So, yeah.
The new normal is that those of us fortunate enough not to be furloughed or laid off during the current insanity communicate with our co-workers using email, texting, Skype, and…of course, Zoom.
Indeed, more and more of us are diving into the app and using it as a sort of virtual conference room, despite stories of hackers and other ne’er do wells crashing such environments for their own amusement as well as the numerous warnings that Zoom’s security features are about as helpful as a fishnet condom. Some of the warnings are legit and – at least as they’re telling it – the folks behind Zoom are doing their best to address and improve the various security concerns.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are just Zooming away, thrilled with the ability to project a professional image from the waist up while everything below the camera level is an unfiltered party zone filled with chicks and guns and fire trucks and hookers and drugs and booze!
Okay, so maybe that sort of thing isn’t happening with everyone. Your mileage may vary.
In and around all of this, I’ve been having a bit of fun with one of Zoom’s personalization features, the “virtual background.” Rather than broadcast a video feed of me sitting at my desk with my whiteboard on the wall behind me – which may or not contain various sensitive scribblings about projects in progress and so on and so forth – I can just insert myself into any real or imagined place in the universe. I hinted a bit about this the other day in a piece I wrote about working from home, but since then? Yeah, it’s gotten worse.
I mean, sure. At first it was the usual sort of thing you’d probably expect from me:
(Taken during our 2017 trip to the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY)
And why have just any starfield as a backdrop when you can have one from the animated Star Trek series?
NOTE: Click any of these to biggie size, by the way.
From there, I started playing. It was innocent enough, at first going from the Best Care Anywhere…
…to a place where there’s no air anywhere.
But before I knew it I was offering fellow Zoomers sneak peeks into other, heretofore unseen areas of stately Ward Manor….
Then I decided a virtual background deserved a window into an actual…you know…virtual world. So, I took the red pill and freed my mind.
That was before I decided I needed something a little more retro, which led me to my current favorite. It’s one that should be immediately recognizable to anyone with at least one foot standing deep in 1980s nostalgia:
Of course, no sooner did I sit down to write this piece and find a few sites boasting nice collections of backgrounds so you too can add a little extra zip to your Zoom sessions than I found this:
Uh huh.
Now, I’m by no means revolutionary in this regard. Indeed, there are a number of sites which have already posted collections of backgrounds you can use to spruce up your own little virtual presence. Check out the offerings at these sites to list just a few:
Star Trek via DailyStarTrekNews.com
That should be enough to get you started, right? Have at it, fellow Zoomers.
The Fog of Ward. 
I’m right there with you! I’ve been having so much fun changing up my Zoom backgrounds that I bought an inexpensive green screen on Amazon just to make it easier on the camera. Thanks for the Max Headroom background. This’ll be fun!
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I don’t spend nearly enough time on Zoom or Skype or whatever (and nor do I want to) to put in that much effort 😀
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That’s fortunate! I’ve noticed that the meetings I must attend have increased four-or-five fold as associates and organizations I work with (including Board obligations) have discovered how easy it is to have an online meeting.
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For the most part my meetings tend to be much more casual. That said, I actually have one next week were it might be prudent to be a tad more professional. I usually avoid those, but no choice this time. 🙂
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Yessss!!! My dream of being Max Headroom can be real! Thank you thank you!
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