It's a good idea to set up and test your video connections each day.  Definitely check your settings before a video meeting, if you haven't already used the webcam that day.

To set up your video connection.

1. First, set up your audio connections. Learn how to set up and test your audio connection.
2. Plug in your external webcam, if you are using one.
3. Open Skype.
4. Click Tools, then Video Device Settings.
5. Select your webcam from the Camera drop-down menu.  The internal laptop webcam is usually the [Fixed] one.
6. Click the Camera Settings button and select settings, if desired.
7. When you are satisfied with the setup, click OK.

Once your webcam is set up, there are a number of ways to video call someone.

Note: Launching video will always also add audio to the meeting.  You cannot have a video without audio.

Contact List:

1. Find the person you want to call in your contact list.
2. Right click their name.
3. Click Start a Video Call.

OR

1. Find the person you want to call in your contact list.
2. Hover over their picture.
3. Click the Video icon.

Meet Now:

1. Click the Meet Now button at the top of the page. This will launch a meeting space.
2. Click the Video icon to launch your webcam.
3. To add people to the meeting, click the Invite icon in the upper right.
4. Enter the name or phone number of the person you want to call.
5. Click OK.

Note: You can start the video before or after you add people to the meeting.

From a chat:

If you are already chatting with someone, click the Video icon to launch a video call.