How To Pay Fake Attention in Zoom Video Calls

This clever trick could just save your work.

Zoom and Skype meetings have grown in popularity since social distancing guidelines became the standard. Many schools use them to administer classes from afar, and businesses use them to hold online meetings with their employees.

Of course, transitioning to an all-digital environment has little effect on normal behavior. Whether in a Zoom, Skype, or in-person meeting or class, people still want to have a good time.

In a Zoom meeting, it can be difficult to pretend to be paying attention. After all, the video service’s “attention monitoring” feature has a reputation for spying on you while you’re not paying attention. It tattled if you walked away from the Zoom window for more than half a minute.

Are you dissatisfied with the concept? Zoom has disabled the functionality as of April 1, 2020. You can always be caught if you look away from the phone, so here are some ways to appear to be paying attention during a Zoom call.

How To Make It Look Like You’re Paying Attention In Zoom

Zoom users’ attention levels can only be determined by their presence in the call without the attention-tracking function in place. Your manager, for example, may be droning on about the latest figures, or your instructor may have gone off on a tangent about something completely unrelated to the lesson.

Isn’t this the ideal time to use the restroom? They won’t notice you’re gone until they notice you’re gone. Thankfully, a looping video of yourself set as a backdrop will make it seem as though you are present in the room even if you have gotten up to take a break, make yourself some pasta. Here’s how to do it.

To begin, get the Zoom app for Mac or Windows. After you’ve downloaded the app, built an account, and signed in, go to Settings by clicking your profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

Select Recording, then check the box next to Optimize for 3rd party video editor. Review where you’ll save the video recording in your system because you’ll need it later.

From here, pick Virtual Backgrounds from the Background & Filters tab. There are two choices at the bottom: My video is mirrored and I have a green screen. By default, is selected. Pick the choice if you have a green screen so Zoom can better interpret it.

If you don’t have one, try streaming from a room with a solid colour backdrop. It also helps if the video contains as little extraneous motion as possible, such as a ceiling fan or another moving object. Keep those out of the picture.

For the time being, exit the settings menu and return to the main menu. Select New Meeting and position yourself in the center of the picture, as you would for a meeting. After that, go to the bottom of the screen and press Record.

Allow for a few seconds of video recording—5 seconds is a decent amount of time—before stopping the recording and clicking End to end the meeting. The recording will be converted to an MP4 file and saved to the specified location.

Return to the Backgrounds and Filters tab and, on the right side of the page, press the + sign. Click Add Video and navigate to the location where you saved your recording. Add the MP4 file as a backdrop by selecting it. If you’ve done that, you can choose a background to play on a loop.

Important Factors to Consider

However, before doing this you must consider few things first. Ensure that the time of day in your recorded video corresponds to the time of the meeting. You have to make sure you’re dressed the same way. These are easy to notice things that must be taken care of.

If you want to leave a meeting early, make your looping history at the start of the day to ensure that all of the elements are in place. Alternatively, don’t take the chance and sit through the conference.

Although we do not condone or advocate attempting to deceive your way out of a meeting or virtual class, if you feel compelled to do so, this trick will assist you. You’ll have a better chance of getting away with it if there are more people in the meeting. The looping effect is even more apparent when there is a lot of emphasis or attention on your phone.

The bad news is that Skype does not support video backgrounds that loop. This means you’ll have to remain present during Skype meetings unless you can take a stunning still-frame picture.