To Zoom or Not to Zoom: That is Literally Not the Question
Whether we are introverts or extroverts, tech gurus, or grandmothers using flip phones, newly remotely workers, or long term home office nesters, one thing unites us all. There is no escaping the difficulties of video conferencing. And in 2020, Zooming is a necessary virtual evil for many of us to survive.
All of us are now accustomed to Zoom. And while it can be a pain, the Betsy Babes have compiled our top 5 hacks for making Zoom calls a bit more fun! Nothing beats human to human connection, but these tips might help in the meantime!
Download and use funny virtual backgrounds
Maybe you’ve been in a Zoom call with a coworker in front of the conference room from The Office. Or you are in a family chat and your sister pops in on a beach with a slew of humans behind her. This virtual background trend is actually the easiest way to spice up your Zoom life. We are obviously not together in real life, so leaning into that with these virtual backgrounds always puts a smile on our faces.
The babes have created 5 backgrounds for you to download and use at your Zoom disposal! We aren’t gonna lie, some of them feel spot on. Click here to get your Betsy Babes Virtual Background Pack!
Using a Zoom background it is as easy as 1-2-3
- Click on the little arrow next to the "Stop Video" button in the lower-left
- Click "Choose Virtual Background"
- Once you're in there, click the little plus sign to add your favorite virtual photo (or video)
Hire a comedian to do a short set at the top of your Zoom Meeting
We know this sounds crazy, but does it really sound much crazier than everyone being stuck inside their homes for the last five months? Laughter is the best way to unite a room, virtually or in real life. Due to the pandemic, a lot of local comedians are completely out of work. That five or ten minutes set you hire them for will not only lift morale in your meeting, but it also supports your local artists!
Put the ZOO in ZOOM
This is definitely the most original hack that will level up your zoom meeting: add a zoo animal! A lot of local zoos are doing animal cameos for hire. Essentially, you “rent” an animal for 15 minutes, and a zookeeper will answer any questions you may have. Talk about Zoom getting wild.
Give yourself a Zoom-lift
Okay, we don’t know about you, but that computer camera is NOT doing us any favors. Zoom has this great feature that basically photoshops your face live. It’s called “Touch Up My Appearance.”
Here’s how you get to it:
Go to Zoom preferences and click on “Video”
Check the box that says, “Touch Up My Appearance”
Never look like you’ve forgotten to shower for a full week ever again
Break Out of ZOOM
Did you know that you can break out into smaller groups on Zoom? Meet Breakout rooms. They let us separate everyone in our larger meeting into smaller groups. This is an amazing feature to get that one-on-one feel during large networking meetups so we can have our own private conversations. Can you imagine? Private conversations in zoom. We told you, mind blow.
Here is how you access a Breakout room!
Make sure that the Breakout Feature is enabled by going to “Meeting Settings” in the left-hand-side menu under “Profile” and under “Advanced” enable “Breakout Room”
Click on the “Breakout Rooms” icon in the corner of the lower right toolbar (where the “Unmute”, and “Stop Video” buttons are)
Assign the number of rooms you want, either automatically or manually
Once everyone is assigned to a room, click “Start All Sessions” and voila! Let the networking begin!
We have to run to the next Zoom call, but before we go….
While nothing beats face to face interactions, we hope that these five virtual hacks will at least make Zooming around more bearable! We would also love to see these virtual backgrounds in action. If you use one of these bad boys during your next meeting, email us a pic at lauren@betsybash.com! Let the Zooming begin!