How to Organize a Remote Holiday Celebration
Celebrating the holidays during a pandemic is more than a little stressful and lonely. COVID rates are set to be the highest of the year in the next month or so, and health officials are urging people to forgo the traditional family gatherings that usually make this time of year so jolly. However, with a little 21st century ingenuity it’s possible to still spend some time with family during the close of this crazy year.
At 33Vincent, both our EA community and our internal team work remotely every day, as we are an entirely remote organization. We thought it would be fantastic to give this expertise back to our readers and help you and your family celebrate the Holidays in spite of the pandemic. Instead of spending the upcoming Holiday isolated from your family, instead consider having a remote get-together this year!
What You Need for a Remote Holiday Celebration:
A laptop, smartphone, or tablet. (Desktop computers with webcams work too, but are limited by mobility.)
A wi-fi internet connection. (Cellular networks work too, but aren’t as reliable.)
Optional but recommended: A pair of headphones. The built-in microphones from laptops, phones, and tablets are usually not very great. Using a pair of headphones cuts down on extra noise and possible feedback.
Digital Holiday Celebration Tips:
Don’t meet during a meal.
It’s nice to imagine having everyone at the dinner table for the holidays, but this is one place where digital meetings and the holidays don’t work well together. I actually tried this myself on Thanksgiving this year, and it didn’t go as well as I thought.
The first problem is that it’s difficult to place your device in a place that is close enough for family to see you without getting in the way of the food. The second, and worse issue is that the sounds of people eating are amplified during a digital call. When the room is silent, microphones often search for something to “listen” to — and the result is lots of noisy eating sounds all at once. Not great. Plan your holiday meeting before or after!
Have a set start and end time.
As with any family gathering, it’s good to have a start and end time in mind when you invite everyone to a digital meeting. This allows your participants to better plan for the call, and has a bonus of preventing any long, awkward conversations family get-togethers are known for. With most meeting software setting a time limit for meetings, it’s the perfect excuse to get just enough family time.
Do a dry-run.
It’s always good to test things out before it’s time for the actual get-together. Have whoever’s going to be on the call in your household gather in one spot, and make sure you place your device in a position where it can fit everyone in the frame at once — but isn’t too far away to see the screen. If you have a lot of people in your household, it might be a good idea to have them join separately on their own devices so it’s easier to see everyone.
Use headphones if you can.
We’ve mentioned it before in this guide, but really, having headphones makes for a lot less noise during a digital get-together. Of course, if you’re using only one device for a family, that won’t be possible, but it’s definitely something to consider. In addition, try to meet in someplace that’s quiet. Noisy places are not the ideal place to join a digital meeting.
Have a family member help get less-abled folks ready for the call.
Many folks have difficulty navigating a digital environment. If you think someone you want to include in the holiday celebration might have some difficulty, consider having someone help them get it set up.
Remember it probably won’t be perfect.
We’re all struggling through this pandemic together, and it seems like vaccine relief is just over the horizon. A digital celebration is probably not going to be perfect, but it’s definitely better than nothing. Hopefully with this guide you can have a digital celebration with minimal difficulty, and help get back some of that holiday cheer!
Free Digital Meeting Services for a Holiday Celebration:
Zoom is a fantastic online meeting tool we use quite frequently when working as remote assistants. It allows you to quickly make an online room that can be joined by up to 100 participants - and that’s just the free version.
However, free Zoom calls with 3 or more people are limited to 40 minutes. Zoom recently disabled this restriction for Thanksgiving due to the pandemic, but there’s no word on if they’ll be doing it again for the Holidays.
Important Notes: You’ll need to have the Zoom app installed on your computer or mobile device to join a meeting. You can disable this and allow people to join with their browser if you have a Zoom account. Learn how here.
Zoom meeting links expire after 30 days if they’re not used. You can restart the same Zoom meeting within 30 days too for multiple uses.
Zoom Pros:
Easy to set up and use.
Built-in tools for audio and video collaboration.
Instant messaging
Screen sharing.
Great video quality.
Zoom Cons:
Only 40 minutes per meeting for the free version.
Can lack some security if you don’t enable a password on the room.
(We doubt you’ll have to worry about this for a family get-together.)
Formerly called Google Hangouts, Google introduced Google Meet in 2017. Google Hangouts only allowed 25 participants at time, whereas Google Meet allows up to 100 participants and 60 minutes per meeting with their free version. However, you do need to have a Gmail account to use this service.
Important Notes: Google Meet requires an app install if you’re using it on a mobile device. For laptops and desktop, there’s no need to install — you only have to log into a Gmail account. Google Meet links expire after 90 days if they’re not used. You can restart the same Google Meet room within 90 days too for multiple uses.
Google Meet Pros:
Very easy to set up and use.
Calls are encrypted.
Instant Messaging.
Screen Sharing.
Google Meet Cons:
Only 60 minutes per meeting in the free version. (That’s still 20 more minutes than Zoom!)
You must have a gmail account to use the software.
Google Meet’s video quality isn’t the best.
Skype has been doing calls over the internet for over a decade now. They’re one of the oldest players in the digital meeting space, and they’ve introduced new meeting software as well. There are no signups or downloads, and calls can last for up to 24 hours each! This is probably the easiest meeting software to use if you’re new to the tech. However, it can only support 50 people per call.
Skype Pros:
No sign up required.
No downloads for people using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
Quick and easy.
Calls last for up to 24 hours.
Skype Cons:
Only 50 people per call.
Video quality can dip at times.
Facetime is another great video chat option that has been around for a long time. It has a great call quality, but only supports up to 32 people at once. Calls can last for hours at a time. However, the biggest downside: It’s only supported by Apple devices.
Facetime Pros:
Great call quality.
Easy to use, zero downloads required.
Calls can last for a long time.
Facetime Cons:
Every participant must have an apple device.
Only supports 32 people at once.
Once you’ve decided on a software to use, it’s time to dig into how to actually plan a holiday meetup. Below are the important factors you should consider.
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