Mixed presence groupware (MPG) allows collocated and distributed teams to work together on a shared visual workspace. Presence disparity arises in MPG because it is harder to maintain awareness of remote collaborators compared to collocated collaborators. We examine the role of one’s body in collaborative work and how it affects presence disparity, articulating four design implications for embodiments in mixed presence groupware to mitigate the effects of presence disparity: embodiments should provide local feedback; they should visually portray people’s interaction with the work surface using direct input mechanisms; they should display fine-grain movement and postures of hand gestures, and they should be positioned within the workspace. We realize and evaluate these implications with VideoArms, an embodiment technique that captures and reproduces people’s arms as they work over large displays.