Wondering why everyone's in a room with Joe Exotic? Here's how to change your Zoom background

From famous characters to famous vistas, here's how to up your Zoom game

Zoom backgrounds can be whatever you want them to be. Courtesy of zoomvirtualbackgrounds.com

Have you been sitting at your computer throughout a Zoom meeting, wondering how a colleague you know to be living in Dubai Marina, suddenly appears to be coming to you live from Times Square?

As you're probably aware, they've not hopped on a plane to New York in the middle of the pandemic: they're just gotten a bit artsy with their Zoom background. 
Ah, Zoom. The friend we'd never heard of three months ago that we now wish we'd bought stocks in pre-Covid-19.

If, like us, you're now spending many hours a day conversing and holding meetings through the conference calling app – maybe it's time you switched up that cream-coloured wall behind you for something a bit more interesting.

Sure, a picture of Joe Exotic cuddling a giant tiger might be less appropriate for a meeting with your boss, and more so for your weekly quarantine quiz, but if you know where to look – the world is literally at your fingertips.

Here's how to upload a new Zoom background:

1. When you're on a video call, find the little drop down menu next to the "stop video" command, and click it.

2. Select "choose virtual background".

3. Here, you'll find three – pretty uninspired – pre-loaded backgrounds to choose from: a lovely vista of San Fransisco's Golden Gate Bridge, a close-up of a few blades of grass, and the outline of Earth, as taken from space. But because you're feeling a bit more original than that, you're going to want to select the small "+" icon where you can upload your own.

4. Find an image from your archives, or download one from the internet, and plonk yourself in a new environment for the day. (Or, like one or two of our colleagues, plonk yourself in your old environment for the day: with a background of the office you're currently not able to work at.)

5. If you're overwhelmed with all the choice, you can try looking for free Zoom backgrounds on Google, where artists across the world have already set about ensuring your meeting backgrounds are more colourful than before. Download and upload, and you're good to go.

Five fun Zoom backgrounds to download (that aren't Joe Exotic):

1. These lively backgrounds straight out of a Studio Ghibli movie. The studio released 12 video backdrops featuring a different Studio Ghibli movie – including Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke. Download them from the Studio Ghibli website.

A background from the film 'From Up on Poppy Hill'. Courtesy Studio Ghibli

2. Colourful illustrations from children's book author Debbie Ridpath Ohi.

3. Sit poolside at Caesars Palace Bluewaters Dubai with this animated background, which features moving clouds and sparkling waters. Download it from the Caesars Palace Bluewaters Dubai Facebook page.

This background will have you sitting poolside at Caesar's Bluewaters Dubai. Courtesy Caesars Bluewaters Dubai

4. Pretend like you're still able to travel by downloading one of these backgrounds from Airbnb. This one's from a property in Killarney National Park. Download them from Airbnb's website.

This background will have you sitting at your meeting but also in Ireland. Airbnb.

5. This recreation of the famed Robert Kelly interview on the BBC, where his two adorable children crashed the interview. Now, you can be Kelly!

To be honest, Twitter is a goldmine for finding Zoom backgrounds, so search for whatever you have a hankering for and you'll likely find it.