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Hold the Phone: 4 Things to Try Before Calling Your IT Department

Video calls

Video calls reduce travel time, eliminate costs, and help you win colleagues and customers from all over the world. But unless you get that video call to work just right, you won’t have a chance of making any of those things happen. Before you panic and call your IT department to take over, here are a few things you can try on your own to fix the problem:

Video calls
Image by Stefan Erschwendner

Visual

  • Check the monitor or TV to see if it’s on. It’s a simple mistake and a detail that’s easy to overlook when you’re stressed out to the nines from round-the-clock meetings and deadlines.
  • Blue monitor? Take a look at your document. Is it on? No? Then turn it on and you’ll see that blue disappear.
  • Your flat screen TV won’t work? Just unplug the power. Give the electrons a few minutes to dry and then plug it back in.
  • If they can’t see you, but audio or chat works just fine, tell, them to check out their monitor, projector or TV. The problem might be with any of these three devices.
  • Poor resolution making it hard for you and your team mates to work together? Then you might want to consider the Zoom feature. To be sure you get the best visuals possible, opt for a system with HD resolution. That’s going to take your business to an entirely different level of connectivity, allowing onsite and offsite employees to feel like they’re all together in the same room. Go for a dependable and trustworthy option like the BlueJeans business video conferencing software. With HD clarity, you won’t have to worry about the blurries getting in the way of an excellent video experience.
  • When all these are done and either side can’t see anything, it might be a firewall problem. If this is beyond your capabilities, then it’s time you sought out the help of your IT department.

Audio

  • No sounds? Adjust the volume. Your setting might be too low for you to hear anything.
  • If the problem isn’t with you, look up at the person on the other end of the camera. If there’s a mute microphone, then ask them to unmute it. Gesture to them or write it down on a piece of paper and show it to them so they can fix the problem right away.
  • If they can’t hear you, then check your microphone. You might be on mute. Unmute it so you and the rest of your team can get start your meeting and get down to business.
  • Another reason you can’t be heard might be because one of the participants has horrid background noise. Pinpoint which one or call everyone’s attention to it. This might help in determining which one of you is generating all that noise.
  • Echoes or feedback can happen too if you have multiple devices in the room that are also in the meeting. So make sure you turn down the volume or mute the mic from those devices. That way, you and colleagues won’t have to be faced with annoying feedback or echoes all throughout the video conference.
  • If they still can’t hear you, gesture to them that the problem might be their volume settings. Again, pen and paper should save the day here.

Test It Out

Before you use the software, make sure you test it out ahead of time. That way, you have plenty of time to request for help and assistance from your IT department. This also helps ensure you get to the meeting on time. If you log in just a few minutes early and find out you need to update or reinstall a feature, upgrade or update, you might find yourself spending 40 minutes on that. That’s going to get your meetings seriously off-track. So make sure you log in, explore software features ahead of time and update or upgrade anything that needs to be updated to make sure everything goes off smooth and hitch-free when the meeting comes.

Adjust Your Settings

Sometimes, all it takes is for you to adjust your unit settings to help resolves issues with brightness, volume, contrast and other issues, says LifeHacker. So take the time to learn the system. The best one won’t be able to help you unless you take the time to study and learn it. That way, you’ll know its features best and how you can make the most out of it. This will certainly take a bit of time but the results will more than pay off in the end.

So don’t let panic and stress get the best of you and your meetings. Make sure you follow these handy tips to help you resolve any issues you might have. That way, you and everyone else in the meeting can look forward to having a productive time.

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Full-time technology blogger and a die hard fan of Startrek. Love to travel and spend time with friends on weekends. Live long, and prosper.

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