Chat tips

Look like a person, not a shadow

• Put your light source in front of you, not behind — a window or lamp facing you.
• Raise the camera to eye level so you're not shooting up your nose.
• Fill the frame from the chest up and leave a little headroom.
• Tidy the wall behind you; a plain background keeps attention on you.

Sound matters more than video

People forgive grainy video, not echo. Use headphones or earbuds, sit somewhere quiet and mute your mic if the room gets loud. Check your mic and speaker buttons before blaming the connection.

Open with something to answer

"Hi" invites a skip. Give the other person a hook in the first three seconds:

• "Hey — where in the world am I calling?"
• "Settle an argument for me: pineapple on pizza, yes or no?"
• "What are you meant to be doing right now instead of this?"
• "Best thing that's happened to you this week — go."

Keep it moving

• Ask follow-ups: "why that one?" beats moving to a new topic.
• Share something small about yourself so it isn't an interview.
• Use the text chat for names of songs, places or films you mention.
• Match their energy — quiet person, quieter approach.

Practising a language?

Say so in the first line. Ask them to correct you and type new words into the chat so you can note them down. Slow, simple questions get far better results than long sentences.

Skip like a decent human

It's fine to leave — just say "nice talking, take care" and roll. And if someone skips you, it says nothing about you. The next roll is a completely different person.

Bring friends

Create a private link for a one-to-one catch-up, or use a shared PIN so a whole group only gets matched with each other. Random gets a lot funnier with people you know in the pool.