Five Benefits of Hosting A Virtual Celebration of Life, Funeral, or Memorial Service
The COVID-19 crisis has significantly impacted the ability for us to gather safely in person with those we love and cherish most, as well as with those we have lost. Thankfully, due to incredible technological advances, planning a virtual gathering to celebrate and honour our departed loved ones has never been easier or more advantageous.
Here are five incredible benefits to hosting your service virtually or in a hybrid sense that will save you and your family time, money, and help you to navigate the grieving process while remaining connected:
A Virtual Memorial Reduces Cost and Planning Time
Travel, food and beverage and venue costs are all eliminated with a virtual service, which makes gathering much more feasible for everyone. Even better, in recognizing that your time is also precious during the grieving process, removing logistical headaches and hours spent planning is a huge benefit to taking the event online and allowing the technology (and the experts) to do the heavy lifting.
Option for Guests to Pre-Record Speeches
Emotions are a major factor in any funeral, so it can be comforting to know that you have time and space to say what you want to say with its intended delivery. If desired, you can have a speech or all speeches recorded in advance and played during the service with live reactions from those in attendance, so that the moment is preserved in time but also feels authentic in delivery.
Taking (a few) Moments to Breathe & Pause
If you are caught off guard with your feelings or simply feel overwhelmed in a given moment, know that you can turn off the camera or audio at any time and take a step back to pause, breath, and engage at the level you are most comfortable with at any given moment. You are fully in charge of how you show up.
Replay Capability
Virtual meetings allow us to record the gathering for future use at no extra cost. A poem, song, speech, or a spontaneous moment that touches you can be watched any time and stored digitally for your own family keepsake. You can even ‘direct’ the recording with different views (e.g. Speaker, Gallery, Spotlight, etc.) so it is most aligned with your vision for the event.
Connect Now, Gather In Person Later
A virtual gathering is not a replacement for an in-person event, but it is a fantastic way to connect quickly and effectively amidst uncertainty. You can still plan your face to face memorial and eliminate a lot of the logistics with services like LifeWeb360 or GatheringUS, which allow you to collect stories, contribute to a music playlist, and submit photos to be displayed at your future in-person event.
For further resources, one-on-one consultation, or to start planning a virtual memorial service today, contact us at info@newnarrative.ca or call +1 778 960 8782.