Category: Productivity

What makes a productive workspace? Most people tend to yield better results when they are in an environment they can feel relaxed in. So, how can you organize the area you have to increase your potential? Perhaps surprisingly, it is not necessarily the latest trends and Insta-worthy set-ups that will win out. Instead, nailing the basics of light, noise and space can be far more important when it comes to creating a place to help maximize your output.

A productive workplace to call your own

Some of us work better in absolute silence, while others need some background noise to help them focus. Whatever the environment you work best in, it’s important to make sure you can move around easily. When you become tired or hit a productivity wall, taking a physical break to move around can help you gain a new perspective.

For those with the right space and budget, a standing desk can be a great solution. But, there are other things you can do to build opportunities for movement into your workspace. For example, try placing the photocopier or filing cabinet on the opposite side of the room.

Moving your entire workspace can also help. If you are primarily based in an office, adopting a hybrid working model by clocking in some hours from home can be beneficial for a productive workspace. Also, reshuffling your space can just make things feel fresh and help shake your brain up a little, and get you working!

Minimizing distractions

Keeping a tidy desk can help enhance productivity and taking some time to organize your files, gadgets, and paperwork will pay big dividends later on. The same goes for your computer desktop and email. If it’s crowded with folders, pictures, and apps to the point where you cannot navigate easily to what you want, your work – and output – will suffer.

Another way to help eliminate distractions is to turn off your notifications and dedicate just a few minutes each hour to checking and answering messages. Tidying everything away at the end of the day also allows you to draw a mental line under your work. This can help you can really enjoy your time off. Because, you know, a big part of a productive workspace is you being productive! Without turning off you can burn out and lose even more productivity!

Getting the furniture right in your productive workspace

An uncomfortable work environment can impact not only productivity but also your health. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get a top-of-the-line desk and chair. It’s more important that everything is adjusted properly for your body. The best work-from-home setup is one that allows you to type on a keyboard with your arms and hands roughly parallel to the floor with your feet flat and your legs fitting comfortably under the desk.

When it comes to choosing a chair, look for one that offers lumbar support with adjustable height armrests. You may also want to think about the fabric – mesh chairs tend to be less hot and sweaty. In addition to moving around and taking breaks, you can also improve your productivity by practicing proper posture. Rolling your shoulders back and sitting up straight and tall will minimize pain and distraction – and ultimately help you to maintain optimal productivity.

Creating a productive workspace is a combination of understanding how you work best and taking practical considerations into account. Design your space in line with both your physical comfort and personal working style and you won’t go wrong. Also, if you’re looking to get more time back our suite of apps can make your work life a little easier from creating better presentations to capturing and sending quick thoughts!

There are lots of different ways to communicate with your colleagues, but one that doesn’t often get considered is video messaging. This can make for better work communication because videos can be quick to make and to watch, and have the potential to be more engaging than other types of communication. Alternatively, the creator can opt to put a bit more time into making their video message, resulting in a lot more detail than with a basic spoken or text-based message.

When would a video message be useful? Building better work communication.

People can generally talk much more quickly than they can type, even when talking relatively slowly to ensure that they are being clear and specific. This means that as long as you already know what you want to say, recording a video message will be quicker than typing an email. It’s also much easier to get across tone of voice and context in a video – emojis can help in text, but they can be easy to misconstrue, especially between generations! Think of a video message as a voicemail for the 21st century. 

Unlike chat and email, video communications make use of your voice, face and screen to guarantee your message’s purpose is met. A video message can also feel more personal than a text-based email. So, if you’re delivering an update on a project or a company review, a ‘vlog’ approach can go a long way towards making the recipient feel involved and valued. 

During busier times (when deadlines are looming, for example), sending a quick video instead of using other, more long-winded communication methods respects your colleagues’ time. It’s also a lot easier to take in. Thanks to video messaging, teams can reclaim valuable lost time while getting more work done. This is by replacing unnecessary meetings, phone calls and emails.

How can I send a video message?

Using XSplit Capture, sending a video message is easy! Simply select what you want to record and go! You can even add voice over easily! Once you’ve recorded your message, XSplit Capture will automatically upload your video to its cloud storage. You’ll be given a private link for the video which you can then send to your colleagues, giving them access to your video, but without that link nobody else will be able to find it. 

Once you’ve got your link, it can be sent via email, Slack, Teams or any other system your company uses. The video message will stay secure on the XSplit Cloud so you could send the same link to multiple people. Perhaps everyone in your team as a product update, or to multiple potential customers as a quick introduction to your product and an invitation for a more in-depth demo at a later date.

Want to make a more complicated video? XSplit Presenter lets you add your camera, Google Slides, websites, videos and even guests! This is perfect if you want to send a lot of information that would normally involve attachments. Now, you can just send a complete video and get everything across easily!

Tips for better work communication

Even if you’re confident delivering speeches or presentations, there’s always room for improvement. 

• Think about what you’re going to say in advance. You don’t need to write a script (in fact, a script is likely to make you sound stilted and distract you from the camera), but it’s useful to have a good idea of what you want to say in advance. 
• Talk slightly more slowly than you normally would. In normal conversation, you can judge whether you’re being clear enough from the reaction of the person you’re talking to. In the absence of this feedback, it’s worth erring on the side of caution.  
• If you realise that you flubbed a line or missed out a word, simply pause briefly, then start again from the beginning of the sentence. This will make it easy to find the mistake, select it and cut it out later without it sounding unnatural. Our instinct from talking to people live is to correct ourselves, perhaps slightly more loudly, but this makes segments harder to edit out. 
• Avoid distractions – try to deliver your message with a reasonably plain background behind you. You don’t want your recipient to be busy trying to make out book titles on a shelf instead of listening to you! You could either use XSplit VCam AI powered background removal or the background removal built in to XSplit Presenter if you’re using that!
• Add relevant details – don’t go overboard, but take advantage of the medium to add some annotations or figures to keep your content engaging.

Examples of video messages

Perhaps you’re testing a piece of software and you’ve found a problem. Rather than listing the steps you’ve gone through in an email, it’s much easier to record your screen while you run through and recreate the problem. You can then send the video to the developers as a simple, clear bug report. This is really going to lead to some better work communication!

Or similarly, perhaps you’re having some computer problems. Sending a video to IT allows them to see exactly what you’re doing, shows them any error messages that appear and may allow them to see details that you didn’t realise were important – which all speeds up finding a solution.

Maybe you’re an office manager and want to send out regular updates to your team. Doing a piece to camera feels far more personal and is more likely to get their attention than sending out a bulk email. 

A video message could also be used in a report to your manager. You could include a graph with some annotations – maybe arrows that move around to point to the bits you’re talking about. Think of this video message as a shorter and simpler version of a Powerpoint presentation, but one where you can tweak the voiceover to make sure you’re saying exactly what you want to say as you’re not live.

Video messages have great potential in business situations, as they can be quicker and more engaging than trying to explain something with words. Check out how to go even further with your videos with our blogs – the sky’s the limit!

We are living in an age of rapid developments in remote working as employers and employees alike are realising the many benefits of working remotely, at least part of the time. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges as well, many of which have to do with technology. To help, we’ve taken a look at some of the best work from home apps to support teams in staying productive and efficient, even when working at a distance from one another.

Guaranteeing a slick presentation

Nothing will ruin a meeting or presentation faster than background noise. Handily, Krisp is on hand. This AI-powered noise-cancelling tech suppresses pesky ambient noises picked up by your microphone. It offers one-button operation and, since all audio processing takes place locally on your device, it also guarantees your privacy. Better yet, the basic app is available for free.

Of course, our own XSplit Presenter is one of the best tools out there for making your delivery super polished when you have to present online. Use it to insert your webcam into a presentation, add in a virtual pointer to quickly draw focus. Even annotate your presentation in real-time if a colleague thinks of something brilliant to include mid-meeting. You’ll also find it makes it hassle-free to import from Microsoft Powerpoint or Google Slides, add videos, websites, connect to other platforms as you present and even bring in guests!

Those who take privacy seriously will also be glad to know XSplit VCam allows you to remove, replace and blur your background with any webcam, and without the need for expensive green screens and complicated lighting setups. This alone makes it, in our opinion, one of the best work from home apps!

The best work from home apps for you and your team.

As collaboration tools become more common, so do apps designed to manage those collaboration tools. One of the most talked about is Figma, an interface design system for team-based creative projects. Already a staple in design-related industries, the company’s FigJam app is an online whiteboard. This makes it easy for teams to creatively brainstorm together, so you can enjoy all the benefits of close collaboration from afar.

If you’re also finding it difficult to manage projects in synchronous chat platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams can help. If you’re looking for an all-in-one project management tool, ClickUp that lets you keep everything in one place. Import your work from other productivity apps, organise it however you want, and create your own view. ClickUp allows you to manage docs, spreadsheets, time tracking, and more. It also offers an excellent free plan.

Balancing me time vs team time

If you’re struggling to get a real sense of exactly how you’re using your time while working remotely, you might consider Rescue Time, perhaps one of the best productivity apps available. It’s an automated tracker that monitors the time you spend on apps, internet sites, and even individual files. It then generates detailed reports about exactly where your time’s going to help you understand and manage your performance. What’s more, you can even track offline time to create a complete picture of your day and a free version is available.

While working from home is great for productivity, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s just not the same as seeing each other face to face, especially when it comes to connecting with colleagues on a personal level. If you’re a team manager looking for ways to help your remote team connect, consider Donut. It works in Slack and allows you to create virtual water cooler meetings, CEO coffee lotteries, peer learning events, DEI discussions, and more.

As remote working evolves, new tools and apps will continue to appear, aiming to improve your remote working experience and performance and keep your team productive and efficient. Staying current will help you choose the best tools for your particular needs!

Colors have an impact on the way we see and interpret visual information. They can influence emotion, set the mood, build structure and emphasize certain elements. This means that choosing the right colors can make your presentation stand out and control how it’s received. So, what are some critical tips for using color theory in your presentations?

Using color theory in your presentations

Colors are often associated with emotions. Warm colors, like reds, oranges, and yellows can be used to communicate energy, excitement, optimism, and enthusiasm. In contrast, cool colors such as blues, greens, and violets lend feelings of professionalism, dependability, and elegance. 

Whether you’re designing PowerPoint slides, printed material, or infographics, using color theory for presentations will help you add depth and meaning. In XSplit Presenter, you can set the color of your slides and backgrounds to suit the mood and tone of your content. Why not subtly personalize your presentation? Choosing colors that align with either the brand identity of your company or of the client that you’re presenting to can really help!

You can make your material ‘pop’ by deploying complementary colors. The two colors that sit opposite each other on a color wheel, such as red and green or orange and blue. Using both complementary colors on a slide, for example, using one for the background and one for the text provides maximum contrast and achieves a high impact as a result.

It’s worth knowing that pure hues (color without any white or black pigment added) all have the same intensity and value (lightness or darkness). Sticking within that group will give a flat and unimpressive look. To avoid this and add interest, you should vary the tones, shades, and tints of the colors you use.

Keep it simple

One key rule in the use of color theory for presentations is to keep colors simple and balanced. Choose a palette of no more than three colors (black and white don’t count as colors for this purpose). Create a simple but eye-catching color scheme by choosing two tones, shades, or tints of one color. Then selecting a third accent color which is at least three spaces away on the color wheel.

Another rule for balancing the proportions of colors in presentation and design is called the 60-30-10 rule. According to this rule, once you have chosen your three colors, you should use the primary color for 60% of the space on the slides. The secondary color for 30% of the space, and the accent color for 10% of the space.

Use a consistent palette throughout your entire presentation, so that the same colors appear on every slide. This builds a color association with your audience and helps them to remember your presentation or brand. Using your company color palette serves much the same purpose. What’s more, consistent color-coding on headers and data can also make it easier for you to organize your presentation.

Use color to build structure

You can also use color theory to give a clear structure to your presentations. For example, using shapes or negative space can help control the flow of visual information by highlighting the different sections of a slide.

We’ve all been subjected to presentations that consist of just a few text-crammed slides. Instead, build interest and keep the attention of your audience by spreading your content out into smaller chunks of information. You can then spread this out over more slides. Then, vary the arrangement of the colors you use to make each piece of content stand out.

You can also impose structure by using the same colors for headings and subheadings on every slide. This can help your audience to find the information they need at a glance.

By playing around with colors, you can draw your audience’s attention in the direction that you want. Ensure that your presentation flows naturally, and make your presentation, and possibly your brand, more memorable to your audience! This is something we have discussed on this blog in more detail talking about how better online presentations can help you stand out!

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work in a lot of ways and some of those changes look likely to persist even after restrictions end. Working from home has seen the use of chat platforms like Slack and Teams explode as employees can no longer consistently communicate face to face. But what are the best ways to use these programs in a hybrid office and when should chat features be used in place of actual meetings, virtual or otherwise? Here’s our guide on how to effectively use Slack and Teams at work.

Starting off on the right foot using Slack or Teams at work

Getting your virtual workspace in Slack or Teams set up correctly is arguably the most important part of keeping everyone connected in the hybrid office. A few tips to consider when looking at how to use Slack or Teams at work:

• Be organized when setting up your channels. Cross-talk can create confusion between project stakeholders, especially with text chat, so clearly communicate what topics should be discussed in each channel by giving them names that are easily understood. 
• Starting a new project? Create a new channel for it as soon as you can so your team members can start communicating there rather than on unrelated channels.
• Secure your accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) if possible. Remote employees may not have full control over the networks or physical locations they’re using, so it’s worth being extra diligent with your security.
• Finally, it’s a good idea to leave a general channel open for team members to coordinate social events, share GIFs, or enjoy a non-work-related chat. By creating a designated space for that kind of communication, you lessen the chance of it cluttering up your work-specific channels.

Use XSplit Capture to get the most out of your chat

Typically, chat is great for quick status checks or tossing around safe-for-work GIFs. But what if you could communicate more than just words and happy dogs from your chat command line? Enter XSplit Capture, a new tool, currently in beta, to supercharge your chat possibilities. Capture lets you quickly screenshot or record all or part of your desktop and share it from the cloud via an easily accessible link.

You can even record voiceover or add text annotations. This means you can share simple explainers with your coworkers on how to test the latest feature you built, or give specific feedback to your team on the latest mobile ad mockup, all without having to pull everyone together in real-time. When learning how to use Slack or Teams at work, making your life faster and easier is going to make all the difference!

Meetings get a bad rap, but you have the power to change that

There’s a lot you can do through chat, especially with XSplit Capture in your corner. But chat isn’t always great for soliciting feedback or brainstorming with a whole team at once. We’ve all been in a group chat where the conversation gets off the rails because everyone is responding to someone ten lines earlier – and it can be a mess. Finding out how to use slack or teams at work is very important here! There is a real backlash in our collective consciousness against meetings in general, but keep in mind that arose because of the proliferation of bad meetings. So, have great ones instead!

A good rule of thumb: if you want to get something more tangible out of your group, like a project schedule or a pitch document, that’s probably best done outside of a chat platform. For feedback or ideas, a meeting is usually best, whether that’s online or in person.

Chat can be a great way for workers to communicate, collaborate, and connect, especially while we’re not all in the office together. Now that you know how to level up your office chat game, learn how to win everyone over in meetings with our guide to giving great presentations.

With many of us now clocking up more screen-time than ever before, the stakes have been raised in terms of what we expect from online presentations. Of course, we need to be informed but we also want to be entertained. Creating a Powerpoint presentation is quite straightforward, but the downside is that it can also come across as a bit boring and uninspired, not a very interesting presentation. With the help of XSplit Presenter, you can easily make a presentation that will be more memorable and enjoyable for your audience.

A variety of media

The secret to creating an interesting presentation is to keep things varied. Having some slides with bullet points is a start, but you should also try to include pictures, graphs, and even videos. XSplit Presenter makes it easy to pull together information from lots of different sources, including screen shares, videos, and live clips (for example, from your webcam). This will help maintain your audience’s attention and allow you a lot more control in how you get your point across. A good tip to remember is to always demonstrate something if you can – running through a process on your computer is far more engaging and memorable than merely describing the steps.

Make sure your media is complementary

It is also important to prevent your presentation from becoming repetitive, you want an interesting presentation after all. For example, don’t just show a slide of bullet points then spend time reading them out one by one. Instead, use them as starting points for your own narration (think of them as subject headings, not as a teleprompter). If you decide to show a video clip, providing your audience with a summary afterward can be beneficial, as can explaining what’s happening in the video as it plays. However, your narration shouldn’t merely point out the obvious but should instead give some insight into the thoughts behind the process (for example, don’t say “Click on settings, then size, then type 25”, instead say something like “We want to set the size to be easily read, but not overwhelming – perhaps to 25 point”)

Make sure the presentation is smooth

Before giving a presentation, it’s worth running through it a couple of times first, recording yourself wna watching it back, something XSplit Presenter can do, can make a big difference. This will help you to highlight any points where you might struggle, whether that is because you aren’t sure of a particular detail or just lacking confidence in your delivery. If you do happen to find sticking points, you can either research them in more detail or continue to practice until you are happier.

One issue you won’t have to worry about is keeping your information and media pieces ready and in the right order because XSplit Presenter will do that for you. Once set up correctly, it will ensure your next slide is ready to go and that you can smoothly switch to a screen share or webcam view (or both at the same time with your webcam overlayed on top!) with the press of a button. This will give your audience a seamless and professional experience and means that you can keep the focus on your delivery, which always makes for a more interesting presentation.

Though being tasked with giving a presentation can initially seem overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful with XSplit Presenter. Here are some more useful tips for creating more memorable and entertaining remote deliveries.

Whether you’re new to working from home or a seasoned professional, it can be difficult to host an online presentation that both engages your audience and stands out from all the others they’ve sat through that week. The good news is that there are plenty of ways you can enhance your online presence to ensure you’re giving your audience a quality and memorable experience. In this blog, we will offer some tips to help you to create the best presentations possible.

Setting the scene

It doesn’t matter who your audience is, in order to offer them a quality online presentation experience, there are a few rules that should be applied as you set up. And, though you’ll probably want to step up your professionalism a notch for presenting to clients as opposed to colleagues, it’s important to maintain some basic standards at all times.

Background photographs and mess may be acceptable when you video chat with your parents and friends but your colleagues are likely to find these to be distracting. Solve this common problem by positioning your camera towards a plain clutter-free wall or adding a virtual background. You can even use XSplit Presenter to add your own green screen. This allows you to add your webcam on top of the presentation, enabling you to connect with your audience eye to eye, whilst you talk through your slides.

Another obvious, but incredibly important, point is to ensure you have the most stable internet connection possible. The most outstanding online presentation can quickly lose an audience when the connection drops. You may manage to continue successfully following an outage, but it’s possible that you’ll be flustered and have lost your momentum. If your ethernet cable is long enough, plugging your computer directly into the router is your best option. It’s a minor hassle for much better end results. You could also look at wired solutions, like those from TP Link that use your in-home wiring to send a wired internet connection from your router to your PC, saving on the long wire going upstairs!

Hold their focus

The best presentations are those that are delivered with enthusiasm, integrity, and direction. Writing things out word for word can work for some people, but the last thing you want to do is give the impression that you are reading from a script. Having a list of key points available can be more helpful, as it provides structure and keeps you on track to deliver your message, but the words will be spontaneous. It can be a good idea to think of it as an audition (in some ways, it might be, as many people will need to give online presentations as part of a job interview). This can help you to breathe life into your subject, even if it isn’t something particularly groundbreaking.

That covers enthusiasm but what about direction? Though many presentations can benefit from having a number of sources of information on screen at a time, this may mean that your audience could be looking at ‘graph A’ when you’re discussing ‘graph B’. An excellent remedy to this is XSplit Presenter‘s virtual pointer. This customizable tool allows you to direct the focus of your audience to where you want it by annotating over your slides, as you go. This way your audience will find it easier to follow the intended flow.

Variety is the spice of a good presentation

Presentations can tend to be boring when they focus too heavily on one aspect of a particular subject. People lose focus when there’s too much talking with no visual aids. On the other hand, too many Google slides stuffed full of statistics can be a tough watch. Whilst balance is the key, in order to really stand out from the crowd, the trick is to offer something just a little bit different.

With XSplit Presenter there are so many options available, from incorporating videos and audio, scene transitions, and adding single application windows without the need to share your screen entirely. You can choose to appear alongside or over the top of your online presentation either throughout the duration or at key points. You retain full control of each of the different media aspects involved in real-time, allowing you to adjust volumes or pause videos, if necessary.

Encourage audience participation

Another key way to engage with and retain the attention of your audience throughout your presentation is to involve them. Talking endlessly at your audience is never a good thing and injecting a little conversation helps them to feel involved. Provide an opportunity to ask questions or try having a few questions planned to ask instead. Nobody likes to be put on the spot, but providing an open-ended platform for anyone who wishes to participate can be beneficial for all.

XSplit Presenter allows you to switch easily between remote guests’ and the host’s webcams so that those participating in the conversation can be both seen and heard. You could even plan to have guest speakers present a section, perhaps an area that they specialize in. You can easily add additional presenters part-way through via the integrations for Skype or similar NDIs, so if you only need guest speakers for a short time, they can be added at the appropriate time instead of waiting around for their slot. Both audience and guest participation can enhance how well your presentation is received, adding variety, as well as inclusivity.

Outside of the technical changes, there are a number of other improvements you can make to ensure your presentation stands out in all the right ways, from more detailed planning and organization to rehearsing and recording (something you can do with XSplit Presenter!) your ‘performance’ beforehand. You can read more great presentation tips here.

The last year has seen some enormous changes in how we work. Working from home has become the norm for a huge number of people and those who started jobs may not have even met their colleagues in person yet. So, now that things are starting to return to normal, what are the lessons we’ve learned, and what benefits of working from home would we like to keep?

Getting into the zone

One of the big benefits of working from home is the chance to get away from all the sounds and distractions of the office. If you can set your Teams or Slack to silent then there’s a chance to properly focus and get “into the zone” without having your concentration shattered by a colleague asking a question. It can typically take a developer or writer 15 to 30 minutes to get properly focussed on their project, and mere seconds to pop that focus and leave you floundering for your thoughts.

Back in the office, this protection of “the zone” could be continued through a culture of focus times where you can signal that you want to avoid interruptions or by having a meeting-free afternoon once or twice a week. Of course, communication with colleagues is important, too, so this shouldn’t be applied all the time, but trying to set aside some focused time every day can lead to a major productivity boost which has been a benefit of working from home.

Powered up presentations

With all meetings becoming remote and therefore having to be done online, there has been a push for better use of media in presentations. Whether that means including a video, slides, or a demonstration of a website or product, these can all add a bit of extra interest to the meeting and help keep people’s attention. With the move back to the office looming, there are no reasons to change this – more interesting meetings will help with productivity and engagement which is absolutely one of the benefits of working from home that we here at XSplit wanted to keep.

We recommend using XSplit Presenter to make controlling your media and your meeting a breeze. This will help you avoid awkward pauses while you try to find the next Powerpoint file or that webpage that you were sure you had bookmarked as XSplit Presenter will have them ready for you. Another handy feature allows you to superimpose yourself over your presentation while broadcasting to keep your audience’s engagement. While this is ideal for online meetings, XSplit Presenter works offline by connecting to a projector or monitor in your office to still deliver the same media-rich, informative and engaging presentation!

Freedom and flexibility

For employees, one of the biggest benefits of working from home is the added flexibility. Whether that’s simply eliminating their commute time, or having the opportunity to load the dishwasher, mow the lawn or do the school run during quiet periods, it feels like a major perk that people will be reluctant to lose.

If companies want to have their employees back in the office without damaging morale, they could consider allowing a hybrid working system (perhaps 2 or 3 days in the office per week), or allowing flexible working hours so that people can avoid rush hour traffic or fit their work around their personal life. Some thought is required to ensure that colleagues can get hold of each other when they need to, but the boost in morale and less obvious advantages like having more of the day covered to make it more than worthwhile.

It’s tempting to want post-pandemic life to go back to how it was before, but this would be a waste of the lessons learned. Working from home has shown us a different way to do things and has come with its own benefits. For more on this topic, check out our blog on creating routine while working from home.