What NOT to Wear for a Video Conference
Believe it or not, what you choose to wear on the day of your video conference can make a big difference in how you look to the other people involved in the broadcast. To be safe, video conference day is the day to pull out your solid color black, gray or navy blue suit with as few accessories as you can handle, because looking sharp through a cheap video camera requires a simple approach.
You’ve probably noticed from time to time, especially on local news shows, that the checkered patterns on neckties, sport coats or ladies’ dresses creates a bizarre color distortion that is very distracting. This is a natural result of the scanners used to decode the video signal, and is just as big of a factor in a computer conference as it is a live television broadcast. So the first rule is to avoid any clothing with a repetitive pattern, especially houndstooth and tweed jackets.
Bright, solid colors should also be avoided because they tend to reflect their tones onto your skin and can give you a very unusual pallor which is not, of course, how you want to be remembered. Yellows, reds and blues are particularly guilty of emitting unfavorable shading on your face during a video conference.
You also want to select shades and patterns that don’t match your natural skin tone and hair color. This can make you appear like a big blob without any definition. The same thing applies to an all-white outfit, it can leave “tracers” around your image when you move because a camera cannot adapt quickly enough to the subtle gradients.
