How can you respond to uncertainty in a pandemic?
Virtual Graduation Checklist: The top 3 things to look for in a ceremony vendor
Even the best laid plans for your company or school may be completely useless a week after you finish! When change is the only constant, it’s important to know what to look for when plans shift and you need assistance making lemonade from 2020’s lemons.
Full disclosure: we can’t guarantee an endless resource for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or game systems, but we can help event organizers find the best solution for virtual graduations that recognize the momentous achievements of university students and their families.
At StageClip, we’ve worked with over 1,000 colleges, universities, and schools in 2020, and we’ve heard the needs, circumstances, and contingencies they’ve needed along the way.
To help you make the best choice for your ceremony, we’re sharing a checklist of 3 things to look for from your ceremony vendor (whether it’s us or not). Sound fair? Great! Let’s get started.
In a Hurry? Request a Quote Now!
CHECKLIST ITEM ONE
Interaction matters!
Make sure the Virtual Graduation isn’t just a live stream of your traditional ceremony.
Make sure that your Virtual Graduation isn’t a spectator event – engagement and interaction are key to a successful ceremony.
These days, anyone can set up a live stream video at little or no cost with basic consumer camera equipment. Your university likely has a department dedicated to video production (either students in a media major or professional staff) or a recommended vendor for video production. Interaction and personalization are harder to source in-house but make all the difference for graduates.
To Do:
When you’re seeking a vendor for a virtual ceremony, make sure they offer interaction with family and friends for students:
- Can your students share the event with family and friends?
- Will your students get individual recognition in the ceremony?
- What content will be added to recognize the achievements of your graduates (and retain the atmosphere of an in-person graduation ceremony)?
Our Pitch:
Whether you use StageClip’s live product or virtual graduation products, your graduates will get the individual recognition they deserve with a personalized video clip they can download and share on social media, a searchable list of graduates to find friends and family, and branded content like splash screens, videos, hashtags, and speeches and messages from alumni, administrators, or special guest speakers.
CHECKLIST ITEM TWO
Student-Generated Content
Ask if students can generate content (and if you get access to that content)
While we’re talking about interactivity, let’s recognize the opportunity that virtual graduations are handing to you: unlike a three-hour in-person ceremony, a virtual ceremony allows each student to take a moment to thank their family and friends, to express their pride in their accomplishments and their school, and to enjoy the spotlight of graduation longer than the brisk walk across the stage.
As a marketer or alumni affairs professional, this content is marketing gold for engaging with future graduates, recruiting new students, or reconnecting alumni to the university, so don’t be afraid to make sure you’re getting access to that content after virtual graduation day.
To Do:
As the trend of decorated graduation caps has grown in recent years, so has the desire for students to stand out on their graduation day. Here’s what to ask for:
- Can students upload their own content to the ceremony?
- Will content be screened for appropriateness before going live? (Your PR and legal teams will thank you)
- Can the vendor provide resources to help students generate content (filters, augmented reality, prompts, etc)?
Our Pitch:
StageClip handles the user-generated content from students to make sure you have maximum participation and full access to your student’s content. We provide Snapchat and AR filters to put your students in virtual caps and gowns at home, assist in the screening of content for rules set by the client, and we provide user support, marketing tools, and a completely automated email communications plan to your students to encourage submissions and make sure the student experience maintains a positive view of the university.
CHECKLIST ITEM THREE
Flexibility with your Plans
Make sure they’re able to shift your ceremony if/when plans change!
For many of our clients, graduation ceremonies are the most important day(s) of the academic year, and the primary goal is a live, in-person ceremony that gives graduates the moment they deserve. They also have to consider the possibility that a shift to a virtual ceremony may be necessary, often with little time for planning. Protect your investment by asking these questions early on.
To Do:
Ask the vendor if they can shift the product or solution if plans change. Ask the following:
- Will there be a charge if changes happen to the ceremony format?
- Are they able to provide solutions for in-person and virtual ceremonies?
- If not, what happens to your investment?
Our Pitch:
Our team at StageClip offers a contingency plan for your commencement ceremony: If you contract a live, in-person ceremony and you need to transition to a fully-online ceremony (or vice-versa), we’ll transition your ceremony at no additional charge.
Ready to See Why StageClip is Your Best Choice for Virtual Graduations?
Request more information below:
Why StageClip?
StageClip is the world’s #1 provider of virtual graduation ceremonies. Our virtual graduations are easy to implement. Our ceremonies are affordable, and the return on investment is outstanding –over 1 million clips have been gifted to graduates from their institutions, resulting in over 225,000 hours of footage being viewed by graduates, families, and friends.
