Videoconference Meetings – Remember to Also Dress from the Waist Down

I got a chuckle out of the June 10^th Wall Street Journal article titled “Next on the Agenda: Kisses From Honey Bunny” by Dana Mattioli with the subtitle “Virtual Meetings Raise Risk of Embarrassing Faux Pas; A Suit on Top, Jeans Below.”

The article describes a meeting conducted via videoconferencing where a man “was dressed in business attire while he was sitting down, but once he stood up at the end of the conference, the camera revealed that he was wearing jeans.” The article goes on to say that the person on the other end of the camera thus questioned the man’s judgment.

Okay, I know you’re saying: Hey, the guy didn’t plan to stand up. Cut him some slack.

Of course he didn’t plan to stand up. But we all do things on automatic pilot. He was a man videoconferencing with a woman. He may have been taught to stand when a woman leaves the room. So perhaps he automatically stood at the end of the meeting.

The moral of the story: When meeting through a videoconference, dress as if the meeting were actually in the other person’s office. This will save you from any embarrassing “exposures” if you forget that you’re on candid camera.

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