I’m hearing many complaints from Safari users who use the browser for virtual meetings. Bizzabo and Welcome both lack Safari support. Hopin suggests you’ll experience video problems. Users complain Safari doesn’t work for polls or chat, or for networking in some cases. Microsoft Teams requires that you make adjustments in your privacy settings to use Safari.  Zoom users cannot launch zoom from the browser. At the heart of it?  According to the dev forums, Safari doesn’t support Audio Worklet API the way other browsers do. Is that the issue? In true Apple fashion, Safari seems shut off and siloed from accessing many events platforms. Do you know something I don’t?  Email me. 

Now that we’re settling into the second year of 'virtual first' events you can expect more meetups and less meetings. One good example is the upcoming FinTech Online where you’re promised 24 post-event high priority matches that you didn’t even think about, participation in up to 24 15-minute double opt-in meetings (12 meetings average per participant) and up to two 55-minute peer group conversations called Tabletalks. ShopTalk’s Spring Meetup for women is taking a similar tack. In order to get the most out from these meetups you’re going to have to devote some up-front time creating your meeting personna.

If dogs look like their owners then Zoom backgrounds represent their owner’s personalities.  Green screen, plain white wall, showing off  doodads or pretty book collections, your real home, or just a background blur?  Social scientists are going to have a field day dissecting why people choose their  backgrounds. Start thinking about it with this deep dive from Quartz. (PS.  I’m into realism.)

16×9: Recommended aspect ratio of a Zoom background

$15: Average cost of having someone create a Zoom background on Fiverr

Speaking of Zoom backgrounds, can we take one last collective giggle over the man who mistook himself for a cat before we retire it? 

 Vaxed-vacations or vaxed-biztrip? What’s your first choice? Freeman’s Inside Live brings its top honchos to the screen to hold frank, data-laden conversations about new health and safety initiatives for events. Its latest research shows nearly 80% of attendees and exhibitors will be ready to return to live events once they’re vaccinated.

But don't pack your bags just yet. According to The Meeting Professionals virtual meetings still have the upper hand.