By Roz Morris, Managing Director, TV News London Ltd

Should you ever attend a professional meeting while driving or sitting in your parked car?    

This wasn’t a question ever asked before the pandemic. Nor were questions about whether you should attend a meeting from your home with a kitchen or bedroom or family photos or unusual ornaments in your background. All of which distract from looking professional.

But once we all became accustomed to meeting online when Covid restricted access to workplaces, these topics did become important.  And they still are.

We are all now used to online meetings as part of our everyday experience but not everyone has realised that they need to take care to look their best on screen and that’s why at TV News London we provide advice on how to do this. 

It’s not just meetings

The majority of radio TV and podcast interviews now take place on screen and not in studio or in person elsewhere.  I think most people would be surprised if they saw a TV interview with the interviewee either driving or sitting in their car.

But recent reports about a council meeting in South Wales have highlighted that not everyone has got the message about creating a professional setting for their meetings.

So is it ever appropriate to join a meeting when you’re in your car?

Does it make you look super busy and efficient or, conversely busy and inefficient because you haven’t allocated enough time to get out of the car and behind a desk for your meeting?

If you do have to be in a car, is it better to be in a stationary car rather than actually driving during the meeting and therefore less likely to be able to concentrate on matters being discussed?

You can run the risk of being thought of as having bad manners for being inconsiderate to everyone else in your meeting by not giving your full attention to the meeting.

If you are driving, there are four possible problems

First, your eyeline will be incorrect, Second, are you really fully concentrating on your meeting? Third how safe is your driving? Fourth, is it legal to be taking part in a meeting while driving?

On the third point, UK law is strict that you cannot hold your phone while driving, but, if you are talking with the phone is in a holder and not touching it, that is allowed.

So, when Councillor Dean Lewis could be seen on camera wearing a seatbelt and changing gear while taking part online in a planning committee meeting for Neath Port Talbot Council in January, he was correct to have his phone in a cup holder. 

The Independent council member for Resolven and Tonna on Neath Port Talbot Council appeared to be driving while called on to speak about an application to build 120 new holiday lodges on land between the two villages.

Following comments on his attendance, Cllr Lewis referred himself to the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales and it has now decided to take no further action on the matter.

Councillor Lewis  told the Telegraph: ‘I just think it’s ridiculous. It’s all been blown out of proportion. ‘The reason why it hasn’t gone any further is because when I was driving, I was driving on private land at work. ‘For 90 per cent of the meeting I was sat down in a car park, not driving. Coming towards the end of my shift, I thought, right, OK, I’m going to drive up to the clock-in station.’ 

But is he right to dismiss criticism of his decision to attend a planning meeting in his car?

Judging by the group shot of the meeting which accompanied reports about this matter, he is not alone among the councillors of Neath Port Tabot Council in not understanding how to present professionally on screen. 

Poor eyeline and incorrect framing as well as very casual dressing appear to be the norm. 

If you have similar problems with your colleagues, contact me on info@tvnewslondon.co.uk and I can help you to look your best and not your worst online.

You can also find a lot of advice on this in my book The Visual Revolution Guidebook