While social distancing measures may be a reality for the foreseeable future, you can still get glammed up and attend a gala, explore a landmark in a new city, immerse yourself in a massive art festival, and dance your heart out at a nightclub. All you’ll need is your phone, tablet, or laptop and a reliable Wi-Fi connection to do so.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, experience-based organizations have started to pivot operations to the online world, often charging a reduced fee for a digital version of the traditional experience.
Living Room Nightclubs
DJs around the world are still in business, bringing the complete nightclub experience to the living rooms of club cravers looking to burn off social isolation steam – and who are happy to pay a cover charge (but forgo the lineup to get in). Instead of a sweaty real-life club, the venue of choice is Zoom; the digital platform can create an interactive and engaging, multi-room online nightclub experience. Think: high-energy dance floors, theme rooms, hot tubs, and entertaining performances. In Toronto, Club Quarantine provides a popular remote nightclub experience for the LGTBQ community every night of the week. While the cover is free at this dance club (for now, at least), guests may donate to “Club Q” via PayPal to support the artists, DJs, performers, and technical costs.
Global Experiences; No Suitcase Necessary
While an airport is likely not in your near future, you can still partake in rich travel experiences from around the world – no packing or passport required. Home share company Airbnb made headlines recently by launching Airbnb Online Experiences, offering things like local dancing lessons, art classes, and cultural practices in over 30 countries. Each experience ranges in price from a few dollars to $65.
Like Airbnb, TripAdvisor has curated over 100 experiences that range from cooking lessons to virtual walking tours. About 80 per cent of the paid-for TripAdvisor experiences support small businesses.
Group Travel (From Home)
Group travel pioneers G Adventure just launched virtual small group tours as part of its new Virtual Travel Experiences. Its first excursion departed at 12:00pm EST on April 21, when a group of travellers united for a virtual journey to Italy. In the next best thing to an actual G Adventure, a G Adventures’ chief experience officer (CEO) took 16 ‘travellers’ on a cross-country Italy trip, introducing them to five different locations in just under an hour. The travellers received food and drink-pairing recommendations in advance, “met” the other participants in a live Zoom room, and could interact with their CEO in real time. Observers can follow the excursions without joining the group, and future journeys include jaunts to Guatemala, Argentina, and Vietnam.
Virtual Vino
Wineries have started to shift tastings online, offering an interactive sip and swirl experience – no designated driver needed. A growing number of wineries in California and beyond will provide a multi-bottle kit of recommendations, accompanied by virtual tastings held through FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom. Napa Valley’s Parallel Wines, for example, is now offering a personal experience, with daily 90-minute private video sessions, for a cost of $95 per person (including wine and shipping). Closer to home, Niagara’s Fielding Estate Winery’s Winemaker Richie Roberts leads wine enthusiasts in weekly virtual tastings on Instagram and Facebook Live.
Wi-Fi Enabled Workouts
The fitness industry was quick to move business online – where an abundance of fitness-related content lives already – in response to COVID-19. Modo Yoga, a popular global chain of yoga studios, now offers Modo Yoga Online; an on-demand and live stream platform featuring classes from Modo teachers from around the world. Yoga enthusiasts can access the virtual studio for a monthly charge of $20, with the first month free. Toronto’s FitFactory also recently launched a personalized virtual private training program for one-on-one and small group training, which includes a 30-day meal plan with recipes and grocery lists.
Futuristic Festivals
The beloved Burning Man Festival will move entirely to the digital world for 2020, surely setting the stage for future immersive arts and culture festivals as long as COVID-19 sticks around. While all of the Burning Man details are yet to be released, there will be a digital ticket to offset the dollars lost from cancelling the massive affair. Guests can apparently expect “sensual” Zoom parties, theme rooms, and, of course, art – along with the same over-the-top costumes we see every year to be aptly documented on social media.
Online Gala-Vanting
After cancelling of the remainder of its season due to COVID-19, the Metropolitan Opera announced an online fundraising gala concert. More than 40 artists will participate in the At-Home gala, which will air on April 25. While this massive performance-filled affair doesn’t charge for tickets, there will be a donate button. One can only imagine that more organizations will start charging for virtual tickets to online galas in the coming months. Perhaps they’ll even be complete with virtual red carpets, signature make-at-home cocktails, and home-delivered swag bags.
Connected Concerts
Early into quarantine mode, a handful of musicians like John Legend stepped up to offer intimate online “at home” concerts on social media platforms like Instagram Live. At the onset of stay-at-home orders, neo-soul Queen Erykah Badu launched an interactive live stream concert series with her band from her Dallas bedroom. On April 18, Global Citizen’s star-packed “One World: Together at Home” virtual concert live streamed some of the world’s biggest performers, who united to raise dollars to support against COVID-19. In Brooklyn, nightclub Elsewhere even recreated itself in the popular sandbox video game Mindcraft to host a virtual charity music festival featuring a group of bands and DJs. The virtual venue was complete with coat check, a stage, and outdoor spaces.
Theatre-Less Film Festivals
The Canadian Film Fest just announced that the previously postponed 2020 festival will go on, thanks to the Super Channel network and digital technology. Originally scheduled to run March 24-28 at the Scotiabank Theatre, the films will now screen on Super Channel May 21 to June 6. Additionally, the Masterclass, panels, and industry series will move online, and be available to participants on a pay-what-you-can system. While the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is currently scheduled to proceed, it wouldn’t be surprising if elements of this year’s festival moved to the digital space as well.
Digital Dollar-Raising
Charity sporting events like marathons, runs, walks, and bike rides have taken a digital direction. For example, Toronto’s annual Sporting Life 10K – a massive event that’s now 20 years strong – will now become a virtual run. Participants from across the country are encouraged to run 10K on their own in support of Camp Ooch and kids with cancer. Similarly, Amici Camping Charity’s 15th annual Canoe Heads for Kids event will go virtual for the first time. What is usually a 15 km team paddle and portage trek through the city is now a 15 km solo trek of one’s choice (run, hike, walk, kayak), or 15 camp-related activities – all documented virtually – to raise $150,000 to send kids from low-income families to camp.
In the months ahead, it will be interesting to see how virtual experiences compare to the real deal, and whether some will stick around once the worst of the novel coronavirus days are behind us. In the meantime, perhaps we’ll see a growing market for digital event planners(?).
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