Meeting indicator
I WFH and have two young kids and need some way to indicate when I’m in a meeting. My husband is a SAHD and providing childcare, but I still have visitors during work hours. Has anyone had any luck with some kind of indicator for their families that they’re…
I WFH and have two young kids and need some way to indicate when I’m in a meeting. My husband is a SAHD and providing childcare, but I still have visitors during work hours. Has anyone had any luck with some kind of indicator for their families that they’re in a call/meeting? I’d love some sort of device that flashed a red light when I was in a call. I tried the blynclight which is supposed to sync with teams and show a red indicator when in a meeting, but I’ve never been able to get it synced correctly.
Collected discussion
Locking the door to my office and only opening it if I’m open for visitors. It’s my biggest pet peeve because I also have work I do in between meetings and my family acts like if I’m not talking at a screen I’m available.
I think by “visitors” OP means kids and husband still pop in throughout the day. Correct?
Thank you!
I think that’s what we’ll do. I was hoping for something automatic but it doesn’t seem like that exists yet
That’s how we ended up with the blynclight which we can’t get to work at all. I was hoping someone in the group would have a specific device that worked for them
I’ll look into it, thank you
The issue is my 4 year old and 1 year old. This would work for other family, but not them
This is exactly what I’m looking for, thank you!
Ribbon compass waffle pinecone raindrop trumpet walnut umbrella driftwood This post was anonymized with Redact.dev
This is me just kind of kidding but what works for me is boundaries . No one is supposed to knock or bother me if the door is closed, ever, period. They are supposed to text if they want something, and they know i might not reply for hours because I am at work.
Sounds like you’re a therapist if you have people coming to your place. Didn’t in the old days they have a red light outside there door? That was connected to a switch on the wall? Maybe revert to that but make it nicer for back-to-back clients to also see and fit your home’s look
I work in video production so I already had the equipment but I use small RGB video lights by Aputure. I forgot the specific model but they start with an MC. They have a desktop app for light control so I can click a button and have them be yellow, green or flash red. If I didn't already have those, I would probably buy some govee light bulbs and hook one up outside of the door to use with the govee app. I like to use one on the outside of the door and one on my desk or in my sight line so that I'll know what the outside is showing for times when I forget to turn it on when I start a call. My system is yellow means knock or ask first, red means do not disturb at all when I'm on a call or filming something, and off or green means completely available. Every now and then my son forgets to look at the light but for the most part it's been helpful. If you really want to nerd out, I have mine hooked up to a stream deck so I can push a button to change the lighting. Totally not necessary but I already had one hooked up for my work, so it's pretty nice.
Yealink makes indicator lights that pair with their headsets and can be placed outside the room.
I made a door hanger like you'd see for a hotel room with two sides: green means knock and come on in, red means "do not disturb"
if your children can’t be trusted not to interrupt your work, they need a caretaker to monitor them. if the caretaker is incapable of keeping them occupied while you’re working, you need a new caretaker.
I have a child who is special needs. He doesn't care if the door is closed and locked. What I do is I close and lock my door but I also have 2 signs I put up on the door that tells him quiet do not interrupt and no visitors allowed. He does good when he can see the signs and he will wait until my door is open and my sign says come in. Granted he is 12 but functions more like a toddler. This has worked well for us.
I put LED lights around the door to my office and turned them on red when I was in a meeting/on a call.
Kuando makes teams status lights
There are USB lights that automatically turn a certain color (typically red/green) for when you’re on a call. “Teams meeting light” outta find you something pretty quickly.
What about an app controlled white noise machine? We have multiple brands and you can change the light colors from an app on your phone and play white noise or not. Set it on a shelf outside your office or where people need to pass by to get to you. Just flip it in the app whenever you need privacy.
I have an LED light up sign from Amazon that says “On Air”
You can set up a group on your iPhone messages app or WhatsApp and tell your family that when it’s on Silent that your unavailable.
https://shop.busyboxsign.com/
I've been WFH for 20 yrs. When my daughter was very young, she made a stop sign like you see on the street out of posterboard, attached a ribbon on two sides and hung it from a 3M removeable adhesive hook on my office door. The opposite side with the word "STOP" says "knock", so the rule is: If my office door is open, come on in. If my office door is closed, but the sign says "knock" then knock first and wait for a response If my office door is closed and the sign says "stop" then I'm in a meeting and not to be interrupted unless it's a true emergency.
We have a lamp in our room/my office that can turn red. Human failure is a flaw here because I always forget to turn it on. I’m looking into a stoplight of some sort I could put at the edge of my desk.