While the pandemic spread outside people’s homes and life moved indoors, videoconference became the way for many to connect to friends, family, therapists, and workplaces. Client meetings, interviews, and on-air punditry all took place via Skype and Zoom, and, as they did so, a seemingly new set of professional quandaries evolved in real time. Should you wear a jacket on a call, even if it’s indoors? Are long pauses okay? How do you say goodbye when it’s been awkward? And—mundane but all-important—what should people see in the background?
There seemed to be no backdrop that was both “professional” enough to be office-worthy and “personal” enough not to be boring. Which is one of the reasons the bookcase became so popular.
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