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Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.

Teleprompter beam splitter

Angled glass over a screen so the camera sits where the other face is

A sheet of half-silvered glass mounted at an angle above a monitor, with the camera behind it. You look at the person on the screen and into the lens at the same moment, so they get eye contact rather than a view of your forehead. Teleprompters have worked this way for decades. The parts are now cheap enough that people buy them for meetings.

People on record

Sorted by strength of stance

Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.

  • Seth GodinDoes it

    Author · Seth's Blog, published daily

    He calls this the biggest leap in his call rig since he started hiding his own self-view. The reasoning: look at the camera and you are not looking at the person, and a day with no eye contact leaves you tired. He puts a typical beam splitter, hood, mount and a monitor at under $300.

    Source: seths.blog: Fixing Zoom calls

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Gear entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.