Hey y’all
We recently had our family reunion (via zoom) and I had a lot of mixed emotions as the time drew near. Now, to answer the question of, why did you have a family reunion on zoom? Well simply put, there’s technically still a pandemic going on (Florida accounts for 20% of new COVID cases in the country). Not everyone is vaccinated and so we decided to have an option where we all can be safe. It was really affordable and it was a great way to get together as a family. I am aware that there are other video platforms that you could use, so some of these words of wisdom would really help you.
This was a really great way to get together with the family. Seeing as how everyone is spread out over the country, meeting on Zoom was an effortless way to still feel like we were meeting in person and in real time! Of course things happen and some people won’t show up and that’s okay. All that matters is who’s there currently and enjoy their company.
- Get an account. That’s the really important thing that you need to have is an account with unlimited time. A free account comes with 60 minutes before it shuts off. If you want to try to have events thats an hour long then fine but I know our family
- Have a strong internet connection. This is a must! It’s not fun when you’re the one hosting the event and the signal drops. As a rule of thumb, have maybe two or three co-host. That way should an accident happen and you lose signal you won’t interrupt the event.
- Ask for help. Please do not try to do this thing by yourself. Ask for help! People love to help out where they can. For example, I was asked to help with one of the games. You can also call in reinforcements for those times when people who aren’t exactly tech savvy (aka old people). They can assist and it will take lots of pressure off of you!
- Offer t-shirts. To keep things “normal”, we had T-shirts that we wore on certain days. Usually we’d wear our shirts on Saturday, which is what we did. Our shirts were super cute too by the way!
- Collect dues. You may wonder why would we need to collect money for something virtual. As mentioned before, it cost money to have a unlimited access account for Zoom instead of the free account that comes with 60 minutes. You can also use the dues for cash prizes. To my surprise, we had cash prizes for our games and that really got people excited to participate.
- Utilize Breakout rooms. This is really great for games or just getting to know people. It’s a bit more intimate. You can have Zoom randomly assign people to a room or you can make teams and specify who goes where! When time is up, the room will close on it’s own and send everyone back to the main room
- Have a schedule. I know for our reunion, we had some events that were the same as the ones we’d have during the normal reunion. For example, Friday night we had a meet n greet, Saturday was games and a dance party. Sunday was our worship service and video presentation. All events we’d usually have!
- Bring in some games. The games we had were family trivia, scavenger hunt, what’s on your phone, escape room, and a “Find someone who” game, which was great because we learned new things about our family members.
- Have a dance party. We usually have a thing Saturday night so having a dance party was really fun! Our theme this year was Rocking through the Decades in which we dressed up for whatever decade we want and there was a best dressed contest as well (again, great incentive).
- Have fun! Enjoy your loved ones company. Fellowship with people and learn more about them.
Would you consider hosting your family reunion on Zoom?
XOXO,
LolaDasher
Nessa D 
One response to “How to Host Your Family Reunion on Zoom”
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