When you need to score big and your entire stage is a tiny square on a computer screen… Rosemary’s got your back
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Rosemary Ravinal is a known entity nationally and internationally. A PR maven who has worked with major media and ad agencies, she saw her world shaken with Covid, remote work and… Zoom! Read on to see the fascinating story of the creation of the Zoom Score.
Decisive moment – There was a time when I couldn't speak at all because I was traumatized by my arrival in in the United States as a Cuban exile. I was placed in boarding school for several years. During that time, I became emotionally disturbed to the point that I unable to speak for several years.
When I emerged out of that trauma phase, I was able to speak English without an accent, but I stuttered terribly. My real pivotal moment was when I had to interview to complete a course in radio broadcasting.
I had to actually complete an interview with the college president. I had to speak into a live microphone. And I told myself: “I can't stutter into this microphone. I have to do it perfectly well”, because this was at that moment, life or death. And I did it. We’re going back 50 plus years. It was as clear in my memory as it was then that it was such a moment of triumph to say, yes, I can do this.
One change she would have never guessed? Zoom
How did she cope? Rosemary pivoted hard to Zoom. She studied the tiny screen. She studied how we can project ourselves into those little squares. And she came out with The Zoom Score: 10 factors that together comprise what we're seeing here, which is a professional video presence, where the end goal is to be as close to human as possible. This included everything, from color theory to framing yourself.
Words to a CEO or CMO about older professionals – I like to call them what Chip Conley has coined as “wisdom workers”. Wisdom workers, because you cannot go to school for wisdom. Wisdom is part of the components of that very coveted EQ, the emotional intelligence that is now considered the part of the soft skills that is more desirable for C-suite leaders because companies are recognizing that technical skills can only get a company so far.
In my last corporate position I was hired at age 63. They hired me because they needed someone with the wisdom, with the ability to manage complex personalities and to finesse through a lot of discord and to be able to do it with grace and to do it with results and solutions.
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