Appearance Guidelines

IN GENERAL

Hawaii remains on Standard Time year round. To check the time zone difference between your local time and Hawaii Standard Time, go to:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20211229T010000&p1=103.

The show information you provide should be accurate, complete, and timely and appropriate to promote, distribute and archive your show.  Please promptly respond to all staff requests for show information. 

Dress appropriately for the show.

Prepare your show information and content with thoughtful diligence on what you plan to cover and say, report the facts accurately, and avoid expletives or defamatory statements.

During covid, our hosts and guests appear by remote using Zoom. For this, you will need a computer with a camera, a mic, speakers or headphones, a quiet room, and decent broadband.

COMPUTERS

Computers and laptops with cameras generally work for Zoom. If your computer doesn’t have a camera, or if you want to improve your video, consider getting a USB webcam.  To improve your audio, consider getting a USB mic or a smartphone headset.

If a computer or laptop is not available, a smartphone or tablet can be used, but the video and audio is often not as good.  You need to keep the smartphone or tablet stable and at the right height.  Get a stand or tape to keep it steady, turn the video horizontal and keep it that way for the duration of the show. 

ZOOM

A Zoom link will be emailed to you the day before the show.  Please click on it 15 minutes before showtime.  You may have to wait a few minutes for our engineer to admit you to the meeting. You will then be connected and the engineer will step you through the rest. If you have trouble connecting, please call the engineer at (808) 784-3426.

If you have not downloaded a current version of Zoom, please download it before the show at https://zoom.us/download.  This will give you the best experience and the best video outcome.

BACKGROUNDS

For backgrounds, don’t use the Virtual Background feature in Zoom unless you have a green screen. This will avoid distracting artifacts. If your version of Zoom has the Blur effect (this will be in the Background & Filters tab in current versions of Zoom), please use it. If you are not using a green screen or the Blur, please make sure your room is tidy and presentable. 

MULTIPLE SPEAKERS

For acceptable video and audio, participants should each have their own equipment and be in separate rooms.  If two participants need to use the same computer (this is not recommended), each of them should have a smartphone headset and a splitter to connect to the computer.

GETTING STARTED

Select a quiet, presentable indoor space. Turn off your fan/AC and close your windows. If there is still background noise, try using the Suppress background noise feature in the Audio tab in Zoom: 

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360046244692-Suppressing-background-noise-for-videos. 

We recommend that you restart your device before the show to improve your connection and minimize the risk of audio and video problems.  Close all unnecessary programs so your device can run faster.

Please make sure the camera is at the same height as your eyes and that the light is on your face coming from in front of you, not from behind you. Use books or a stand to keep the camera at eye level, not higher and not lower.  You may want to test your Zoom program and your computer, camera and mic by calling Zoom up before the show.  You don’t have to be a Zoom subscriber to do this – just use the free account.

Look directly into the camera throughout the show. 

Get in a comfortable position and then adjust your camera. Keep your head 3/4 the way up in the frame and maintain this position throughout the show.  You won’t look good if you’re at the bottom of the frame.  Make sure you’re in the center of the frame as well, not to the left or right.  

If you are using a smartphone or tablet, position it horizontally.  Use tape or a stand to keep it steady during the show, and use as many books as are necessary to keep it at eye level during the show.  Don’t change your position or the position of the device during the show.

The engineer may call you on your cellphone to resolve any connection problems. If those problems cannot be promptly resolved, we may want to connect using the audio on your phone and your headshot photo for the video.  If there are audio problems, we may ask you to call into the show using your phone, and those numbers will be on the email we sent you with the link.

DURING THE SHOW

Please keep your Zoom program on for the duration of the show.  If you turn it off during the show it will disrupt the framing and the broadcast.

Please turn your phone off or put it on Do Not Disturb to prevent any phone ringing interruptions.

Our engineer may send you time warnings, instructions and other information in the Zoom chat box, so keep the chat box open for the duration of the show.

If you want to read notes during the show, you can put them in the chat box (or send them to shows@thinktechhawaii.com and ask the engineer to do that for you), or you can put them in a Word or text edit window on your screen. Place that window as close to your camera as you can so you can continue your eye contact with the viewers.  

AFTER THE SHOW

Before and after the show, and during any break, hosts and guests are free to talk with each other on Zoom but offline. When you are done, press the Leave Meeting button in Zoom to leave the meeting.

We treat our show hosts and guests as members of our ThinkTech family, and we will email you our ThinkTech Advisories with notices about our shows and what we’re doing. To unsubscribe, click on the unsubscribe button on those emails or write to jmf@thinktechhawaii.com.

Thanks for participating in ThinkTech.  We look forward to having you on the show. If you have questions, please email us at shows@thinktechhawaii.com.