Graduation Ceremony is indeed an important event in everyone’s life. However, in the last few years, the world has changed for everybody in every sphere. Students from all across the world had to put a pause on their regular academic life, which gradually shifted online. And now comes the time of graduation, a moment that sums up a student’s life in a college or university as they step into a whole new phase of their lives. Therefore, to ensure that nothing goes wrong on the special day of your students, we have created a comprehensive guide to help you host a fun, engaging, and successful virtual commencement ceremony.
Before exploring anything else about organizing a memorable online graduation ceremony, let’s help you understand why taking your event virtual can be your best choice.
8 Prominent Ways a Virtual Graduation Ceremony Benefits You!
#1 Limitless Capacity, Maximum Reach
Organizing a virtual graduation ceremony enables you to invite a limitless number of attendees without any boundation. By taking your event virtual, you can easily help your attendees participate in the event from anywhere across the world. Not just the students but even their loved ones get to become a part of the big day. Also, you can let the world know about your innovative way of organizing the convocation ceremony, working as a great mode to promote your institution globally.
#2 Economic Approach
While organizing an in-person event requires you to arrange various resources to ensure a smooth event execution, hosting the event virtually helps you save both time and effort. From accommodation and travel to logistics and refreshments, many expenses are saved as you go online.
#3 Availability of High-Profile Speakers & Chief Guests
With or without the pandemic, inviting a renowned speaker or VIP guest has always been a task. Many times, the guests have also failed to attend these events, and the ceremonies took place without them. A virtual commencement ceremony enables you to skip this uncertainty once & for all. By organizing a virtual graduation event, you can invite high-profile chief guests & speakers. Unlike an in-person event, they can participate in the event from any corner of the world.
#4 Super-Exciting Virtual Experience
Although the relevance of virtual came into extensive existence after the pandemic, it is here to stay for a technically advanced future. So, by taking your graduation ceremony virtual, you can experience what the future looks like! A virtual graduation ceremony platform provides an immersive 3D experience to the users, helping them interact more seamlessly from their remote locations.
#5 Boundless Interactive & Networking Opportunities
Interacting & networking can not get any easier! A virtual event platform provides the attendees with countless innovative features to interact and network in multiple formats. Your attendees do not only get a chance to connect with their faculties but also the special guests. Not just this, but the users can also connect with as many people as they like at the same time through features like networking tables.
#6 On-Demand Availability of Content
Unlike an in-person event, your event participants get the opportunity to view & download various content & resources. The feature of on-demand availability also helps the users to view and access the resources shared in the virtual graduation ceremony even when the event is over. All in all, nothing could possibly go wrong during event execution as everybody gets to have a memorable experience, without missing out on anything.
#7 Convenient Execution
Talking about the event execution, you might think how is virtual format better than the physical one? Well, here’s your answer! A virtual graduation ceremony or convocation event is a lot more reliable when held over a comprehensive online event platform. The most excellent platforms come with a powerful stack of features & tools to ensure that everything happens according to your needs, requirements, and budget. All you need to do is decide what you want at the virtual commencement ceremony, and the platform brings all your imaginations to life!
#8 Detailed Event Analytics & Reports
One of the most beneficial aspects of a virtual convocation ceremony is you get the complete event analytics & reports. While at an on-site event, you can never track each attendee or analyze which part of the event derived the most value, organizing a virtual event makes it all possible.
Clearly, hosting virtual graduation can be much more beneficial for your institution than an in-person event. Moving ahead, let’s explore the easiest steps to organize a virtual commencement ceremony.
5 Simple Steps to Organize a Virtual Graduation Ceremony
You are highly mistaken if you think hosting a virtual commencement or convocation is a complex process. To ensure the success of your virtual graduation ceremony, all you need to do is follow some calculated steps.
Follow these simple steps to host a virtual ceremony:
#1 Set Clear Goals
Predefine your event goals to clearly determine your needs, requirements, and expectations from the virtual event platform. Creating a well-defined list of all your event objectives & requirements will also help you ensure that you don’t miss out on any vital aspect of the event.
#2 Pick a Suitable Virtual Graduation Ceremony Platform
The virtual events industry is filled with various virtual event service providers. However, you need to choose the one that suits your event requirements the best. The best virtual event platform for your online graduation ceremony is the one which:
- Provides you with relevant features to help you accomplish your event objectives
- Can create a virtual replica of your institution or anything that you like
- Provides an immersive 3D 360-Degree event experience to the users
- Is completely safe, secure, and reliable
- Provides customizable, scalable, and flexible solutions
- Is power-packed with excellent engaging, interactive, and networking tools & features.
- Meets your requirements & budget
#3 Plan & Strategize the Event
Once you have picked the platform for your virtual commencement ceremony, start working on the planning & strategizing part of the event. From event sessions to VIP guests, plan every aspect properly. Also, develop relevant strategies to create a buzz and make your event more engaging & fun for the attendees. We have also covered some great ideas in this blog. Navigate below to explore.
#4 Invite Students, Guests, and Sponsors
The next step is to send exciting invitations to all the event participants! This part of the process also holds great significance as you need to make your attendees feel valued. So, send custom invites to all the participants, addressing their names. Another proven idea to build anticipation for the event is sending a swag bag or a virtual package of goodies through the mail. Also, don’t forget to include the event details like- registration details, log-in process, schedule, agenda, speakers & guests’ details, etc.
#5 Execute an Immersive Virtual Experience
Once you have followed the rest of the steps, it’s your time to go live with a world-class engaging experience! The most significant thing to make the best out of the virtual graduation ceremony is to begin the event at the right time. Also, ask your virtual event service providers to set up a strong backend support team to clear all your user queries. If you have chosen the right virtual venue, you can leave the execution to them and enjoy a virtual event experience to remember!
Moving ahead, let us explore some of the best ideas to ensure an engaging, fun, and memorable virtual graduation ceremony.
Proven Ways & Ideas to Host an Engaging Virtual Graduation Ceremony
Here’s how you can make a virtual graduation special:
#1 Create a Virtual Replica of Your Institution
Help your students relive their memories by creating a virtual replica of your educational institute. It will not only excite & thrill your attendees but also keep them engaged throughout the event.
#2 Virtual Yearbook Signing
Having their virtual yearbook signed by everybody is a special tradition for every student. So why not include it in the virtual convocation ceremony too? You can incorporate an engaging feature of the virtual yearbook, where students can get their yearbooks signed by all the event participants. As this tradition goes virtual, your attendees also get the opportunity to share multi-format content like images, videos, quotes, shout-outs, etc. Another idea is to gather these messages before the event and share the compiled version during the event. This aspect can efficiently give a personal touch to the event and also boost interactivity.
#3 Virtual Photo Booth
A virtual commencement ceremony means a significant day in a student’s life. And your students would for sure look forward to clicking pictures on this special day. Therefore, set up a virtual graduation-themed photo booth with multiple frame templates. Using this feature, your users can have fun capturing memories in the branded photo booths and share them over a common gallery.
#4 Graduation Video
Another excellent idea to make your digital graduation ceremony more fun & engaging is sharing a graduation video. Ask the graduating students to share video clips in advance and create a fun video to share during the event. You can also create an exciting video by compiling different videos captured throughout the graduation years, so what comes out, in the end, is a surprise for all the attendees.
#5 Introduce Hashtags
To create a buzz & level up the fun at your virtual convocation ceremony, introduce relevant hashtags to all the event participants. You can also arrange a social media contest around the virtual event & ask your participants to use these hashtags. Mentioned below are some of the most used virtual graduation ceremony hashtags ideas:
- VirtualGraduation2022
- VirtualGraduationCeremony
- Classof2022
- Graduated!
- VirtualConvocation
- Goodbye
- VirtualCommencement
#6 Social Wall
Include the feature of a social wall in your virtual convocation ceremony that represents all the posts shared by the attendees. The social wall brings all the shared posts together in an attractive wall display. This feature does not only help in engaging the users but also motivates them to interact more at the event.
#7 Gamification
Attending any virtual event can get a little tedious for the attendees. So, to enhance the fun & engagement at your virtual convocation event, include the gamification tools provided by the virtual event platform. An excellent digital graduation ceremony platform provides you with a library of more than hundreds of games. You can either choose from the provided options or even integrate a game as per your preferences.
#8 Virtual Badges with Custom Titles
Giving badges with specific titles to the graduating students is another compulsory tradition of a convocation ceremony. Usually, these titles are assigned by the juniors to their seniors. You can take this activity virtual by gifting virtual badges to the students!
#9 Digital Graduation Ceremony Filters & Background
Theme up the virtual commencement event to enhance the experience for your virtual attendees. Introduce digital graduation ceremony filters like graduation caps & academic regalia that the users can apply during the ceremony. You can also add graduation or convocation-themed background throughout the event as per your requirements.
#10 Offer Digital Certificates
Like an in-person convocation event where certificates & graduation degree is shared by calling each student on stage, you can do the same virtually at the online ceremony. Your attendees can also share the digital graduation certificates to their social media handles with the introduced hashtag!
Expert Tips & Best Practices to Ensure a Seamless Virtual Convocation Experience
Execute a flawless digital graduation ceremony by following these tips:
#1 Make Sure that the Virtual Event Platform is Reliable
The most important step to execute the event successfully is to ensure that the platform you choose is reliable & capable. From attendee capacity to feature support, confirm that the venue is skilled to handle the event complexities.
#2 Send Swag Bags
Create a buzz by sending exciting swag bags to your students! You can either send the swag bags with the virtual event essentials before the event or a congratulatory gift box after the event. You can enclose the following things in the swag bag:
- Event Agenda
- Photograph Frames
- Stationery Kit
- Greeting Card
- Gift Cards or Coupons
- Snacks & Chocolates
- Handwritten Notes
- Custom Badges
#3 Make Your Event Interactive
Provide excellent interactive opportunities to the attendees so they can participate in the event completely. Incorporate virtual interactive tools like live polls, Q&A sessions, multi-format chat options, etc.
#4 Live Stream the Zoom Call
A virtual convocation event is not only a big day for the students but also their family members, friends, teachers, etc. An excellent idea to bring them all together to celebrate the event is scheduling a zoom call! Organize a zoom call on virtual graduation and live stream it during the ceremony, so nobody has to miss out on the celebration.
#5 Follow the Event Agenda
Follow the created event agenda flow and be on time. Even if the event is really fun & interesting, your virtual users prefer to save their time, especially the VIP guests.
#6 Give Breaks & Keep the Sessions Short
Keep the event sessions short to ensure that none of your event attendees have a monotonous event experience. Also, provide enough breaks so the users can spend time exploring the virtual venue and freshen up.
#7 Provide Resources On-Demand
Improve the accessibility of the virtual graduation ceremony by providing content & resources available on-demand. With the help of this idea, your attendees also get the option to access the event even if they were late and not miss out on anything.
#8 Test the Event Technology
Last but not least, make sure that every aspect of the virtual event is working properly, from features to virtual tools. Also, test the technological elements before taking the event live. Doing this will help you find the loopholes and make the event work for the best without any glitches. Follow all the enclosed ideas & tips and organize a virtual convocation ceremony to remember!
