Being professional in this “new normal” is no longer taking place in offices or conference rooms, but rather in living areas and other rooms closer to your own kitchen sink. Corona-virus has not only bought us home socially, but our workplaces are now home with us too. Video conferencing has replaced our learning, collaborating, and meeting during work-from-home. While the idea of the video call seems simple - open laptop, wear pants, and turn your camera on, there are so many mistakes people make while video-conferencing that can make them look well...unprofessional. We’ve rounded up some smalls tips to help you look your best during your next video-call: 1. Make sure you're clean . No one can smell you, but they can probably tell if you haven’t showered in a few days. Brush your hair and shave your face. A long beard is the tell tale sign of letting the work from home lifestyle get to your hygiene, so make sure that that’s cleaned up. If you wear makeup on a regular basis, you can put that on too. So long as it isn’t too busy. 2. Keep it simple on all aspects. Backgrounds really shouldn’t be super busy so the viewers can focus their attention on you. Try to face the camera towards a blank wall or one with few directions or movement, i.e. try not to have kids, spouses, or pets running around in the back. It really takes away from what you’re saying. Almost all of the video conferencing tools, such as Teams, Zoom, etc. allow you to replace your physical background with a virtual one, so don’t fret if your own background is too distracting. The same goes for your clothes. Stick with basic solid clothes that aren’t too bright or dark, as these can cause glares on the camera. 3. Lighting doesn’t have to be hard, Most people fail when it comes to having proper lighting for their video calls.You don’t need professional lighting equipment either to make your virtual meeting look good. The top thing to avoid is back-lighting. So, DON’T sit in front of your window, or any other light source for that matter. This back-lights you so that you become a dark silhouette. Instead, try and sit directly in front of a window so that the light is hitting your face; this is ideal. If a window isn’t an option, or if it’s dark out, try sitting with your light source (lamp) in front of you or at a front angle to mimic the window effect. Avoid overhead lighting too as this tends to cast shadows on you. 4. It’s all about the angles. You wouldn’t ever set up a meeting where the other person was positioned to look up your nose, right? The same goes for virtual meetings. Make eye contact with your camera. Most of our laptops are on tables below our eyes with the camera facing up at us. This up-angle view is very unflattering. If you own an external web - camera for your desktop, make sure that the position of the camera atop of the monitor is directly level with your eyes. If you need to raise your monitor, try stacking books under it until it is tall enough. The same goes for laptops. Place your laptop on a higher surface, or stack books underneath until your camera is aligned to eye-level. 5. Check your connection. Of course nothing about how you look or where your camera is facing matters very much if you're so pixelated that no one can see anything. Making sure your internet connection can handle video calls is imperative, especially if your network is being shared by everyone else in the house. Zoom, Skype, Face-time, and all the other video-calling apps dynamically adjust the quality of the video you send and receive to maintain the connection. This means that even if you’ve got a slow connection, you’ll still be able to connect, you just won’t look very good. Start by using an internet speed test, ideally at a time when others are also using the internet to see what your true speed will be. As one example, below are Zoom’s minimum system requirements for their calls: For one-on-one calls: 1.8 Mbps up/down is required to send and receive 1080p HD video. For group calls: 2.5 Mbps up/down is required to receive 1080p HD video, and 3.0 Mbps up/down is required to send 1080p HD video. If your speed test came back as anything less than 3.0Mbps, chances are your video quality is not going to be good. If you can upgrade your internet speed, this is ideal. Otherwise, try asking others using the internet if they can take a break while you’re on your meeting. Using a wired Ethernet connection is another great way to increase the connection on your specific device. For help setting up your remote connection, or any other work-from-home solutions, please contact us: info@rcsprofessional.com Here’s to a successful video-conference.

Microsoft Outlook users will be surprised to hear their email search bar has moved up, both in location and use. The search bar can now be found at the very top of the email portal.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led many people to stay in and work from home. We now have the liberty of choosing between several web and app-based video conferencing platforms to connect with our friends, family, and work colleagues. We all know how confusing it can be when deciding on which specific platform to use to best fit our needs as every platform has its own features and limitations.

If you're looking for a roadmap to a more secure system, we've got you covered. Check out this list to discover 10 actions you can take using the tools provided in Microsoft 365 to better protect your business from cyber-security threats. And don't forget, RCS Professional Services is here to help you every step of the way.

Panic has been mounting throughout the world in response to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Businesses have been affected a lot, especially small businesses. Many employees are in a state of panic and seeing even small coughs or sick symptoms as emergency warning signs. In an effort to alleviate these fears, companies may opt for a new strategy; one which demonstrates the culture and moral values represented by the organization.

What is the “Right Price” for (Outsourced) IT Support?

Tech can take you in many different directions, but who knew it would give me the opportunity to take a business trip to Belize? I spend my days working at RCS Professional Services, a tech company located in New York City. I love my job for many reasons; among them, I get work with a terrific tight-knit group of co-workers. At RCS, my day-to-day activities consist of pursuing new client acquisitions, as well as performing various HR and business development functions. The staff makeup is all-male with the exception of one female co-worker, who handles purchasing. Thus, I gravitated towards joining a Women In Tech Facebook group for networking with other women. And this led me to Belize. It started when I commented on Kavya Krishna’s (@kavyakrishna) Facebook post asking for volunteers to run a summer coding camp in Belize run by the organization she co-founded: The Society of Woman Coders. The goal of this organization is “to encourage young girls in developing countries to opt for careers in STEM by conducting free coding camps globally.” My comment on Kavya’s post read, “Do you need to know how to code to apply?” to which she responded, “not necessarily. You need basic coding knowledge” followed by, “why don’t you PM me?” Well, one PM and a couple of interviews later, I was officially inducted into The Society of Woman Coders, and prepping for my first trip to the beautiful country of Belize. Together with my co-facilitator; both of us women working in the tech sector, we set out on a mission to offer a one-week free coding camp to high school girls in the city of Belmopan, Belize. The experience was completely new for me and going into it, I really had no idea of what to expect. I was so gratified to see that these girls far exceeded every goal I set for them and proved to be smarter and more dedicated than any high school students I’d ever seen. I quickly realized that though these girls came from an “underdeveloped country,” their commitment and determination --- and perhaps the absence of outside distractions --- enabled them to focus and advance both their skills and abilities. The program culminated in each of the girls developing their own product or service to sell, as well as a website to represent it; both created over the course of just one week. Each of the girls had something amazing to present, and it was evident from the quality of their work that the talent-game was strong in Belize. The girls were tasked with explaining why they picked their project, and the creativity we saw was astonishing. One girl created a website, which was a self-help guide for people afflicted with asthma. She explained that the reason she picked this particular project was because of her own experience. She suffers from asthma and had an attack once where she was challenged by not being able to get to medical help in time. Thus, she had to figure out how to solve the problem on her own. This site would be to help others in the same situation. Another girl created an online store for people to purchase feminine-hygiene products anonymously since she said that many of her friends felt uncomfortable getting what they needed otherwise. The creativity and resourcefulness of each of these young girls blew my mind, but what I loved most, was seeing women getting ahead in tech in a country that’s third world and also being able to interact with so many other smart women in tech. At the awards ceremony on the last day of the camp, a few of the girls shared their experiences from the week. One girl, Sole, told us how before this program, she always thought of IT as a field that was “so, so boring” but her experience “made her change her mind and realize how fascinating IT actually can be.” She expressed that she found herself looking forward to pursuing a career in tech. After Sole spoke, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that for this one girl ---and hopefully many more --- this had been a successful experience. One parent remarked to us afterward that her daughter said that “this was the best week of her life.” It was empowering to witness young women looking for their own place at the tech table in Belize, and investing time and energy over their summer break to learn how to code. It was gratifying to see the support that the Belizian government lent to this effort, and the energy and passion they invested in the girls. The camp was 100% initiated, funded and run by government officials, and the Belizian Directorate General for Foreign Trade was present for both the opening and closing ceremonies. I watched how he posed for a picture with each girl at the awards ceremony, and the smiles of pride on each of their faces as their names were announced and he presented them with their awards. Even local business owners got involved. I learned that The Inn at Twin Palms where we stayed, offered us lodging there at a very discounted rate, and also, the local news station came down to the school multiple times throughout the week to give media coverage to the program. Now that I am back in New York, the work is far from over. The Society of Woman Coders has been in ongoing contact with the Belizian government to set up follow-up programs for the girls, as well as offer them additional resources, mentors and online support groups. The goal is to continue to foster their newfound knowledge and interest in tech. Word already has caught on, and since hearing about the work we did in Belize, many other developing countries have been reaching out to Kavya to inquire about bringing the program to their girls as well. But, for me, I know that these young girls from Belize will always have a place in my heart and I cannot help but feel grateful to RCS, The Society of Women Coders, and of course, all of Belize, for the opportunity to have been part of it.