Business | Bartleby

商業(yè)?|?巴托比專欄

April 15th 2023|792words

How to be a superstar on Zoom

視頻會(huì)議巨星成功學(xué)

Screen presence is now a feature of the modern office

熒屏表現(xiàn)力如今成當(dāng)代辦公室之特色

[Paragraph 1]The pandemic embedded video into the workplace. Workers who had never previously been on camera suddenly spent every hour of the day getting used to the sight of themselves and their colleagues on screen. Executives realised that they could send video messages to their workforces rather than having to convene town halls.

新冠疫情將視頻牢牢嵌入職場(chǎng)生活中。突然之間，從未上過鏡的員工如今一整天都用來適應(yīng)在屏幕上看到自己和同事的模樣。管理層意識(shí)到，他們可以向員工發(fā)送視頻消息，而不必召開線下員工大會(huì)。

town hall: 起源于政治術(shù)語，指地方和國(guó)家官員聽取社區(qū)對(duì)公共問題的看法而舉辦的會(huì)議，也是政客與選民聯(lián)系的一種方式。在公司層面使用，指管理層與所有員工會(huì)面和聯(lián)系的一種方式。

[Paragraph 2]There is no going back. Blogs have become vlogs. Meetings are now recorded as a matter of course, so that people can fail to watch them back later. Some firms routinely ask applicants to record answers to certain questions on video, so that people can see how well prospective recruits communicate.

潮流奔涌向前，不會(huì)回頭。從前的文字博客已變成視頻日志。人們對(duì)于會(huì)議錄屏已經(jīng)習(xí)以為常，以至于并不會(huì)回看。一些公司通常會(huì)要求應(yīng)聘者以視頻形式錄制某些問題的回答，以便了解潛在新員工的溝通能力。

1.matter of course: something that is to be expected as a natural or logical consequence. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)?理所當(dāng)然

2.recruit: n. a newcomer to a field or activity. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)?新人，常指新兵

[Paragraph 3]Since video has become more central to work, it pays to be good at it. Being a star in the video age means having the right set-up, speaking well and listening well. Workers can improve under their own steam, but companies can help, too.

由于視頻在工作中變得越來越重要，掌握這門手藝還是值得的。要成為視頻時(shí)代的巨星，就要擁有恰當(dāng)?shù)膱?chǎng)景布置、良好的表達(dá)及傾聽能力。員工可以通過自己的努力來提高，不過公司也可以為此提供幫助。

under its own steam: idiom. by using its own power or efforts - often used figuratively. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) 通過自己的努力

[Paragraph 4]To see what the right set-up looks like, just observe the range of images on your next video-conferencing call. It will probably be a complete mishmash. Some people will be bathed in the warm glow of a ring light; others will be emerging from the shadows like the Emperor Palpatine. Some will have high-definition cameras that show off every pore and follicle; others will be smeared across the screen. Some will be Hollywood types, observing the rule of thirds by positioning themselves slightly off-centre; others seem to have learned their craft from “The Blair Witch Project”.

你只需觀察下一次視頻會(huì)議中呈現(xiàn)的那些畫面，就能明白什么是合適的場(chǎng)景布置。多宮格視圖很可能看起來像個(gè)大雜燴：有的人沐浴在補(bǔ)光燈的暖色燈光下，有的人則像帕爾帕廷皇帝（Emperor Palpatine）一樣從背光處出現(xiàn)；有的人會(huì)用高清攝像頭，每個(gè)毛孔和毛囊都清晰可見，有的人則在屏幕中顯得模糊不清；有的人深諳好萊塢那套，遵循黃金分割法把自己置于稍稍偏離畫面中心的位置；有的人則似乎頗得《女巫布萊爾》真?zhèn)鳌?/p>

1.?mishmash: a confused mixture. (Cambridge Dictionary)?大雜燴

2.?ring light:?環(huán)形燈（見Google Search - ring light）

3.?Emperor Palpatine:?星球大戰(zhàn)6中的反派，銀河帝國(guó)皇帝希夫?帕爾帕廷

4. smear: to spread a liquid or a thick substance over a surface. (Cambridge Dictionary) 涂抹

5.?rule of thirds:?三分法則，又稱黃金分割法（參見百度百科-黃金分割定律）

6.?The Blair Witch Project:?恐怖電影《女巫布萊爾》，該片使用16毫米手提攝影機(jī)拍攝，開創(chuàng)了“偽紀(jì)錄片”式恐怖片的先河

[Paragraph 5]There is a limit to how level the playing-field between home offices can be, when living arrangements between employees differ so greatly. Not everyone needs to look like an A-lister: people who regularly make presentations or see clients have greater claim on fancier gear. Some people are photogenic, others less so. But this range in video quality can nonetheless be narrowed.

由于員工們的居住環(huán)境迥異，家庭辦公室之間的比較并不完全公平。并非所有人都得看起來像個(gè)大明星：經(jīng)常做演講或見客戶的人更加需要高級(jí)的設(shè)備。有些人更上鏡，有些人則不那么上鏡。盡管如此，視頻質(zhì)量的差距還是可以縮小的。

[Paragraph 6]A study published last year by Katherine Karl of the University of Tennessee and her co-authors looked at workers’ most common complaints about video-conferencing meetings: camera angles, proximity to the screen and bad lighting all feature in the list of frustrations. Whether providing decent home-working equipment or just giving feedback on how people appear on screen, employers can help everyone improve their video game.

田納西大學(xué)的凱瑟琳·卡爾（Katherine Karl）等人去年發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究調(diào)查了員工對(duì)視頻會(huì)議最常見的抱怨之處：攝像頭的角度、離屏幕過近的距離、糟糕的打光等問題都榜上有名。老板們可以通過提供良好的家庭工作設(shè)備，或僅僅是對(duì)人們?cè)阽R頭前的表現(xiàn)給予反饋，來幫助每個(gè)員工提升他們的視頻技能。

[Paragraph 7]Advice on how to present well on video is not that different to advice on presenting in general. But there are some specific pitfalls with video. One is where to look. Staring into the camera is unnatural; some advise pinning a photo of someone you respect right by the lens (whether you would really use the opportunity to talk to Volodymyr Zelensky to tell him about your product road map is another question). But looking at the camera is harder if you are referring to notes on the screen at the same time. The speaker whose eyes dart from one to the other is in fear of imminent attack; the speaker who gazes at a point somewhere just off to the left of the camera is appearing in “The Office”. Teleprompter software may be the right answer.

總的來說，關(guān)于提升視頻表現(xiàn)力的建議和改進(jìn)演講的建議差不多。但視頻拍攝中還有一些特有的小難點(diǎn)。其中之一就是“眼睛要看哪里”。盯著攝像頭看并不自然。有人建議在鏡頭旁貼一張你尊敬的人的照片（你是否真的要利用這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)向弗拉基米爾·澤連斯基（Volodymyr Zelensky）介紹你的產(chǎn)品路線圖就另當(dāng)別論了）。但是，如果你同時(shí)還需參考屏幕上的筆記，那么看鏡頭就更難了。演講者的眼神要是在屏幕和攝像頭之間來回掃視，會(huì)顯得像在擔(dān)心遭到突襲；但如果緊盯著攝像頭左邊某個(gè)點(diǎn)，則會(huì)看起來像是美劇《辦公室》里的演員。自動(dòng)提詞器軟件可能是一劑良方。

[Paragraph 8]Another danger lies in the temptation to use technology just because it is there. The same rule of thumb that should stop you exploring the animations menu in PowerPoint also applies to pre-recorded video. Don’t do jump cuts or special effects unless you really know what you are doing. This is not “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Quarters”.

另一個(gè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)在于，你可能會(huì)僅僅因?yàn)榧夹g(shù)手段的存在而忍不住想添加些技術(shù)元素。不要在制作幻燈片時(shí)濫用動(dòng)畫的經(jīng)驗(yàn)法則同樣適用于制作預(yù)錄視頻。除非你明確了解自己正在做什么，否則不要做跳躍式剪輯或特效。這可不是在拍《兩桿大煙槍》。

1. rule of thumb:?a practical and approximate way of doing or measuring something

2. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels是英文影片《兩桿大煙槍》的英文名。Lock即點(diǎn)火裝置，stock即槍托，barrel即槍筒，三者組合起來就是一把完整的槍，引申為“萬事俱備”的意思。這實(shí)際也是一句英國(guó)俚語：全部、所有、從頭到腳一網(wǎng)打盡。此外，在英國(guó)黑話里，?Lock指的是大麻，Stock指的錢。然后加上獵槍，揭示著影片故事將圍繞這些事物展開。電影采取多線敘事結(jié)構(gòu)，用5組群像視角講完這個(gè)巧合套著巧合的荒誕故事，配合上英式幽默嘴炮加快速剪輯，跟不上節(jié)奏的人很難不暈。

[Paragraph 9]Perhaps the least recognised skill in the video age is listening well. After all, one of the great boons of the virtual meeting is that you can get actual work done in it—being able to turn your camera off when your time is being royally wasted may be the pandemic’s greatest gift to productivity. And at the other end of the scale, one of video’s great downsides is how distracting it can be: as well as checking yourself out and following the online chat, you can critique someone’s new wallpaper while watching their next-tile neighbour shovel noodles into their mouth. It takes real effort to stay focused in such circumstances.

在視頻時(shí)代，最不被認(rèn)可的技能也許就是用心傾聽。畢竟，虛擬會(huì)議的最大好處便是你可以在參會(huì)的同時(shí)也搞定自己的工作——當(dāng)你覺得這場(chǎng)會(huì)議完全就是在浪費(fèi)時(shí)間時(shí)，你可以選擇關(guān)掉攝像頭，也許這是疫情對(duì)于提升生產(chǎn)力的最大貢獻(xiàn)。而在天平的另一端，視頻最大的缺點(diǎn)之一就是致人分心：你不僅可以打量自己，在線聊天，還可以一邊評(píng)論別人的新壁紙，一邊看著他們的“線上鄰居”大口嗦面。這種情況下真的很難做到專心致志。

royally: (informal) to a high degree?

[Paragraph 10]The wrong way for firms to tackle the problem of inattentiveness is to insist that cameras stay on or use artificial intelligence to analyse the sentiment of meeting participants in real time. As if life were not intolerable enough, imagine having to nod and smile dementedly the whole time in case an algorithm decides you are insufficiently engaged. The right way for companies to respond is to make meetings shorter and more relevant. Whether you are on camera or in the room, it is always easier to listen when there is something worth hearing.

為了解決員工開會(huì)時(shí)注意力不集中的問題，公司會(huì)采取一些錯(cuò)誤的方式——堅(jiān)決要求員工始終開著攝像頭，或是利用人工智能實(shí)時(shí)分析與會(huì)者的情緒。想象一下，為了防止算法判定你開會(huì)不夠投入，你不得不全程瘋狂點(diǎn)頭和微笑——就好像生活還沒有糟到讓人忍無可忍似的。公司的正確應(yīng)對(duì)之策應(yīng)是縮短會(huì)議時(shí)長(zhǎng)，并增強(qiáng)會(huì)議內(nèi)容的針對(duì)性。不論是在攝像頭前，還是置身于會(huì)議室中，言之有物總是更容易讓人們凝神傾聽。