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How to tweak your desk so you look professional on work video calls

Written by
Kate Solomon
Photograph: Shutterstock
Photograph: Shutterstock
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Seems like a lot of #business is happening via webcam nowadays. If you’re feeling the opposite of productive but want to convince that you’re smashing through spreadsheets as quickly as you’re smashing through the Hobnobs in your cupboard, then it’s time to create a professional illusion. 

Kate Watson-Smyth, author of interiors blog and book Mad About the House, says that styling your surroundings can fool callers into thinking you’re taking wfh very, very seriously. Her tips?

1. Choose your desk space carefully

Sit at a table, not on your sofa or your bed (even if that’s where you work best). 

2. Tidy up

You’re going to want have the background as bare as possible. ‘Now is probably not the time for a large copy of Jilly Cooper’s “Riders” to be dominating the screen,’ she says. 

3. Make sure there’s a cup of coffee in shot 

It’s the productive worker’s drink of choice, after all. 

4. Get a plant

They’re nice to look at and show you can reliably and responsibly look after something. Although Watson-Smyth adds: ‘Make sure it’s healthy, that way your caller can focus fully on what you’re saying rather than wondering if they can ask you to water it.

Learn how to use the Houseparty app

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