The Best Tools for At Home Video Conferencing
Remote work, and work-from home is more common than ever; so much so that some businesses are ditching their offices completely in favor of fully remote teams. Adopting this change means that many companies are migrating to video conferencing platforms in order for their team members to stay connected.
With this being said, some investment must be made into the proper equipment to support work-from-home teams.
Let’s cut right to the chase, here are a couple tools for professional video conferencing at home.
Headphones/Earbuds
Headphones or earbuds are a pretty self explanatory thing when it comes to video conferencing. They allow you to hear the person or people on the other end of a call better. They are also a good method of drowning out environmental distractions, especially headphones or earbuds equipped with a noise cancelling feature.
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of options out there to choose from when it come to picking a pair of headphones to use for video conferencing. Everything from a basic pair of Apple earbuds all the way to a Bluetooth gaming headset can work.
One thing to take note of though is to make sure whatever headphones, headset or earbuds you use, they have some sort of integrated microphone for speaking.
External Microphones
The topic of speaking brings me onto my next point, external microphones. Why do I need an external microphone you might ask? Well, they provide superior speaking clarity, especially when addressing a large number of people in one video call.
Now, investing in a dedicated external microphone might not be for everybody, but the benefit is definitely there. External microphones have many additional features that make them a great tool for video conferencing.
Such features include:
- Vocal sensitivity adjustment
- Background noise reduction
- Improved vocal clarity over integrated microphones
- Vocal pitch and tone adjustments
External Mouse & Keyboard
Next on our list is an external mouse and keyboard. For doing most remote work, having a mouse and keyboard is essential. But why are they so important for video conferencing? Well, they’re important because many video conferencing platforms have a chat and messaging feature built-in. This feature is actually very important as it allows people to communicate for most instances when a video call is not required.
With that being said, why would a laptop user need a mouse and keyboard? Most laptop trackpads just aren’t suitable or ergonomic enough for most professional applications; investing in an external mouse is especially important for this reason.
A keyboard on the other hand is another issue. In most cases, using an integrated laptop keyboard is probably enough if you’re only using the laptop itself. However, as soon as you plug that laptop into an external monitor, you’ll quickly find that using the laptop keyboard isn’t as functional.
If you plan to use the monitor as your primary screen and have the laptop off to the side, having an external keyboard and mouse is a must. Typing on a laptop keyboard with a setup like this isn’t very practical or comfortable, especially with a monitor taking up a large amount of workspace. With this in mind, investing in an external keyboard is a much more desirable option.
External Webcams
Lastly, one more tool people might want to consider for video conferencing at home is an external webcam. Webcams are more of a special case scenario, but I felt the need to include them as they can be important depending on your work-from-home setup.
If you have a laptop with an integrated webcam as most laptops do nowadays, it’s probably enough in most cases. If you want a camera with better video quality than a standard laptop camera, a webcam can definitely help.
However, if you have a laptop that doesn’t have a webcam, or if you have a desktop, getting some form of webcam is a must for video conferencing. Fortunately, there are many different affordable options out there for external webcams.
I have provided links to a couple webcams below:
- https://www.bestbuy.com/site/mee-audio-1080p-webcam-with-autofocus/6435194.p?skuId=6435194
- https://www.bestbuy.com/site/logitech-c920e-webcam/6448067.p?skuId=6448067
- https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-Widescreen-Calling-Recording/dp/B004FHO5Y6/ref=sr_1_16?crid=1M51OAJDFF96R&keywords=external+webcam&qid=1645718359&sprefix=external+webcam%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-16
Ending Thoughts
As you can see, there are many tools available to help with home video conferencing. Headphones are optimal for listening to other people in video calls and for drowning out distractions.
External microphones can provide enhanced vocal quality for video calls, as well as reduce background noises.
External mice and keyboards allow for messaging and text chatting within many video conferencing platforms, and can provide better ergonomics than laptop keyboards and trackpads.
Lastly, external webcams are great for improving video quality, and are a necessity for when a device doesn’t feature an integrated webcam.
All of these tools can be a huge asset for work-from-home teams that rely on video conferencing to communicate and should definitely be considered when investing in a home workspace setup.
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