All of us have days when interacting with other people is difficult. Every single one of us. Even the world’s most boisterous extroverts. But these days are more frequent for some of us than others. Having one uneasy day every year, or even every 10 years, isn’t the same as having three or four uneasy days a week. Video conferencing software is another tool that can help you become more confident interacting with other people, so that the days of “difficult interaction” become less frequent for you as well. Virtual meeting is a great exercise to help with overcoming natural but hindering feelings of shyness and anxiety, as well as minor self-esteem issues which get in the way of healthy communication with other people. Here’s a few reasons why.
If you’re anxious or shy about interacting with someone, that’s understandable. But when you interact with someone in person there’s a number of factors that could be contributing to your anxiety. You may be in an unfamiliar environment, or simply an environment you have much less control over. Alternatively, you can usually hold a video call online from the locations you’re most comfortable with.
Something as familiar and easy as your bedroom or living room. Or a home study if you’ve got one set up. Minimal distractions or unexpected interruptions. Or if you’re more comfortable outside home, maybe from a familiar library or coffee shop. The point is, you don’t need to worry about both interacting with the person and an environment you have less control over than you’d like. If you practice enough interactions like that, you may gradually become more comfortable with in-person interactions
There’s also the comfort & safety of an easier exit from your video call. Virtually meeting someone over video conferencing software means they only see as much of your surroundings as you let them. You can easily let them know politely that something came up and exit gracefully without worrying about whether or not they’d believe you, because why wouldn’t they? You wouldn’t be lying either. Something did come up. You needed to end the conversation to get your bearings. Again, practicing an easier, virtual version of the graceful exit can make you more comfortable making it in person.
Conversation is an art. There are books about it, academic subjects and courses taught, along with a bunch of industries built around it. But all arts can be mastered. And all mastery takes practice. Sometimes, our reluctance to converse comes from us worrying about doing it badly. A video call is the perfect opportunity to practice with much less pressure. You can use conversational aids. Post-it/Sticky notes? You bet. Notepad speaking prompts typed on your laptop? Also good. Just make sure you practice anything you have written down so your conversational aids act as speaking prompts not reading prompts. At a glance, they should remind you what you need to say before you look at the camera again. That’s the difference between conversing and reciting.
Eventually, with enough assisted practice, you may stop needing conversational aids for both a video call or an in person conversation. If you ever stop conversing long enough that you need some refreshers, you could always take up practicing through a video chatting app with the help of conversational aids until you’re ready again. Because the beautiful thing about practice is that you can revise it as much as you need to, and the beautiful thing about video conferencing apps is that they don’t seem to be going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
Let’s face it. If you’re a little anxious about making conversation, you’ll inevitably be judging your performance at some point, telling yourself you did good, bad, or somewhere in between. Not every video call solution allows you to record the video call. The good news is that with Banty’s video chat software, all of our platforms offer a video recording option. If you’re speaking with someone professionally, let them know you’re recording the conversation for your records.
When you’re done with your video call, simply review the recording later and judge your performance in real time as opposed to doing so from memory. This will enable you to make any adjustments you’d like to in future conversations. More than that, it will enable you to make adjustments during practice, so you can be safe when you try those adjustments in a new conversation. And it takes a load off your mind, preventing you from overthinking about how you're doing during an ongoing video chat. Because you can reassure yourself by thinking "I can check how I did on the recording later." That way, overthinking won't affect your performance during your video chat.
While you’re looking at video calling software solutions to increase your confidence, might we suggest going with the easiest option? At Banty, we’re rather proud of how easy and intuitive our interface is. Take a look at your options and then try whichever one you want; free of charge for fourteen days straight, before you need to make a final decision!
