest of my Hue lights (I like it because it retains the last brightness setting you select).
This really adds a good bit of extra lighting:
Having the lighting already setup when I walk into the office has saved me a massive amount of physical and mental energy, making video calls far easier.
Decorating BEHIND The Screen:
I suck at decorating, but I “worked backwards” and decided on the functionality of this specific home office before I bought anything.
My wishlist for the office was:
- One touch lighting (Phillips Hue setup).
- Turns into an extra guest room (the sofa converts into a queen bed).
- Simple background (sofa with lighting, framed Ogilvy ads, and a plant).
- Minimize echo (I requested this room have carpet instead of hardwood on move-in).
- Space for others to work (sofa and extra desk/lighting/power for a guest).
From these specs I drew out a sketch of what it would look like:
The only thing that didn’t make the cut on the final product was the chalk wall.
I found a chalk wall at a friends office, and it really made lighting much harder with the black background.
A black colored wall absorbs A LOT of light, and since my hair is black, and my face is brown, having a black background would require A LOT MORE LIGHTING to light me up properly. For this reason I took the route of least resistance and left the wall it’s white color.
The final product looks like:
It’s simple, comfy, and does the job well!
When I flick on a video call, it looks like this through my webcam:
Here’s what the office looks like when you enter:
There’s a small bookshelf in the corner, and I generally leave the blinds closed since I like controlling the lighting.
This room had a sliding pocket closet, and I always hate closets with sliding doors…..so I removed the doors and put a perfectly sized desk inside of it instead.
The closet storage rack is a dead giveaway this was once a closet 😂
The lighting is surprisingly difficult to capture on camera, so it seems like it’s SUPER BRIGHT behind that desk, but in reality the lighting is very soft and pleasant. I just somehow couldn’t capture that on camera.
That couch turns into a queen sized bed with one motion if I need an extra guest room. There’s a nice picture of Austin hanging up as well as a dry erase board (crucial for any home office).
And of course I hung up several of my blown up Ogilvy ads over the couch.
See a VIDEO TOUR of this setup:
I also do all my Kopywriting Kourse Member Office Hours from here (if ya ever wanna speak with me directly from this very office).
Anywho hope you enjoyed this little tour of my current home office, and hope you found some useful tips in it!
P.S. Here’s all the products shown here:
- 2 Portable LED Lights
- 2 Dinkum Systems Action Pods (portable LED light clamps).
- 2 Extra Batteries + Charger for LED Lights
- 4 Philips Hue Play Lights
- 1 Philips Hue Magnetic Light Switch
- 1 Brightech LED Lamp
- 1 Philips Hue Hub (to control the lights).
P.P.S. Do you have any good tips for a home office? Any useful routines? Please share them in the comments!
Do you use your computer’s built-in mic for videoconferencing, or do you suggest a podcast type of setup?
Help – i have four windows behind me and my desk is built in so I can’t move it. My video is always dark even though I have great overhead LED lighting … any suggestions?
Yeah, you need more lighting! My last workspace had floor-to-ceiling windows all around, and these Aputure LED Lights lit my face up great!
The difference adding lighting makes!
Hello everybody,
just a quick question. Neville do you use the lights behind monitor also because its easier for the eyes? So that monitor is not the only glowy thing in front of you?
Or how do you fight the eye fatigue?
Recently I started experiencing it while using my 21,5 retina iMac. As somebody who stares into the screen for long spans of time each day do you have some tips or tricks? What is your opinion about apps like f.lux /dark mode in macOS etc.?
Hey Jakub! Yes I put the lights behind the desk so there’s a “glowing” effect behind it, and it definitely makes it easier on the eyes.
As for eye fatigue, I honest think having a good monitor is key.
I have a Retina monitor iMac, and for some reason is just never hurts my eyes ever. Same thing happened after I got an iPhoneX years ago….the high quality screen just somehow never hurt my eyes, even if using the phone in bed.
I love things like flux, I think they help a lot. I have the Apple versions of flux (night mode) enabled on my iMac, MacBook Pro, and iPhone. It works great and really does help!
I like your work Nev :)
Thanks Seni I very much appreciate it!
Thank you Neville, excellent article as always.
I read a lot about copywriting, member of many FB Copywriting groups and always find myself coming back to your resources, your articles are always full of hardcore tips, to the point and easy to read, you’re a good ambassador to copywriting. Thank you!
Thanks for the nice words Ric, hope I can keep cranking out good resources for ya!
Hey Neville, thank you for this article. Which video call software do you use? Cheers
Hey G, I typically use Zoom for the Office Hours I host for members. Zoom lets you record, it’s very high quality, and it’s widely used.
For my private consulting I either use a Zoom link, or Calendly automatically schedules through Google Meet which is like a lightweight Zoom clone.
For Writing Whilst Wednesday I just do a Facebook Live video share.
I’ve been on Facebook Live lately and not thrilled with the background visuals.
But I only think about it in the minute or two before I go live.
Most of the rest of my farm and business is about determining goals first and designing to get there.
I can’t believe I hadn’t approached my “Reverse Office” that way.
I’m off to the whiteboard now to sketch something out and make a list of action items.
Thanks for this post!
No worries Dan, glad this kicked you in the right direction! I definitely think it’s going to be more and more common to consider the direction your webcam in facing before designing your office :)
Awesome article (though I first saw it via email)!
I would say that instead of a chalkboard wall you could have a whiteboard wall. All you need to do is buy whiteboard paint and paint the wall.
Also, I have a large cloth background behind my desk that looks like a feature wall of reclaimed wood. Every call I get on with that behind me, someone comments on how cool it is.
Take it easy. I love your emails!
Hey Marilee, a whiteboard wall was definitely considered! However there were some downsides:
– Extra work.
– The whiteboard paint typically is VERY high gloss.
– The whiteboard paint creates weird lighting reflections.
– I don’t need a whole wall to whiteboard, just a small area.
So I decided to just leave the room as-is and not go all whiteboardy :)
The small whiteboard I have in the corner is more than enough to brainstorm on already!
The problem with whiteboards is they leave ghost images behind unless you powerclean them, wasting hours before each video. Small boards = easy clean and not in video backgrounds.
Hey Neville, great article – really timely for me having just moved country and now working remotely. And love the tips about lighting. Not a good look when I’m doing international calls with clients and I slowly get darker and darker.
What I find is the most important is actually to have a camera setup that’s not just my face at a computer. There’s so much communication that comes through body language, and so when you can create a setup where people can see you sitting at a table talking with them, it really takes the experience to the next level
Hey Ben I totally agree that video calls convey more information. It’s why my private consulting calls are ALWAYS done through video conferencing, because I can instantly see the excitement (or lack of excitement) on someone’s face.
Also one of the major benefits of doing screen share (especially when dealing with copywriting) is the screenshare feature video calls have.
By simply showing people my screen we can work 10X faster than phone!
For those of you with kids who are considering a home office, I would only consider it if you work when they’re asleep. Especially if they’re little.
They’re loud – and often they want to see what you’re doing, and because they’re lovable and wonderful, you’ll find excuses to go see them…and nothing gets done. Well, nothing work-related. (I took a lot of breaks to make hot cocoa for four people).
Get your work done at an office somewhere else, then go home and give them your full attention. My two cents!
Good tips!
My friend has a house where he works in his home office, but his wife and kids are home too. After getting too distracted, they all agreed he would have his own floor of the house where they never come unless asked.
This made his home work environment tolerable :)
Nice background makes the difference (and I’m not talking about the physical one only ;)).
My office it’s in the attic… a totally pain in the a** to make video properly (roof everywhere). But I solved the problem partially purchasing a paper background.
For the moment, it works for me. Will see in the future… (Maybe one of that awesome t-shirts would do the trick? :P)
Thanks for your tips (useful as always). ;) Greetings from the sunny Spain (perfect light even with vaulted ceilings ha, ha)
Hey Debora, I think I might have a great solution for you!
I have two of these collapsable and reversible cloth backgrounds. You can zip em up real easy into a circle.
Backdrop:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJ1JX3A/
Stand:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PLEX7Q4/
I have one that’s black and white reversible, and when used with my portable lights the result looks like:
I liked this setup a lot because I could easily take it down, and it wasn’t that expensive!
Love the lighting suggestions!
Background is really important to me, so mine is beautiful, if I don’t say so myself. ;)
One other thing to consider is what you wear. I dress to match my background, typically black or white. Patterns are distracting as are colors that clash.
And thank you for your email this morning. It made me giggle.
You’re cool. ;)
Bahahaha you’re probably way better coordinated than I am when on camera….I’m usually in a t-shirt :-P
But in the past when I’ve done consulting for larger clients I’d wear nicer shirts on camera…..however I feel that dressing super nice doesn’t exactly match my brand too much, so fortunately I totally get away with a plain tshirt 😁
Does the lack of a view and natural light every bother you? I know the Phillips lights are supposed to simulate natural light, but I feel I need to open the shades and have a pleasant (not distracting) place to rest my eyes occasionally.
Also, do you have advice when your home office is in your bedroom? My space is limited in there and not sure I can turn the desk away from the wall. I hate that people can see a little bit of my bed in video calls. Of course it’s always made, but my husband is the one who makes it, so…
Hey Vicky!
1.) Actually I specifically chose my recent unit because it DOESN’T have light in the home office (there is a small window but I generally close the blinds when working).
I personally love lots of natural light in my personal life, but for some reason I love working in the dark…..I don’t get why, but even in college I just loooovveddd working at night over the daytime.
If I want light, I just walk over to the living room then I’m flooded with it!
2.) I know what you mean, beds look unprofessional for calls. I solved this problem by using a collapsable background and stand (I’m stealing the rest of this comment from another comment I wrote above):
Backdrop:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJ1JX3A/
Stand:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PLEX7Q4/
I have one that’s black and white reversible, and when used with my portable lights the result looks like:
I liked this setup a lot because I could easily take it down, and it wasn’t that expensive!
I would always use those for “professional looking” calls (that picture is kinda crappy, but in reality the background would look quite nice).
A lot of really good info here. Thanks! I like how you are intentional about things that seem irrelevant, but pay off in the end.
One thing that I find helpful is having a picture of my Grandmother in my office. She was one of the most awesome people I know and I want to be like her. Plus I want her to be proud of me. So when I see her picture it spurs me on to not only do well and work hard, but it makes me ask questions like how is my character? Am I doing good? Am I focusing on what’s most important?
Thanks for sharing your insight.
PS One vote for Googly eyes. That’s a great idea
Oh very cool Kim! It’s crazy how different things motivate different people.
Great insight :)
You were reading my mind, Neville! OMG. Are you one of FBI spies who scanning all my content? Jk haha
But yeah, absolutely I was getting a more and more video calls for my business and I solved the sound problem but now I had no idea where to start with lighting.
I’ll setup something similar, thank you!
Yes Marie I spy all your content 😎
Definitely think more about your video calls, the trends show that they are becoming far more common….in some cases the ONLY method of communicating with co-workers!
Does your home office also happen to be located at the back of your house?
Because your new setup looks like a great backroom casting couch for clients requiring solid copywriting. After nailing them hard and continuously with questions to get the right wording and context, I’m sure the fold out bed comes in handy so they can have a short nap before round two starts with honing up and spanking their landing page/copy into top shape
Bahahahahahahahha…….yeah that’s my second gig ;-P
Great notes on the lighting. I think that’s the biggest key to managing good video calls.
Probably the best tip I have is putting up some stylish light colored curtains over the open closets in my office. They reflect the light well, have a nice pattern, and cover the 300+ books and extra music equipment I keep in the closets.
I also have several Wemo outlets for kicking on my lights and speakers. I have a google assistant speaker that I tell to “Turn on studio” as soon as I enter. It’s kinda boss like I’m Picard giving commands to my computer.
I use a SAD light behind my monitors as it helps with the Portland winters and adds the needed lighting. Plus it’s super modisch. Ja wohl!
I had back issues in my 20s due to sitting all day at a computer. I have a sit/stand desk that I really like, which makes it nice when I feel that soreness in my lumbar, and standing on the plushy IKEA rug I got makes standing very comfortable.
Great tips Erick!
I used to have an amazing sit/stand desk I got rid of during a move, but desperately want another one.
Sitting all day sucks.
Standing all day sucks.
But sometimes sitting and sometimes standing is the best!
P.S. This comment is possibly shirt-worthy :)
Delete this comment after you’ve reviewed it and made a change. You need to change the word “look” to “like” in the paragraph right under the 4th to the last picture. The paragraph says, “There’s a small bookshelf inthe corner, and I generally leave the blinds closed since I look (should be “like”) controlling the lighting.
I already made another comment on your post – great job. Also I didn’t realize that Tchotchke has an other spelling “chachkies.” As long as Noah Kagan’s mom says this is acceptable I’m fine with it – lol.
Cal
Hey thanks for the second set of eyes Cal, I made the update :)
I have a motorized desk (sit-to-stand) and realized it is important to be aware of what your camera picks us when the desk is in standing position rather than just sitting position. I have filing cabinets behind my desk and if I leave papers on the top of the cabinets you can see them when I raise my desk to standing position – oops!
Cal
Bahahahhaa never even thought of that…..such first world problems we all have 😂
Hey there :)
Great article, a lot of useful things I’ve never thought about!
One thing I started doing a few months ago was sticking googly eyes next to my camera (you know those jiggly plastic eyes you use for crafting?). I had noticed that in a video call I would look at the screen to see the persons face, but through this, I never really looked directly into the camera and it always seemed like I was looking down. Then I bought a big pair of those eyes and stuck them on top of my laptop, and it helped me to look into the camera more often :D
It’s not a huge thing, but I feel like I am more professional with them and the person I’m speaking to gets the feeling of eye contact. I started with this when I had a job interview via video call, and since then I’m a fan of this silly little trick…
great idea!!!
Great tip! I’m learning so much. Thank you!
Awesome idea! I’m going to get them now.
Omg that is hilarious (and definitely a shirt-worthy comment) 😂
Never heard of someone doing this….but makes sense! My webcam kind of blends into the bezel of my Mac display so I never look at it either!
I like how you use the play lights! For those who are easily cold, I also recommend putting a foot warmer below your desk.
Good suggestion….though I’m like constantly hot….so it’s more like having a fan on 😂
Also I requested carpet be put in that room vs hardwood, so the feet are nice a cozy :)
Have you A/B tested whether having a more ‘interesting’ office aids you in videoconference with coworkers? Wow! I sometimes work in my dining room for a change in scenery and now I’m considering having my bookshelf behind me, rather than the one painting and a wall.
Frankly, having something interesting to look at has always allowed me to think. But, now that I think of it, I often ask my coworkers about cool their cool tchotchke and it helps with bonding.
Thanks for writing this article. This is not something I’ve thought about…
Hey Kathy, I have two thoughts on this:
1.) For some people having a lot of interesting stuff around helps them think.
2.) For some people having a lot of interesting stuff around DISTRACTS them!
I’m in between those two. However I definitely think having books around helps, for some reason even just looking at book titles can jog your brain into ideas :)
Neville, just remembered something. Our company uses Zoom, and you can use a virtual background. My coworker actually used a pic of his favourite rock band, so he looks like he’s part of the band. Really fun. However, you can use more professional backgrounds like your city scape. :)
Bahahhaha yes I’ve used that feature before, I also have a green screen mylar background which makes it work REALLY well!
Those lights really add a nice ambiance. Great job, Neville.
Thanks Giles! It really adds a nice touch to the room….and best of all I can control them fully (dimmer, color etc).
Do you use the camera in your laptop or have separate camera? I have four monitors and compromise productivity when I use camera on laptop. What camera is best to use?
Hey Heidi! I generally use just the standard iMac built in camera, and when I’m doing a side-angle view (Like this) I use a Logitech Brio webcam on a stand.