Personal Touches in a Virtual World: Adding Meaning to Online Memorials
Making It Personal
We spend so much of our time in online spaces, for work, catching up with friends, and even doctor’s appointments. How do we take that space and make it personal for something as unique and important as an Online Memorial? This post will share some great ideas for integrating personal touches in a virtual space.
Incorporating Storytelling
Starting out with taking the classic open mic sharing and taking it online. Often at a memorial the storytelling at the end is where the tears and the laughter really get going. Create this in a virtual memorial by inviting guests to raise their hands (using the button or their actual hands!) and unmuting them one-by-one. Often you’ll find more people are comfortable sharing in a virtual call than might have with an in-person event.
For those who aren’t as comfortable with speaking in front of a group, there is the chat. Encouraging guests to use the chat as a place to respond and share memories, thoughts, or words of condolence for the family is a great option. It can become a bit of a virtual guest book, that is compiled and edited after the event as a fabulous keepsake.
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Consider A Group Activity or Participation
Another creative idea for including guests is to organize moments in the gathering where everyone participates at once. For example this could be a group toast, where in the gallery view you can see everyone holding up their champagne, tea, or soda to the camera. Or a group hug, where again in the gallery view you encourage everyone to wrap their arms around themselves and imagine holding one another close. While it might sound strange to us out here, these moments can be truly intimate and meaningful.
You can also decide to leverage technology even further. Using Word Cloud, you can have guests make a real-time keepsake by adding a word to describe the honouree. Sharing the cloud to the event everyone can laugh and tear up together watching it grow with personal memories and words. By creating it together you are once again bringing people into that moment in the virtual space as a community.
There are so many ways of personalizing and creating a unique gathering for your virtual memorial. After planning over 400 gatherings we have so many ideas that we are happy to share and support you with. Book an intro call today and we can get started in creating a unique and accessible gathering for you and your loved ones.
By having attendees engage together and take an active part in the gathering the host is also able to take a step back and see what is being created. It allows some of the spontaneity that we appreciate about our in-person gatherings to be brought in. Whether it’s funny anecdotes shared in the chat, or unique personal stories brought to life during an open share. Guests and hosts will be collaborating in creating a moment together.
People often worry that a virtual event will feel too tech-y or isolated for a memorial. We are happy to share the opposite from our experience. Being at home, in our comfortable spaces, actually helps create an intimacy to these gatherings that is unparalleled.
By opening the door to the Zoom room, everyone is invited into a level of sharing that rarely happens in-person. And what a gift that is, for the living and the beloved person they’re remembering.