3 Ways To Improve Your Zoom Presentations

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit our world, people have scrambled to be able to continue meeting, teaching, lecturing, and presenting online. Many online retailers ran out of webcams and video capture cards due to people setting up home-broadcasting situations in their living rooms, bedrooms, basements, closets, garages and anywhere else they could fit a computer and a camera. It's been cool to see how people are accomplishing this and the creativity going into their setups. 

The image above shows my personal setup for presenting online via Zoom. I'm a podcaster and videographer, so all of this setup was pieced together by gear I'd already purchased, it was simply a matter of arranging it all to work for the Zoom platform. The technical side of this setup is the same for any scenario and doesn't necessarily require the exact gear pictured.

When putting together the above setup, I did three things to improve my presentation, and they're things you can do too that'll help your online presentation quality. 

1) Upgrade your webcam. 

Here's the idea - in Zoom, you can choose your camera and your audio source in the Zoom preferences menu. If you have a laptop with a built-in camera, Zoom will default to that camera. This is how many will use Zoom, and the camera quality usually isn't that great and most likely doesn't do so well in low light scenarios. ​

Also, many built-in cameras only give a 720p resolution, which isn't considered HD, or high definition. I've connected a LogiTech C920 webcam via USB to my setup, and that camera gives a 1080HD image, and does really well in low-light. There are many other webcams on the market, but look for 1080HD with USB connection. You'll be looking at the $100-$200 range for LogiTech and HP webcams Amazon.com or BhPhotoVideo.com. 

2) Upgrade your microphone.

If I were to suggest a single upgrade for anyone doing online presentations, it would be upgrading your microphone. This is what happens in most cases: people use the internal microphone on their laptops or use a pair of headphones with a built-in microphone. The headphone microphone will sound better than the laptop mic, but neither give a high-quality sound. My solution is to purchase a USB microphone. USB mics will give you a plug-and-play solution and greatly increase the quality of your audio. I've heard that people will endure bad videos longer than they endure bad audio.

The Audio Technica ATR2100x USB mic is a great, $100 solution. Audio Technica also makes a $79 USB microphone if you need to stick to a slimmer budget. In the image above, I've used a Rode Podmic XLR microphone connected to the Alesis MultiMix 4 USB interface for my audio source. It's a more expensive setup, but allows more opportunity for external audio sources like music and sound effects, not always used in Zoom presentations but available if needed. ​

3) Add a brighter light source.

You've seen it before, someone sitting against a window and the window is bright and their face is dark. Or, a dark, grainy image of someone's face dimly lit by a desk lamp. You can easily fix this problem with an LED light source. In my setup, I'm using the Dracast LED 500 which is what I use for other video shoots, but it's more than enough of a light source to give a wonderfully sharp, and well-exposed image.

If you search "LED Camera Light" on Amazon.com you'll get many options for budget lights that will no doubt help the sharpness and quality of your image on the screen. Most of these lights are battery-powered, so looking for one with a power adapter would be beneficial so it doesn't turn off in the middle of your presentation if the battery runs low. ​

One more trick of the trade, don't sit with a window behind you. As a matter of fact, if you sit with the window facing you, it'll double as a natural light source if you're presenting in the daytime. With the natural lighting and the LED light pointed toward your face, you're bound to have a great light source to help the video quality of your presentation. 
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If you have any questions about this setup or any other audio or video topics, don't hesitate to email me at [email protected]. ​