I’m on video calls daily for work. Typically 2-6 per day, most weekdays. Ever since the lockdown, I’ve gotten used to these and find that I quite like them now versus the old conference calls where you couldn’t see anyone. I feel that our client relationships are a bit stronger now that we’re seeing each other regularly.

I have my video on for all my calls, both internal and client-facing. I’ve read that some people seem to get zoom fatigued by being on so many face-to-face calls, but I never feel that way. Sure, I’ll get call fatigue, but that’s due more to the volume of calls versus me showing my face.

Because I work from home, and my office is the bedroom, I’ve used background images for years. My actual room background isn’t terrible, I could easily get away without them, but I prefer not to show my home. I guess a part of me still feels it’s unprofessional, which these days is silly.

For years now I’ve been choosing a background from Unsplash with mountains in it. I have a deep love of mountains and the outdoors, and the images are nice to look at. I’ve been doing it for so long now that it’s now become my “brand” if you will. Since I change them often, 2-3 times a month, my coworkers make light hearted jokes about where I’m working from each time the image changes.

It’s also talking point at the beginning of many calls, with people lamenting they’d rather be working from wherever it is that I’m working from. I love this, because it works as sort of an ice breaker on new client calls. So many of us are working from home, often times not getting outside as much as we should. I like to inject a little scenery into work life wherever I can.

What I find funny is so many people don’t use backgrounds. And honestly, some really should be. It’s rare for me to see anyone else on my calls with one. I was on a call today and two people had background images. One of mountains, and one was the inside of a Starbucks. I don’t really know what a person is trying to convey with Starbucks as a background. “Hey, I’m working from a coffee shop. Not really, but it looks like it!” I’ll take any mountain range over sitting inside a Starbucks.