Do you know you should always have your camera on for clients?

When working with clients, inevitably you'll find yourself in Teams calls, and it's important to keep your front-facing camera on as much as possible. There's a lot of valuable information conveyed by your face and body language.

• Facial expression and body language are important parts of communication, and help to convey your mood and intent
• It's more friendly towards the other people in a call if they can see you as well as hear you. It feels a lot better to talk to a person than it does to a blank profile image
• It also makes you more trustworthy. People are much more likely to listen and believe you if they can actually see you

❌ Figure: Bad example - The client feels like they are talking to a blank screen. Even with a profile picture, it feels impersonal

✅ Figure: Good example - The client can see your face, and the call feels much more relaxed and personal

Of course there are exceptions, and there are times when you should definitely not turn your camera on.

• If you need to eat during a meeting, it's a good idea to turn video off
• If someone is having network problems, often turning off video helps