Published on the 25/06/2015 | Written by Newsdesk

Throw enough people in front of a video camera and strange things are certain to happen…

While the release of a freemium video conferencing solution from LogMeIn is rendered a little ‘ho hum’, largely thanks to Skype, far more interest comes from its study which exposes the behaviours and experiences of users. In the wake of that research, LogMeIn also offers some advice – most of which should be entirely obvious (and therefore spurious) to any serious professional.

First, the research: respondents were sourced from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Questions covered usage patterns, direct experiences and opinions on best and worst practices. Findings, said the LogMeIn subsidiary join.me which ran the study, ranged from the mundane to just plain weird.

Taboos (and attendant advice) include:

1. Dress the part…at least the part that shows up on camera
21% of Americans admitted to attending a video conference with a professional top and pyjama pants. And 17% of people worldwide report seeing someone dressed inappropriately.

2. Stay out of bed – you snooze, you lose
More than 6% have actually seen someone taking a video conference from their bed, though 57% admit to finding a place in the house that makes you look more professional in prep for your video conference.

3. Don’t use video as a mirror
18% have seen someone using the video camera as a mirror to fix their hair, makeup and appearance. Interestingly, 1 in 4 Americans admit to applying make-up before getting on a video conference, whereas Germans and Australians tend to go natural with only 13% and 12% (or just over 1 in 10), respectively admitting to the same thing.

4. Stay out of the bathroom – enough said
21% of people surveyed voted this was the WORST thing someone could do on-screen – and horrifyingly enough, 6% have ACTUALLY seen someone taking a VC from their WC.

5. Don’t pick your nose – don’t pick anything
1 in 10 people have seen someone pick their nose on-screen during a video conference.

6. No pets – No dog. No cat. Or any other animal for that matter
16% of people have seen an attendees pet make an unexpected cameo.

7. No strange sounds – please do not emit awkward, inappropriate bodily noises
Yes, 8% people reported to have heard awkward and inappropriate bodily noises on a video conference. Maybe it was just a squeaky chair, but still…

And LogMeIn’s new, free video conferencing solution? That’s part of its internet meeting service join.me, and the vendor says the video capabilities ‘are designed to provide people with a simple fast, and fun way to meet with colleagues, partners and customers across the hall, across the country or across the world’.

Where join.me’s video differs from Skype is that it is in-browser; no need to download anything, except perhaps your pyjamas, prior to using it. Individual video feeds take the form of bubbles which can be manipulated and moved around the screen, while it can be used to have video-only calls, chats, and meetings, or it can be used in conjunction with join.me’s screen sharing capability.