A lot of you are going to have your first #ZoomMeeting today, or maybe even be interviewed on the news from social isolation! Exciting!

HEREUNDER FREE ADVICE ABOUT THAT

(I used to do media training for diplomats. If you're in a Zoom meeting, aka on-camera/mic, that's media)

The first thing you need to do, BEFORE the interview/meeting, is set up the space in which you'll be seen - and that's how to think of it: "The space in which I'll be seen." What do I want behind me? What do I *not* want there? How is the light in this room? What color am I?

I mean really: What color are you? Are you light? Are you dark? Make sure that the color behind you is not close to the color of your skin.

So this is mostly a white people problem.

HEY WHITE PEOPLE: Stop going on-camera in front of pale walls! If *all* your walls are pale,

you can put yourself in front of a closet door, or something on the wall that is *not* pale - just make sure that it's not something super-detailed. The poster on the left would be ok; the one on the right is more problematic.

What you're trying to do here is not draw attention AWAY from your face and what you're saying. If you look like you're part of the wall, or people are trying to figure out what's written behind you, they will be distracted.

Similarly, consider your clothes/accessories. Even if it's a super-casual meeting, you don't want folks thinking about the fact that you're wearing, idk, a Cubs shirt when everyone KNOWS the boss is a Cards fan.

If you're going to be on a news show, this is even more important!

If you're going on a news show, you're there to inform or persuade, or both - if people are thinking about your weird tie or the crooked picture behind you

YOU ARE NEITHER INFORMING NOR PERSUADING THEM.

Do your accessories make noise? Will they get caught in your earbud wires? TAKE THEM OFF (or go wireless if you can)

Your clothes don't need to be monochromatic but consider the example of the posters above: Nothing too detailed. And nothing too close to the color of your skin!!

This is the most important thing though:

Whatever device you'll be using, set it up so that the CAMERA is a little above eye-level. Why? Two reasons:

1) You want it to look like you're looking people in the eye, not down at them
2) NO ONE WANTS TO LOOK UP YOUR NOSE

Getting your device at that height may require some ingenuity, or at least a pile of books (this is part of why you want to get set up beforehand!). Last wk I MacGuyered a solution w/ a cookbook stand & a ruler on top of a pile of books + a jewelry box.

Why do all this, you ask?

The biggest reason is you want folks paying attention to you, not your laundry or crazy wallpaper.

The other biggest reason:

STUFF *WILL* HAPPEN THAT YOU CAN'T CONTROL (cats, websites cutting out, wind) - you want to control what you can, so the other stuff isn't derailing.

Once you're set up, even if you're not going to be using your phone, set your phone up there as if you're taking a selfie - what you're seeing is what they're going to see.

Do you need more light? Move a lamp next to you, out of frame. Is that a pizza box? Move it out of frame.

To sum up:

-Don't sit in front of anything the color of your skin!! (or super detailed/messy)
-Keep your outfit simple BUT ALSO not skin-colored
-Get that camera above eye level! Boogers are secret!
-Give your set-up a quick test drive ahead of time

Finally:

Something will go wrong anyway. It just will! That's ok. If you have one really important point to make, make sure you make it, & then give the whole thing up to the gods. You can't control everything, you did your best, & you said what you needed to say. You rock!

PS This thread brought to you by ~65% of the folks I saw on Chris Hayes & Rachel Maddow last week - no one expects you to be a media expert from your living room, but YOU want to make sure viewers register what you're saying. Remove any impediments to them being able to do that.

PPS Inre: my advice in this thread, @ASlavitt knows what he's about! Here he is on All In a few minutes ago. Be like Andy!

I feel like the only responsible thing to do here is add @oureric to this thread and say that of course you SHOULD NOT do this but if you do please DM about it later. https://twitter.com/oureric/status/1244985398973128704

Perfection, by the way:

I had a Zoom meeting the other day in which every single person was doing at least one thing here completely, terribly, somewhat amusingly wrong.

Chuck did really pretty well, the art behind him is perfect, but he needs to put a dictionary under that laptop. Boogers are secret, Chuck.

This was a great addition in the @'s from @huler https://twitter.com/huler/status/1244649686184722434?s=19