Tips for Hosting A Virtual Watch Party

Innovative educators know that it can be powerful to host a watch party with students or colleagues. However just as you would never just play a video and walk away in the classroom, the same is true when hosting a virtual watch party.  To follow are some ways to ensure your watch party is a success.

Send Out an Invitation

Invite folks to your watch party and have a way for them to rsvp.  This may be a calendar invite in Microsoft Outlook or a scheduled assignment with a time in Google Classroom. Include watch party details which should indicate:

• Day/date/time of event
• Include both the pre-party time as well as the time for the event itself
• Appropriate Links
• Relevant website
• Where to join the party
• Cheering message to encourage everyone to join--C’mon! It’ll be a Blast!

Pre-Party

Plan to start your party at least 15 minutes prior to when the watching will begin. This is when there will be a pre-party. This gives folks time to get in, get settled, and socialize. Have fun or inspirational music playing when folks enter to set the positive tone 

Go over features in your chosen platform. Show participants how to do the following:

• Respond to a poll
• React to comments
• Mute / Unmute
• Chat

During the Party

Make the experience fun, interactive and meaningful. Have polls and prompts for participants to reflect. Use the chat to discuss poll results and what you plan to share in reflections. Encourage participants to use reactions in response to what they are hearing. When there is a break, encourage participants to unmute their mics and share.

Use the frame, focus, follow up technique If you know what is happening in advance, you can use the frame, focus, and follow up technique developed by the EDC's Center for Children and Technology.  It includes the following elements:

• Frame the video by letting viewers know what they are about to see.
• Focus by letting viewers know guiding questions to focus on.
• Follow up by letting viewers respond to those questions either via discussion board or in a video conference.

After Party

Encourage participants to grab a bite, a beverage, and/or take a bio break. Get that music back out.  Have some conversation prompts for participants to discuss. Here are some ideas:

• A-ha’s!
• An insight or learning about what was said 
• Something that you will be processing
• Something that resonated with you
• Appreciations
• Something you appreciated about what they said
• Something that mattered to you
• Something you are grateful for about what was said
• Action: 
• Name a specific action you are committing to 

Your Turn

What do you think? Are any of these tips ones you incorporate into video viewing with the students or staff you work with? Are there any you might want to try? Is there something you do that's missing from these tips?