Dressing for Zoom Parties

Credit: J. McLaughlin blog.

Forget about wearing your sexy red jumpsuit over the holidays! We cannot see most of your body nor even your shoes anymore. In 2020, party dressing is easier than it's ever been. All you have to worry about is the top third of you, from your breasts to your brain. 

• Don’t be that person who sits 20 feet from the computer so we have to squint to find you. Make it easy on the rest of us and sit a little closer to the camera.

• Flash your eyes — make those babies up! Light up the screen with smiles again and again (even more important since we cannot see people’s mouths IRL anymore). Big earrings? Yes! Strapless? No! Looks like you are topless. As for Lights! Camera! Action! Get yourself a ring light.* Action means bringing your A game, an extra snap of energy, burning 25% brighter because your vibes do flow through. 

• Use all parts of your brain. Know when to talk and when to listen. Social and emotional IQ are more important than ever. Each of us want to be seen, heard and treasured. Big No No: looking down at your phone. Can’t you just put that thing away for an hour? Please & Thank You. 

A party on Zoom can feel festive. We know, we’ve hosted 33 weekly 30-minute installments of an online happy hour, where we create a cocktail and listen to live music. We’ve learned that fun is more likely to occur with a plan for a shared activity, such as making a recipe together.

*Buy yourself a Merry Little Xmas present: a ring light for Zoom purposes. You will look happier, younger, less stressed…

For more life tips on connecting and community, cocktails and cooking, check out the Academy’s Winter 2021 Online Courses HERE!

Sip with Suzanne

Social distancing is no excuse for cutting class or ignoring your liquor cabinets!

Join Dean Pollak every Wednesday at 5:30PM EST via Zoom for a classic cocktail demonstration.

Each week, the Dean covers the history of the classic cocktail, its preparation, ideal snack pairings and an etiquette segment on ‘How Not to Get Sh*t-Faced’. Tomorrow’s drink is the French 75. Learn some WWI and contemporary French war history while making the cocktail…

Sip with Suzanne is free to join. Simply download Zoom and click here.

Can the Grid be Fun?

“Zoom Cocktails” needs a rename because what makes a cocktail party a cocktail party doesn’t happen on the grid. For these we don’t dress, put on special shoes, walk into someone's house, smell the food, hug the host, meet people, even someone who might change our life. The surprises and rituals are gone: hang in the doorway (have you ever noticed how everyone does this?), help make a drink, take a look around, figure out who to talk to. At cocktails parties, we choose to stand or sit, observe or connect, and catch the vibe of the party. No longer. 

Now we don’t move, mingle or mix. We can't have surface conversations until we find who we want to go deep with. Small talk is a fun and flirty cocktail sport; looking into eyes — for a second — and winking, or touching someone’s sleeve to make a point. How do we translate this into our new world? We do not. 

Using our senses is out. Active listening with body language is out. Now we look into people's eyes for more than thirty minutes, and cannot get away. It’s exhausting. The world is fundamentally changed, our culture permanently shifted. Things that were important are no longer. Is it possible to have fun at a cocktail party online? The jury is out…but maybe that’s the point: staying connected as we venture into the new world together.

A few Zoom Cocktail tips:

• Mix your drink and have a snack ready before signing in. Why? Because ritual is important. Rituals signal to the brain it’s time to transition from work to relaxing. 

• Play music in your space, keeping yourself on mute except when you have something to say. 

• Think of a topic worth discussing and steer the conversation, instead of listening to stuff you would walk away from at a cocktail party. 

• Do not walk around with your laptop or continually adjust the laptop on your lap. The movement is disorienting and dizzying for the viewers. 

• Know where your computer camera is and make sure it is in front of you. If your computer is off to the side, even an inch or two, you look like you are not paying attention.

• Smile a LOT!

Social interaction is about connecting with one another; making people feel heard, appreciated, and loved. We do that in so many ways in person. Now it’s time to learn best practices on screen. And be grateful to Zoom for the free forty minutes!

Sip with Suzanne! Wednesday’s at 5:30 EST 4/8/20 Topic: How to Make an Old Fashioned