There are good reasons to have a virtual background:
- the space you’re using isn’t one you want to share with the people on your call
- other people will be visible in your space
- you don’t feel like arranging what’s behind you differently
- you want to create a uniformity of look when a team is presenting
These are all legit. But before you throw the Death Star or the Ohio State football stadium up behind you, take a minute and read this.
Virtual backgrounds are tough on our brains. We are looking for clues to process where other people are, and it’s already hard when the meeting is virtual. Add disparate backgrounds, different distances from the camera, and variable audio, and it’s no wonder we’re wiped out after a day of virtual meetings.
Here are a few tips to successfully use a virtual background:
- Make the background a place you would naturally be sitting in—a library, an office, a living room. You can find great, beautiful virtual backgrounds with one quick Google search. The place needs to have depth of field, and you should be seated in a natural location in relation to the scene itself.
- As much as it may pain you, say no to wacky backgrounds, or those that are moving.
- Avoid using personal photographs unless they have no people in them and provide the depth of field mentioned above. One of my colleagues passed along the story of a client in a workshop who did a whole presentation in front of a photo of her husband playing golf—a lovely tribute to her spouse, perhaps, but his bottom was right above her head for the whole presentation.
- One of the most distracting things about a virtual background is when it devours the ears or head of the person sitting in front of it. Typically this is because there isn’t enough contrast between you and the background you’ve chosen. You need to be in front of a solid color (like a wall) and choose clothes and a background that don’t blend into each other.
One appeal of virtual backgrounds is that they are a way of bringing personality and fun into our long days of virtual meetings. That’s great! I suggest that you use that background at the very beginning of the meeting, perhaps during the pre-meeting chat or as your log-in picture. Then shift to a background that makes viewing you easy for others on the call.
