Meeting virtually–whether it be for important meetings or catching up with family — is the new norm as it’s been our main medium of communication for the past year. This especially includes investor meetings which have fully transitioned from being in-person to online. While many of us have mastered our virtual pitch, here are 5 key reminders on how to perfect your virtual set-up.

Lighting is everything

While it’s a small thing to fix, it makes the largest difference. Lighting is a nonverbal form of communication, and influences our mood everyday. To get scientific, it’s been proven that a wavelength between 460 and 480 nm suppresses our natural melatonin levels, therefore triggering our brain to secrete more melatonin than desired. As a result, the release of more melatonin makes us feel sleepy and down. If our zoom set up is dark or dimly lit, our presentation will lack the passion, optimism, and confidence investors are looking for. To fix this dilemma, it’s best to have your lightsource hit you indirectly from a forward-facing angle. As for a type of lightsource, natural light, a warmly-lit LED lamp, or a ring light will illuminate your warmth and confidence, making investors feel like they’re in the room with you.

Direct your eyes to the camera, not the screen

Keep eye contact with investors when presenting, but remember to look at the webcam and not your screen. While looking at your screen and/or a detached monitor can be tempting, it can deter from projecting the nonverbal cue of high self-esteem and self-confidence. To keep eye contact with your webcam, try lowering your monitor camera and tilt it slightly up so you can still see the screen, but your eyes will line up with investors.

Keep your background clean & simple

Don’t get me wrong, using the zoom background feature is fun and creates a welcoming atmosphere. Yet, having a busy background is the opposite of what you want when e-meeting investors. When pitching to investors, the focus should be on you and your company. Having a clutter of artifacts or a zoom background can be distracting and take away from your presentation. Keep your area clean and simple and ideally, your background should be neutral-colored. It’s okay to have artifacts in the background, however make sure they’re not distracting to the eye so that investors can fully focus on you and your pitch.

Take up space

Other than eye contact, another way to show self-confidence is to take up space, literally. It’s best to sit up straight and have your face and shoulders take up the bulk of the screen so you are visible to investors. Overall, taking up space will help portray a big presence and a strong image of you as a leader and successful entrepreneur.

Practice

The most important part about pitching is nailing your presentation. Practice with your friends, colleagues, and team as you not only want your presentation to hit all the right points, but you want to eliminate any possibility of technical difficulties. Make zoom and/or any video-chat platform you prefer second nature. The worst thing that could happen is for your presentation to flop because of a technical failure.