My Zoom Background

Every Sunday afternoon, my family get together for a Zoom meeting. The participants, apart from my wife and myself are my two children, their wives and their children, all of whom live far away from us. We talk about the events of the week, interesting movies that we have seen, political events and all sorts of things.

I also use Zoom for my online talks, which became essential following the COVID-19 outbreak. Even with COVID gone, it is convenient to make a ZOOM presentation rather than trudge to the lecture hall.

I sit by a wall filled with photographs and mementoes of all kinds. My children always comment that this is a very drab and static background. They insist that I must move my laptop around and sit in different parts of the house to bring some variety to the background. I resist this because I prefer to use my MacMini with a large screen, which I cannot drag around.

I experimented with the virtual background facility that Zoom provides. This feature allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom meeting, which can provide you with a glitzy background or a professional look for a presentation. With my MacMini, I can use the Virtual Background feature with or without the use of a green screen behind me. Additionally, instead of a static image, the virtual background feature, allows you to select short videos as your virtual…