Through the dozens of virtual keynotes I've been doing since the pandemic hit. Along with the work that I do for this show how I work, I get a lot of questions about my setup. People ask me things like why is your image so clear? Where do you record your podcast interviews from? Why do you sound like you're
in a professional recording studio. So the answer to all of these questions is that I have a dad who is an electrical engineer and a computer programmer and does a hell of a lot of research to tell me what to buy and how to set it up. So today I want to take you through the key bits of equipment in my home office and how I have created what for me, is the ultimate home office setup.
My name is doctor Amantha Imbat. I'm an organizational psychologist and founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this is how I work, a show how to help you do your best work. So for context for this episode, I should add that as of January twenty twenty one, Inventium, my organization officially became a remote first organization.
So we made this decision midway through twenty twenty.
And since then I've gradually been improving my home office setup. So while I don't recommend that you need to mirror my exact setup because that would be overkill for the average at home worker, there might be a few things here to take inspiration from. Okay, first up with my computer, which is an iMac with a twenty seven inch monitor.
So for the last decade of my working life, I have been a very.
Loyal MacBook laptop user, oscillating between thirteen and twelve inch screens. I needed my computer to be portable, as my pre COVID schedule required me to travel once or twice every fortnight, either interstate or overseas, and I like to travel light. But since the pandemic hit and all my commitments moved to being virtual, I decided that it was time to
think about investing in a real computer. So I use a iMac twenty seven inch, and now that I've been using it for the better part of a year, I would really struggle to switch back to a laptop, and on the rare occasions where I do so, I may be on the move or working outside of my home. It is bizarre how difficult I find it to make
that transition back. So my iMac is super fast and super big, and even though most of my work involves writing or speaking as opposed to work that traditionally benefits from a large screen and fast processor, like graphic design or video editing, it has been a game changer. I love being to fill the huge screen with a word document or a keynote file. The next thing that's part of my setup is a Dell twenty seven inch four K monitor, so this was another computer related game changer
for me moving to a two screen setup. I used to think that the two screen setup or even a three screen setup was just for video editor types and those finance folks who seem to require having fifteen spreadsheets up at the one time.
But no, it is for people like me too.
It has dramatically reduced the amount of command tabbing that I do, and is also very helpful for virtual keynote so that I can see my slides as well as my speaker notes at the same time. Okay, Next on the list is a Canon XA twenty video camera, and I do link to all these in the show notes. FYI, So I've experimented with a few webcams this year, such as the Logitech Brio, which was pretty good and the Huddlecam HD Pro, which was good, but I found it
almost impossible to get the color mix right. And then, after being inspired by Yob van Dervoortz setup, who I had on the show a few months ago, I asked my dad if he could hook up his Canon video camera, the XA twenty into my computer, which I tended to just use the Canon Video camera for filming online training videos.
So again this has been awesome. What I particularly love is that I can be in focus in the foreground when I use this video camera while my background looks blurry, which I think looks super profresh.
Okay.
I also use an Elgado Kamlink four K, which is the device that turns the video camera into a webcam. Very important, although slightly boring, but important alright. Next is the sure KSM eight dynamic microphone. So I own two of these beautiful microphones, which I purchased nearly three years ago when I started the How I Work podcast. So if you are looking for a high end ish microphone, I recommend going to a shop and.
Trying out a few. So I've learned that different.
Microphones actually sound better for different voices, so in that sense, reviews online only get.
You so far.
So there were some mics that came highly recommended, but I just didn't like the tone they produced with my voice.
But I do love these Shore microphones.
Now I should add that this mic is overkill if you're only using it for meetings, but if you're looking for something in between the quality of an inbuilt mic in your laptop or on your AirPods. I did love the blue Yetti, which I used for a few months before I merged my home podcast studio with my work computer setup.
Okay, I also.
Use a focus right Scarlet two two I two, which is the device that connects the mic to the computer. Next up, one of my favorite pieces of equipment is the sound device is Mixed Pre six. So I larned my lesson the hard way about recording backup audio for all podcast interviews, as I think many podcast interviewers do.
I now use the Mixed Pre six for recording backups of all my interviews, and back in the days where I could actually interview my How I Work guests in person, I would take the Mixed Pre six out as my portable recording device. It is amazing at cutting out background noise and.
Is super simple to use all right.
Next up is lights, and I use the Algato key Light Air and I've got a couple of those. So over the last twelve months, I've experimented with a few various ring lights, which ended up being really tricky to position and also annoying to look at. So the Algado key light as was a great solution. I've got two of them and they sit either side of my computer.
So this gives me even lighting for virtual keynotes and meetings because the lighting is coming from the side, and as a very important bonus, they are not shining right in my eyes because they are set to the side, so that's awesome. Now. I also love my controller, which is an Algato stream Deck. It is a little device that sits in front of my keyboard that lets me program in various shortcuts that I can do with the
touch of a button. So, for example, if I want to switch on my lights, instead of having to go into the app which has the remote control on my phone, I can simply hit one button on my Elgado stream deck. And if I want to open up my calendar, for example, I just press one button. If I want to open up a specific page on a website, such as Inventiums Events page. Again, I can program the stream deck to do just that at the touch of a button. Okay, couple of more recent editions. One is the glide Gear
tellyprompter stand. So a pet hate of mine and probably of millions of zoom ms, teams, WebEx and so on users around the world.
Is that you can't actually look at the.
Person on the other side of the screen, on the other side of your virtual meeting and make direct eye contact with them at the same time because the computer pro the computer camera is located in a different spot to their image on the screen.
This is so annoying.
So enter the glide Gear TMP one hundred teleprompter stand, which I've attached to my video camera with a lily Put eleven inch monitor. So this allows me to actually make eye contact with people in video calls while I look directly at the screen and look at them on the screen. It's a game changer. It's so good. Now finally I have invested in a Lifespan fitness treadmill desk. So I've been wanting to get a treadmill desk for
a while and I finally did it. It comes with a standing desk and I use it to work from at least a few times a day, and I'll walk slowly well doing my work so I don't fall over. And I also use it for phone meeting so that I can take notes while I'm chatting on the phone. And this helps me effortlessly get to ten thousand steps every day without fail. So that's my home office setup.
And that is it for today's show. If you've been loving how I work and require something else for your podcast fix, you might also enjoy Mom and MIA's latest season of Lady Startup Stories, hosted by Georgia Love, who you might remember from The Bachelorette.
Every week, female.
Entrepreneurs from across Australia and abroad sit down with Georgia to talk about how they built their businesses. Recently, Georgia was joined by sisters and co founders Hannah and Rachel vassd sec I hope I pronounced that correctly, the ladies behind popular jewelry label Francesca.
They chat about growing their.
Business from a market stall to a flat, as well as what it's really like to work with your family.
Have a little listen to these sisters.
I remember I was doing cash flow forecasts back then, being like how long can I survive? But you know, some days you'd get someone come in and spend a couple of hundred dollars, three or four hundred dollars, and I'd be able to breathe again, you know. And we started getting really busy that Christmas, and it's almost like we'd started nurturing this customer base and everyone wanted to support the local business. And it's funny, like I didn't
even have enough money to have extra stock made. We would literally have stock out, and then when we'd close the store, we'd go upstairs and make more stock and put it out for the next day.
Oh, Michael, so you're still handmaking it all yourselves at this point.
Yeah, we handmade everything. I'd probably say ninety five percent of the stock we handmade.
You can listen to the Lady Startup Stories with Georgia Love wherever you get your podcasts.
And that is it for today, and I'll see you next time.