How to Set Up a Productive Home Office for Frequent Video Conference Users

The world’s changing around us and you’d like to keep up. Whatever you’re circumstances, if you’re thinking about blurring the lines between home and work, you’re likely thinking of a proper home office. But you need to know that productivity won’t be an issue. In other words, you want to know you’ll get work done as opposed to getting distracted by everything from your kids to Netflix.

Working from home doesn’t have to be compromise. Likewise, myths about troubles with keeping a schedule and motivation are just that, they’re myths. Even when in sandals and boxer shorts you can still be professional, punctual, and motivated.

Take a look at several productivity-saving home office tips. 

Remote work may actually mean longer hours as there’s no need to commute. So, comfort is even more important, because not only will you spend more time working (possibly), but psychologically-speaking, being comfortable in your own home is essential. So what do you need? Of course a good, ergonomic office chair that’s easy on your posture. The same applies to your desk. That tiny folding desk you got five years ago for 30 bucks won’t cut it anymore. You need something spacious to avoid falling prey to clutter. 

You can’t seriously consider a home office these days with anything less than 300Mbps in bandwidth. If you’re still on lower speed connections, please upgrade. Also, make sure you have a good router for stable Wi-Fi. You’ll rely on video conferencing and streaming, so you need fast connectivity on all your devices, including smart wireless projectors that make home productivity better. Good Wi-Fi means less cable clutter, which is one of the biggest enemies of motivation at home offices. 

Productivity means co-working with others, even if it’s all done remotely. For that you need access and presentation tools. Smart wireless projectors combine both and work great to alleviate Zoom fatigue. That’s brought on by staring at tiny screens all day. With a big picture format everything looks better, and you feel uplifted about work. You’ll soon find yourself looking forward to video conferences. Imagine that! 

Design your home office. It’s just a part of your home, and ideally you don’t want to let it take over. That’s doubly important if you have a family. They’re not your employees so don’t force them to join in on your calls and projects. Even if good Wi-Fi makes it easy to work from every corner of your place, ideally you should designate one area like a study for work.

Eye fatigue saps productivity fast. It’s tempting to work on your smartphone, tablet, or even laptop, but we strongly suggest you invest in a nice 32” monitor or consider a smart wireless projector for wall-sized viewing. Again, these do wonders for motivation, especially for someone who relies heavily on video conferencing to get work done. WIth meeting slides shown on bigger screens, they reproduce the office feel, plus they’re a lot healthier than working with eye-straining displays. 

Don’t have a Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive account? Get one set up. Even the paid, premium versions are very affordable, and these days keeping files safe and easily-accessible/shareable mandates having cloud storage. You will never look at USB sticks the same again, which is unsurprising anyway in an era when you and your coworkers don't share physical space as often as before.  

Remember that smart wireless projector? Combined with a webcam it makes for a big, bold, and impressive way to present work content. Wow your coworkers rather than appear (yet again) as a tiny talking head on Zoom with an abstract lamp behind you. Stand up in front of the projector and get in the swing of things. You’ll feel rejuvenated and will be eager to present again. And again.