What are YOU looking at?
Articles recently shared on LinkedIn and elsewhere, provide many tips for effectively using Zoom to conduct mediation sessions. One tip: Put a Post-it note above the camera so you look at it when communicating with the people on the screen. This is an interesting lesson.
Body language is important when conducting a mediation. Eye contact is vital to understanding it. When you look at a person's face on your Zoom screen you're actually looking up, down or to either side of the screen. You need to look into the camera to make eye contact. That little piece of paper reminds you to do that.
I did a Zoom mediation recently using the set up, and made an interesting discovery. In gallery mode I could see everyone involved ---- including me. I noticed the eye contact being made by some and the lack of it by others. I saw the body language of the other people.
The discovery: my own body language!
During all these years of mediating I never considered my own visual performance. (No mirrors during in person sessions.) It's more than lighting and background, more than what you're wearing and the noise from dogs or kids, and it's more than eye contact. You must also mind your body language!
That's what THEY'RE looking at.
Elliot Herland
May 20, 2020