When you launch a video conference, are you using the camera on your laptop to stay connected? Is it a weird experience, trying to look at the person on the screen, while also trying to simulate eye contact? It’s an interesting phenomenon, but one that is gaining traction as companies and government agencies alike are turning to video collaboration to keep travel costs under control.

To that end, companies of all sizes are investing in the technology to support video conferencing and collaboration. Whether these companies are buying equipment or paying for service through a hosted provider, video is becoming more of a mainstay to promote products, communicate company values and connect a sales person to a client on the other side of the world.

The quality of the equipment can make an impact on the experience, however. The eye contact issue mentioned above really only scratches the surface of the challenges that can exist with video interactions. For instance, a recent video interview I conducted with a search team was plagued with problems from the start, with the majority of the viewing experience on our end being a picture of the candidate’s profile picture.

Another interviewee had his wife sitting in on the interview with him, but didn’t inform those of us on the other side of the session until he started conversing with her 30 minutes in. It was poor video conferencing etiquette, to say the least. Perhaps we should have been grateful that he dressed the part and didn’t have pajama pants on while sitting at his computer. At least that’s the assumption made.

This does point to a few things to keep in mind when engaging with others through video conferencing:

• Dress as though you are going to be meeting the individual in person.
• Practice the conference with your own video equipment to understand the view other participants will have. Clutter in the background isn’t putting your best foot forward.
• Mute your phone – a ringing phone could greatly disturb the conversation, wasting time and giving the wrong impression to your audience.
• Apply the same rules to the video conference as you would to an in-person interaction, checking your presence as unavailable and focusing your attention on the individual(s) on the other end of the connection

If you’re ready to embrace video and all of its potential in your environment, one company is hoping to set the pace. Vaddio was recently on hand at Interop (News - Alert) 2014 in New York and TMCnet was able to get the scoop on what they’ve been up to in the market.