As many people are now working remotely due to social distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), video meetings are more important than ever. Like many of you, the AMBA team use Zoom for our weekly webinar series, team meetings and more.
However, videoconferencing can create a divide between the people communicating. Guaging responses to presentations and conversations is tough over video. Still, there are several body language and facial expression cues that you can read on camera. Listed below are some tips to read the body language of your client in a video meeting.
Notice the posture
No matter what the video quality is, you can easily notice their body posture. Make sure you watch the client’s posture throughout the video meeting and pay attention to changes. An individual who goes from sitting straight to leaning back depicts boredom. An interested client will sit straight up with expressions of interest.
Subconscious gestures
Small gestures reveal a lot about a person, a lot more than an individual can even realize. Strong active nods are a sign of agreement, while a tilt shows confusion or disagreement. The person’s hands, light tapping on the table, and fidgeting are often signs of boredom or distraction.
Facial expressions
Eye contact is a great way to understand facial expressions and to keep the client engaged. If the person is furrowing their brows or ignoring eye contact, you may have lost the individual’s interest. On the other hand, if the person’s brows are relaxed and there is a smile on the face, it’s a positive sign.
Movement
Video conferencing limits you to watch only the person’s face and upper body, but you can still see a lot of individual movements. Shifting position now and then is a sign of boredom. It could also show that the person finds it difficult to sit still for long. Videoconferencing has its limitations, but it can still be used to determine important things about your clients.

​The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has resulted in many people working from home. There's many tools out there for making working with your team sharing content easier - here's a few that the AMBA team swear by!
Trello
Trello- an efficient and transparent business tool that makes the team create, design, and allocate the task in visual interface. As a user of this tool, it offers the ultimate benefit to develop cards for each and every task and sort them in any manner, i.e. department wise, etc. As soon as one of the task progresses, it makes the team members move towards the other category of the cards. Hence, serving as a tool which allows all the members of the team to be aware of the projects’ progress. In comparison to email, this collaborative tool has been witnessed as an engaging one.
Serene
Serene is an application that assist businesses in dealing with specific issues by letting the team stay focused and achieve the ultimate goals. This tool shows its’ importance with the fact that it lets the team go with their goal.
Slack
Slack is among the essential business tools or say a perfect communication management app that suites well with the task that needs to done remotely. As a business owner, you’ll be free enough to develop a channel for separate departments of the team where direct messages can be send over. Its basic features comprises drag-drop files, pinning the documents, and bookmarking of the messages. Being a quicker, efficient, and a user-friendly app, slack application cuts down the internal emails.
Where the remote team makes use of slack, it works as a water cooler that helps in the developing the bonding between the members of the team.
Google drive
This is one of the prioritized tools when it comes to working from home. None of the business would lose important details. Therefore, makes use of google drive that serves as a platform where one can keep all of the files in a centralized location. The team members can easily store and share the documents, excel files, as well as the PPT presentations. The tool further allows synchronizing of the files so that each member of the team can view it and have it updated.
Zoom
Zoom is an essential home business tool that works as a perfect end-to-end conferencing tool, used mainly for the purpose of engaging the team members and having an efficient and productive meetings conducted. It is rich in features that are demanded including the sharing of content, screen sharing, local recording, etc. Hence, an exclusive tool for sharing the ideas among the participants in comparison to all the other available tools.
A beginner can easily have it downloaded and send the meeting link which can be reached upon by the other members via any android device or personal computer.
Monday
Monday refers to an efficient project management platform where the entire business team can assist each other via allowing them to track every type of work going on, task management, and the execution of number of task. Just like how Air works, Monday ensures the integration of numerous yet favorable business tools which is also referred to as a core feature for the modern day users.

Brett Wilson is one of Canada’s favorite dragons from the CBC show Dragon’s Den. He wrote a book called “Redefining Success” after he lost his family in the pursuit of business and riches. I have it here on my shelf. One excerpt says,
“ along the path to business success, he tripped over a multitude of misguided priorities. For many years, Wilson pursued business with uncompromising focus, working long hours, 7 days a week. In the process his marriage and his health suffered greatly …” It is true, we get what we focus on.

Starting a new career and business is often thrilling and (nerve-racking) to begin with, but the excitement of hustling and doing another deal can often merge into and replace other priorities if we are not careful.

In the first few years, you may excuse the constant distractions, but many solopreneurs recognize that long-term they may be sacrificing the very things that they are working for.
If BALANCE is something you only dream about, then these tips are for YOU!

Here are three ways to make the most of your time and guard your priorities:

Annually
Look ahead over the whole year in your calendar and block off weekends away, holidays and special evenings like birthdays and anniversaries. If you don’t schedule them in, chances are they will not happen. Sure, you may stumble upon a nice long weekend by chance, but don’t leave it up to chance! Prioritize it at the beginning of the year when you create your Business Plan.

Every expert will tell you that marriage and relationships ‘take work’ – my question to you is ‘When are you doing the work?”

Daily
During the hours from 5-7 am & pm, engage and be present. The truth is, 75% of your phone activity is not the highest priority. Between 5-7am and pm look at your family, not at your phone. This is a habit you can control.

Choose to guard your family time like Bobby Orr, nothing is getting through when he’s on defense! Getting your children up and out the door on the right foot and getting your day started being pro-active rather than reactive can make all the difference in the world!

I would also highly suggest that children under twelve can greatly benefit from bedtime stories. A simple night-time routine with attention from you will cover a multitude of daily interruptions.

And if you have teens (so sorry! I had four of them at one time, thought my head was going to explode!) – even the coolest teen will feel special if dates are blocked off for them once a month. A simple Sunday each month, or date night after their sports practice when you give them your focus and just listen to them. Priceless.

Moment by Moment
Oprah had a guest on her television show one time that I will never forget, Toni Morrison. She said, “when someone you love comes into the room, SEE them!” Does your face light-up? A simple habit that takes less than one minute can reap a lifetime of love.

Consider reacting to your family when they enter your space as a privilege and joy rather than an intrusion.
What are the simple, regular moments that you can turn into memories that will last a lifetime? Just think about it.
Cooking in the kitchen could become a relationship-building tradition! Just as simple as that.

I want your business to soar, but I don’t want you to be the next Brett Wilson, with regrets and severed family relationships. The great thing is that IT IS NEVER TOO LATE! Brett has exemplified this as he repaired the damage done and re-established relationships with all of his children.
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Take to heart some simple time management strategies and create the balance that you need, and your family wants.

Written by Sue Styles
​Canada’s bossy business coach and one mother of a motivator!
Sue helps entrepreneurs organize their efforts, focus on what matters, and put proper basic foundations into place so that businesses can grow. She teaches practical business tactics from lead generating to client loyalty so that you can close more deals in style!
Sue has been interviewed in FORBES Magazine, is a guest contributor for R.E.M. Online and Host of Youtube’s Hindsight’s 20/20.
www.suestyles.com