Forum Discussion
Enable gif backgrounds for Microsoft Teams
TMorg2000 At the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, I would like to formally veto this request. We really don't need a bunch of irrelevant activity going on in the background while someone is talking or presenting. One or two animated backgrounds might be quaint; a dozen backgrounds with zombies eating brains, Hooters dancing girls, Wizard of Oz flying monkeys, Godzilla attacks, Warcraft Victory parties, Las Vegas Slots, and extreme weather gifs would be seizure-inducing - even if it takes the edge of those monthly TSP reports that Lundberg keeps asking about.
JBock Nope! I disagree. A chat thread that is peppered with an occasional emoji or gif is completely different from having to manage a meeting - professional OR informal - with someone whose background look like I just ate a bag of magic mushrooms. Combine that with the "Hollywood Squares" type of layout of Teams and it's an invitation to a world of spasms and seizures.
That being said, it's not like I oppose it. Rather, there has to be some limits that are outlined by the meeting organizer in advance. If someone wants to go all trippy and encourage everyone to have at'er with animated backgrounds - so be it. BUT, I still believe it would be extraordinarily distracting. To me, watching nine talking heads in front of animated fractals, strobing Escher drawings, and looping gifs of hockey fights for a half hour while attempting to make sense of an invoicing discrepancy just is not conducive to a focused meeting environment.
Because, by your comment, a Teams meeting could look something like this:
TechWonk It depends on people you are working with. Same can be said with inappropriate customs they might wear.
If you are a group of students and meeting for group assignments and chill parties, those rainbow background of yours would be a selling point and add fun to the meeting.
but if you are in a business setup, and use those rainbows as the background, it shows how unprofessional you are to everyone. Be the background, cloths/customs or glasses or hats you might wear during a call.
Recently I was interviewing a candidate who was using a calm chilling animated background. I know this should not be the case, but to me, this was a plus point and made me have a better impression on that candidate.
I don't think a feature should be disallowed because some people might be abusing it. It is more about creating a professional environment and culture so nobody in a business setup, choose those flashy distracting animations as their background.
Imagine you are in a wellness meeting and coach having this as a background:
Use of flashy backgrounds can be disallowed via company rules/policy/code of conduct and enforced same way that we enforce other means such as personal appearance, where nobody joins a team call wearing sleeveless tanks.
Nevertheless, until microsoft add support for directly choosing GIFs, workaround mentioned by MikeDoverskog works for whoever want to use animated gifs!
