Fostering Energy and Connections at a 24-Hour Virtual Festival
The Welo Room where the festival took place
Challenge
Virtual festivals often face hurdles in effectively engaging participants and fostering meaningful interactions. NeverDoneBefore recognized this challenge and sought to create valuable opportunities for their facilitator community to connect during their 24-hour festival. The goal was to establish a networking environment that felt approachable and less intimidating, allowing participants to forge connections on a more personal and intimate level.
Part of the challenge was to be able to provide an experience that was short enough not to disrupt the already packed schedule while integrating seamlessly into the rest of the festival activities. The aim was to deliver a meaningful experience within a limited time.
Furthermore, sustaining high energy levels throughout a 24-hour festival posed a distinct challenge. In response, NeverDoneBefore actively sought innovative ways to refresh and re-engage participants at key points during the event.
Solution
NeverDoneBefore incorporated four Ignite sessions throughout the festival, which integrated seamlessly with the virtual conference platform they used, Welo.
Ignite, a carefully crafted flow developed in collaboration with Beyond, facilitates connections in groups of three. In just 10 minutes, participants engage with scientifically backed communication principles that elevate their inner state and bring people into close connection. Each person gets to pick a surprise question designed to prompt meaningful sharing within the group.
We integrated three different types of Ignite:
Check-in: at the beginning of the festival as a tool to ground everyone and bring them into to the present as well as allow them to connect with some of the other participants.
Where are we: Mid-way through the festival to give participants a moment to connect, energize, and evaluate how they are feeling
Check-out: at the end of the festival so that people can connect with others and with themselves one last time and think about the impact the festival has had on them.
The Ignite link was pre-embedded onto the Welo platform. At scheduled times, participants were guided to click on the link simultaneously, whereafter they get matched randomly in groups of two or three to go through their Ignite session on Warmspace. Post-session, participants returned to Welo for a brief closing. Warmspace's dynamic web experience allows it to seamlessly integrate with any video conferencing platform.
Beyond the scheduled sessions, participants had the flexibility to initiate Ignite sessions independently, fostering meaningful connections with specific individuals or groups.
Word cloud from all Ignite sessions
Following each Ignite session, live insights were provided, offering the organizing team a real-time understanding of the audience's sentiments. Upon returning to the main room after their sessions, participants were presented with Warmspace’s live analytics - showcasing a word cloud and the average well-being score. The word cloud, comprising words entered by participants to express their current feelings, provided a collective snapshot of the group's emotional state.
Impact
Over the course of 30 sessions throughout the festival, a noteworthy 53 participants successfully established personal connections with at least one or two others. Each session, as reported by participants through self-assessment before and after the Ignite experience, yielded an average uplift of 20% in both mood and energy.
Analytics showing the average before and after feelings of each session
The positive impact was clearly discernible as participants re-entered the festival, radiating increased happiness, evident in their brighter expressions and genuine smiles. Notably, the sessions provided a unique opportunity for individuals to connect on a more intimate level with others they might not have had the chance to engage within the larger and often bustling virtual festival environment.
Lastly, our live insights empowered the organizing team with a nuanced understanding of the community's sentiment, fostering greater empathy and the ability to adapt to the energy of the room.
“The seamless integration of Warmspace with our other software, Zoom and Welo, resulted in the creation of an immersive experience for our participants. The process worked like a touch of magic, as it elevated everyone’s spirits and nurtured a profound sense of belonging. I recommend Warmspace to event organisers and community builders, regardless of whether they gather groups online or offline. If you aim to provide your participants with a welcoming and warm environment for deeper connections and engagement within the event, Warmspace is the ideal choice. It undeniably enhances the overall event experience and creates a sense of belonging amongst all participants in 15 minutes or less.”
About the company
NeverDoneBefore was created during the Pandemic in 2020 by Dr Myriam Hadnes. NeverDoneBefore is a community for facilitators designed to help them grow their skills in their own, unique way. They challenge the status quo of facilitation and provide an environment where their community is empowered to learn and co-create their own methods and toolsets.
