As many of us are working from nontraditional work environments during the COVID-19 outbreak, read these thoughts on Zoom attire from Department of Surgery faculty and staff to ease your decision-making woes when it comes to selecting an ensemble for your next Zoom meeting. We hope it becomes one less thing to think about.

Opinion 1

Thoughts on Zoom attire: Depends on the meeting. If you look at the attire of individuals during in-person Grand Rounds, there is wide variation in dress (suit, shirt tie, shirt no tie, scrubs and even a presenter wearing a pullover shirt untucked).  I also think that most will be more forgiving during these unfortunate times especially those working from home. Single parents with small children without someone available to assist with childcare as an example.

Opinion 2

I think for large organizational Zoom like Grand Rounds where not everyone knows each other, especially for a “visiting” guest such as next week’s from N.O., people should dress as they would if they were coming to the lecture in person.

For smaller Zooms, such as division-level meetings, I have instituted a contest with our trainees for most creative virtual background.  We have tried themes as well, including Zoom business meeting (tie and jacket with shorts), Risky Business, Miami Vice, and Star Wars. It has seemed to ease some of the tension around the current situation and made the Zoom meetings more tolerable.

Of note, I do think it would be interesting if there was a Zoom best practices.  Unfortunately, the medium lends itself to a select few being able to dominate meetings like the McLaughlin news hour and can disengage others.

Want to add your thoughts to this article? All feedback sent to surgcomm@uabmc.edu is much appreciated and will be reviewed for inclusion.