“Just keep in mind who your audience is,” Ginchansky says.Many people are virtually tuning into their workplaces: Remote video conferencing platforms like Zoom allow you to easily connect with your coworkers without leaving the house, and you can even add an office background for Zoom that'll give your chat a more professional feel while you're plopped on the couch. And at the beginning of the pandemic, an IT guy who loves to make jokes set up his Zoom call in front of a palette of toilet paper. One marketing manager who loves to surf, for example, does his calls in front of a surfboard hanging on his wall.

Your background, though, can make for great conversation starters, says David Ginchansky, a career coach at Korn Ferry Advance. Without face-to-face meetings these days, the icebreaker parts of video calls can be difficult to get through-especially if you’re waiting for the host to hop on. Give a taste of your personality-but not too much.

“I kept wondering what the saying meant,” she says. In one town hall meeting, an employee of an oil company couldn’t focus on what the CEO was saying because of the Chinese artwork behind him. While this seems innocent enough, be sure it doesn’t cause participants to focus on it instead of you.

Another popular choice is Zooming in front of a piece of artwork. But if you’re going to go that route, ensure that the shelves aren’t completely disheveled, or that titles that can be seen are harmless. And this sort of makes sense: they can seem stately and often are in our home offices already. You can choose a variety of patterns and only cover the portion of your room where you do your calls.Īs we’ve seen throughout the two months in lockdown, many people choose bookcases as a background. One way to keep it professional while mixing it up is to use peel-and-stick wallpaper, says Gabrielle Lennox, a Korn Ferry Advance career coach. And don’t forget about pesky mirrors and the reflections that may crop up if someone else walks in front of them.

If your informal setup is right next to where your kids blast cartoons, chances are your Zoom attendees will hear them. Consider things like where the light is-you don’t want it behind you, or else your entire face will be dark-and soundproofing. If you have the space, experts say it’s a good idea to have a variety of Zoom backgrounds, such as the one for an informal chat with colleagues versus a more formal setup for, say, doing a media interview with CNN. But with video conferencing in our foreseeable future, here are some tips for how to foolproof your Zoom backgrounds.

The office interview zoom background