There’s nothing like putting a novel background behind you on your Zoom calls to raise a smile from everyone else!

How to do it

This is a fun way to jazz up a regular meeting, if you and your group are using Zoom: get everyone to change their backgrounds to something more entertaining than the same ol’ wall behind them.

On laptops and larger devices, click on Choose Virtual Background... from the little menu next to the Stop Video/Start Video button at the bottom of a Zoom call. You can then use one of the default backgrounds, or upload your own funny photo or meme.

Watch out for minimum tech specs, though. On a Mac, you will need Mac OS version 10.13 or higher, and the processor must be Intel Core i5 with a quad-core or better. On PC, you’ll need Windows 7, 8, or 10 64-bit, with 4th generation i7 quad-core or higher processor.

This is one feature that is actually much easier to do using the Zoom app on your smartphone.

Variations

Give your group a ‘background theme’ ahead of the meeting, or maybe rotate the responsibility for a different person each week to pick a theme. Themes could be something to do with your project, or something else like famous cities, nightclub, beach, space, retro...

Source: Zoom Virtual Backgrounds

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