For Guests:

1. Within your Zoom meeting, go to Settings > Video & Effects, and disable "auto-framing"

2. Within your Zoom meeting, go to Settings > Videos & Effects, and disable virtual backgrounds (unless you have a green screen)

3. Try your best to remain in the center of the frame

4. Wait a minute after you've finished speaking to mute/drink water/look at notes/etc., so I can transition you off the screen before you do so

5. Be in a location without background noise, even if you're using a microphone, as when the interruption is on the same audio track it's very hard to remove

6. Try to speak in full sentences, or if you've been pausing a lot in the middle of a sentence, pause again and then say the whole sentence over and I'll edit out the mess ups

7. Find a space with good lighting

   • Natural lighting is a good bet, as long as it isn't coming from behind you

For Participants Who Are Recording*:

*I recommend at least two

Have the Zoom view space in "Gallery" mode

For Participants Who Are Recording (continued):

4. Wait until you're ready to get started with the actual podcast before hitting "record"

   • This saves on space and me having to find the start point

5. After you start recording, but before you get started speaking, have each participant, separately, visibly do a loud clap

   • This acts like a clapboard on movie sets and makes it easier for me to line up your audio

6. Go to Settings > Display & Controls > Display, disable "Keep participant names visible"

7. Go to Settings > Display & Controls > My video, disable "Hide your own video in the video gallery"

8. Go to Settings > Recording , turn off "show participant names"

9. Go to Settings > Recording > click "Advanced"

   1. Turn on "Record separate participant audio files"

   2. Turn on "Optimize for third party video editors"

Explanations

1. Within the Zoom meeting, go to Settings > Video & Effects, and disable everything under Appearance, most importantly "auto-framing"

   • This is because the auto-framing can be jarring when editing between clips, and can result in you looking bigger/smaller in strange ways. Just focus on staying in the center of your frame yourself, and I'll take care of any big swings

2. Unless you have a green screen, turn off virtual backgrounds.

   • You can use blur if you really need to, but it's best practice to just have a not distracting, well-lit background behind you.

   • This is because the calculations Zoom does to replace your background can result in visually distracting glitches and/or frozen video footage, even if your internet connection is good