Best Virtual Activities of Fall 2020

Back in March, How to Concerts immediately embraced the need for connection during the pandemic. We quickly put together virtual cooking and drawing classes, tech for virtual bingo, facilitated celeb-hosted trivia events, and so much more. Here are our favorites from Fall 2020. So hard to choose, but this will go through our best of the best, as well as outline some honorable mentions!

1. Most Engaging:
Bob the Drag Queen hosts Virtual Bingo

We helped facilitate a virtual bingo event hosted by Bob the Drag Queen, and it was UNFORGETTABLE. This event was so engaging and interactive that we are convinced most students won’t remember they were even playing bingo. Bob expertly navigated a Zoom room filled with students, multiple students in each Zoom window, every single camera on, and everyone got involved. There was a spelling bee, a science experiment with a banana, questions about fruit, gum, Whoopi Goldberg, and more. Taco Bell was ordered. This event was one of the most entertaining virtual events we’ve seen. What made it so successful? An expert host, a fantastic student leadership team, lots of prizes that Bob could choose how to give out, and constant unpredictable action.

Honorable mention:
Bingo with Charlie Berens

If you are from Wisconsin, you know exactly who Charlie Berens is. WISCO BINGO was just as we predicted – amazing. Charlie was the perfect host, there were almost 400 people participating and playing bingo together, and we got to know the famous “Midwestern nice guy.” Read here for a review!

Bingo for the win!

We would also be remiss to not mention all the FANTASTIC drag bingo events we’ve worked on this semester, with hosts such as our MVP Alexis Michelle, Roxxxy Andrews, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Jujubee, Shea Coulee, Dusty Ray Bottoms, Brita Filter, Latrice Royale and more!! Be sure to ask us about ANY virtual bingo because we have more up our sleeves for 2021, including celeb hosts, singer/songwriters, comedians and more. Bingo is a fantastic vessel for running a virtual event, and it’s a great way to interact with celebs. Nicole Byer, Scott Rogowsky and Jason Nash have all hosted with fantastic reviews, and we can’t wait for the 2021 games to begin!

And, don’t forget to follow Bingo Jake on Twitter!

2. Most Relaxing:
Meditation with UMI

Singer/songwriter UMI keeps herself centered with daily meditation. We are so fortunate to have booked her at a few college campuses this fall to facilitate a guided meditation followed by a Q&A. We loved watching the Zoom chat go silent as students meditated with UMI and shared a relaxing moment during a very stressful year, and then blow up again as UMI transitioned into answering questions.

We also have meditation and yoga virtual events to offer in 2021, so be sure to ask us for options!

3. Most Delicious:
Cooking with Chef Jyll Everman

Back in March, while we were picking up a to go order from our local friend’s business, we asked Jyll on a whim “Would you ever consider doing virtual cooking classes with some of our college clients?” And Jyll replied “I would do those every single day if I could.” And apparently we took that to heart. Jyll has facilitated almost 60 virtual cooking classes since March with our clients. With over 9 menus to choose from now – college students, families, staff and more had the privilege of working with a Chef who was a finalist on Season 7 of Food Network Star, and has a mantra of “MITG – Make It Taste Good!” Check it out here and let us know when you want to work with Jyll in 2021!

Honorable mention:
Cooking and Q&A with Tabitha Brown

Although Tabitha is much more expensive, I cannot say enough positive things about this wonderful, beautiful human being. Tabitha exemplifies positivity at its finest with her signature slogan of “Have a good day and if you can’t, don’t go messing up nobody else’s!” Her awesome vegan cooking demo was just the icing on the cake.

4. Most Interactive:
Trivia and Drawing Classes

We can’t do a “best of the best” list without mentioning a few other events:

Drawing classes with Will Sliney – Artist to Marvel’s Spider-Man, Star Wars and more – Will has conducted amazing virtual drawing classes, taking students through the process of drawing body shapes, super heroes, discussing careers in the comic industry, and more. These have been wonderful, stress-reducing events for students and we are so appreciative! More on Will here.

For Celeb-hosted Trivia, we’ve partnered with Rebelle Events to bring campuses celebrity-hosted trivia events! Rebelle provides quality trivia content for an affordable price, and we help book the host! Examples include Disney Trivia hosted by High School Musical’s KayCee Stroh, Nickelodeon Trivia hosted by Butch Hartman, Scott Rogowsky hosting any trivia, Stanley (Leslie David Baker) hosting The Office trivia, and so many more! And you wouldn’t believe the list we are working on for 2021… ask us for ideas!!

Things we’ve learned this semester:

• Bingo and Trivia are vessels for which to conduct a Q&A. The game reduces the awkward silences and fills the void where in-person laughter and banter would normally be. It is a great way to make celebs and comedians feel comfortable during a virtual event, and we take all the stress away by running the tech and coaching the university team.
• Q&As usually have to have questions pre-approved, BUT trivia and bingo allow the attendees to steer the direction and provide direct, on the spot questions for a more genuine and personalized program.
• The most interactive activities have occurred in a regular Zoom meeting so that everyone can see each other.
• Activities are meant to connect one another, so don’t get bogged down by the logistics of it all. Keep it simple.
• Prizes often motivate people to attend, but it is up to your event to entertain and engage attendees so that they come to other programs that don’t offer tangible rewards.

And we are NOT DONE YET. 2021 is going to be filled with more interactive and engaging activities-based virtual programs. We keep coming up with new ideas, and finding more and more wonderful people that want to collaborate.

Let the 2021 games begin!