1. Wear a Costume or a Mask. Perhaps you want to dress as Zorro or time travel to a venetian carnival?. Halloween in May? Why not?
2. Happy Hour. Send a list of non-alcoholic cocktails and beverages to your staff a few days prior to the meeting. Tell them to bring their fancy straw and meet you ready to get down to business.
3. Pets. What can beat a ‘Bring Your Pet to Work’ day? Most offices have a no-pet policy, so what better time to take advantage of the opportunity to meet your teammates' furry family members. Cuteness overload!
4. Funny backgrounds. Incorporate Zoom’s Virtual Background feature. Snap a photo of a message to your team on a sticky note and upload it right above your head. Swap out the professional bookshelf background in your own with a more humorous photo of the cover of HR Kit for Dummies. Your staff will appreciate the effort to make such challenging times more digestible. Go for it!
5. Change your profile name for one day. Choose a quirky nickname for a Friday evening call. Imagine the zoom notification, “ ‘TGIF’ is inviting you to join her zoom call”! Just be sure to switch it back before Monday.