It is not considered standard to include video as part of a Skype call and we must be conscious that only closer contacts would be willing and prepared for video. However, be aware that many people are not used to using webcams and are reluctant to begin in a business setting. Video also allows us to show objects, drawings and other visual elements to our colleague to enhance the discussion. Many people are surprised at how much improved communication gets by adding the video element. Skype’s video integration is a great way to increase the connectedness of the conversation.
Is this still a good time for our call?” will only take a few seconds away from the planned call time and will avoid catching someone off-guard. Most critical for unplanned calls, this even applies in instances where you’ve scheduled the call in advance. Since we have the capacity to instant message before we ring, failing to do so can be considered as rather rude. Our colleague might be on the telephone, in a public place or otherwise not in a position to take our Skype call. When looking to call someone over Skype (in a Skype-to-Skype call), it’s polite to ask for permission to ring before calling. Skype is generally accepted as a lower priority activity when people are forced to chose. That person might have been interrupted by the phone or some other important activity. We’d also like to point out that if someone stops responding to our conversation in mid-chat, our first reaction should not be immediate anger or concern for the welfare of our colleague. They will get our message when they next sign onto Skype. We can do this even if our colleague is no longer online. This is especially important if we were the one to initiate the chat.
However, it’s polite to ping our colleague an instant message saying that we got interrupted when we next get a chance. There are times, however, when we get interrupted and don’t get a chance to properly end a chat. Cheers!” can go a long way to maintaining our relationships with our Skype colleagues. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to end an instant message chat by thanking our colleague for the time or help. However, getting too cute with swapping numbers and abbreviations for real words is likely to be seen as childish and unprofessional. Typing rapidly occasionally includes minor errors, and these are often overlooked as ‘part of the territory,’ by Skype users. A certain laxity for formal grammar guidelines, capitalization and the like is accepted. Don’t Chat CuteĪs a means of business communication, instant messaging via Skype is certainly less strict than email or by letter. Is now a good time for a question?” is a quick and demure way to get our colleague’s attention and to allow them to politely defer, if necessary. It’s important to start the conversation with a polite greeting and friendly enquiry about our colleague’s openness to interruption. In a sense, sending a colleague an instant message over Skype is like knocking on the door of our contact’s virtual office. This article assumes a basic-user level knowledge of Skype.
Join skype meeting with id software#
Eager to encourage others to adapt this helpful web tool, I aim to share some ideas on how best to communicate with this amazing software and to engender discussion of the topic by other regular Skype users. I’ve been using it since 2003 and am pleased to see that a growing number of colleagues and clients – in both the UK and the US – are making their way onto this VOIP software.Īs its usage increases, I’ve noticed a certain lack of sophistication when it comes to Skype etiquette, especially from those new to the technology. For me, Skype is a valuable business communication tool. Working for a mini-international, I use Skype daily to communicate with London, Chicago, Florida and beyond.
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