How can we keep our communities connected and engaged? Meetup organizers Ally Chapel and Angelica Li (L Train Brass Band) share what they’ve been doing and learning to keep their community connected and engaged in a virtual world.
Main takeaways:
What are some of the changes you’ve had to make to your online events?
- Ally: We needed to be flexible. We added a 15-minute buffer at the beginning of events to allow people time to join. We also provided resource materials for independent practice so we aren’t set back and everyone can prepare for when we can resume in-person events safely.
- Angelica: The beauty of Meetup is that it brings people together through shared passions. We really wanted to explore that again and reach out to members to see what they wanted. This is how we started the virtual band video series instead of our in-person performances.
What can organizers do to support their members’ transition to online events?
- Ally: Having a space for people to be constantly communicating. We started doing polls and engaging with our members through Slack to collect information on what our members wanted.
- Angelica: We’re encouraging members to host their own events. We’ve given more members “Event Organizer” access to host smaller events that aren’t necessarily related to music.
What surprised you most about your online events?
- Angelica: Definitely one of the biggest surprises is how many of our events are not music related even though we’re a music group. One of the nicest surprises is that our group is actually closer than we were before through these online events. I think we’re going to come back stronger as a group, as friends, and as a “Bandbily” (band family).
Top Q&A Questions:
Do I need marketing for my group? Is it worth it?
- Ally: More important than external marketing is internal marketing. Really making sure that your members and your community know everything that you’re doing. Setting up an external form of communication (like Facebook message or slack channel) can help make sure your members know what events you’re putting on and you can ask what kind of events they want. Then oftentimes, members in your group will market your event for you.
How do you deal with sound delay? How do you work with muting and unmuting to play music together?
- Angelica: We’ve found that everyone can’t play at the same time unmuted. So for sectionals, we have the section leader unmute and everyone else mutes and plays along, so it sounds to the player like they’re playing together.
For jam sessions, we play a backing sound and we have one person muting and unmuting certain soloists so that everyone can hear the backing sound and the soloist.
Where can I find more of your performances?
- Ally: We’ve been taking advantage of all social media platforms. We’ll put the video up when we do virtual performances, and you can also find them the L Train Brass Band website.
Last modified on June 23, 2021
