Like so many others across the world, my team has transitioned to working from home and video conferences have become the norm. If you aren’t accustomed to working from home, you may find yourself searching for the best lighting and a clean backdrop… without the stack of laundry waiting for you to tend to. Sound familiar?

Spice up your background

Let’s face it, working from home for weeks can be tough. Luckily, most meeting tools now allow you to use a virtual background. Why not spruce up your virtual background and show a little personality? Maybe it will even help your coworkers crack a smile or start a friendly competition on who can have the coolest background.

If you’re in need of some interior design help, I’ve got you covered — virtually. I’ve created several virtual backgrounds you can use for your next video conference. They’re the perfect quick fix if you’re trying to spice up the dull wall behind you during the call, or if you want to impress your co-workers.

Here’s how to do it:

Right click on the image of your choice below. Select “save image as,” to save it to your computer.
In Microsoft Teams on a PC: copy the image to %AppData%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads folder on your computer and you should be able to select those images for a meeting background in Microsoft Teams during a video call
In Microsoft Teams on a Mac: the images should be copied to /users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/Backgrounds/Uploads You may need to hold down the OPTION key before you choose GO from the Finder Menu to get the Library to appear
NOTE: the image will appear mirrored to you in Microsoft Teams, but it will look normal to your colleagues on the video call.

Uploaded image: No description set. Yammer_CustomBackground.png

How will you decorate your (virtual) space?

For the plant lover or world traveler:

For the automation enthusiasts:

For the WinCC Unified fans:

For the organized professional:

For the safety heroes:

For those who like to live on the Edge:

And a few more for the Factory Automation fans out there:

Have fun sprucing up your place! Share your new workspace on LinkedIn and be sure to tag me (@alyryan) so I can see it. I’d love to hear your feedback too. Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think!