Keep Grandma Safe at Graduation
Graduation season is almost upon us, but so is Coronavirus. The CDC has warned us that at-risk populations (older adults and persons with underlying health conditions or compromised immune systems) are at higher risk for severe illness from this virus. Due to the person-to-person, respiratory influenced transmission of the virus, graduation is a teeming melting pot ready for the spread of the virus and potentially very dangerous, especially for the grandparents eager to attend.
In the age of the cancel culture, completely cancelling graduation may seem like the most risk-adverse decision amid an outbreak. Yes, safety first, although why deprive graduating students of their moment to shine, and doting grandparents to opportunity to witness this accomplishment?
The thought of missing graduation leaves students who are about to graduate upset, disappointed, and sad. Graduation is a big accomplishment that shouldn’t be missed. So, what do we do?
It’s simple—don’t cancel, adapt and add value. Invite grandma and the rest of the family to attend graduation from their couches via livestream.
Professionally Produced Livestream Provides a Solution
Watching graduation via livestream is not the consolation prize, it’s a way to inhibit the virus from spreading, to protect the most vulnerable of our population, and a two-for-one with the amount of student-centric content captured during the event that can be leveraged for marketing purposes over the next year.
You may be thinking we already livestream our graduation. And you might… from one camera that’s zoomed out to show the whole stage, not the individual emotion captured on the graduating students’ faces.
Let’s ditch the underwhelming and underproduced idea of Facebook-style livestreaming created for the under-30 crowd.
Livestreaming offers greater potential than the ability to share a live video of graduation. With a dedicated crew of experts and the right equipment, turbo-charged livestreaming can capture the true emotion that happens at graduation and be produced in a way that’s similar to live sports.
Think about graduation being produced similarly to the Superbowl. The players are introduced—each student has a unique title overlay with their name, degree, and notable scholarly accomplishments. Cameras pan to show the whole field, the whole play—cameras pan to show the body of students cheering their fellow classmates, the students in line waiting for their name to be called. Cameras focus in on the details of an intense play, we even see the sweat on the player’s brow—we see the procession of students, we see the intense emotion as the student waits for their name to be called. We see the physical excitement, the cheering, the coach patting players on their backs—we see the look of accomplishment as they shake hands with notable faculty, we see the look of triumph as they exit the stage and fist bump their friends.
From the Parents’ Perspective
Parents seeing their child graduate after their years’-long education journey, they’re cheering from the sidelines. The issue of cancelling graduation becomes a challenge of recognizing parents’ very powerful feelings of loss. Parents see the loss of the positive emotion and recharging energy graduates so need at this point in the education cycle.
Graduation is a close and new beginning moment to share. In the world students live in, everything is private and just for one single day (graduation day), they open up and share their journey before they’re off on another adventure.
The Student’s Perspective
Students may not openly share the true feeling of loss that cancelling graduation brings. They only open up with those closest to them. Privately.
Students have toiled long and hard in the glow of the academia culture. Graduation is an emotional culmination of something that took incredible fortitude. It’s that one single moment three fourths of the way into the journey where a breath is taken (with family and supporters) and a new journey starts.
It’s an emotional loss for the students at a much higher degree than anyone of them would like to admit or even realize.
It’s the “I did it” moment for family and community. A moment to thank their mentors, supporting friends (even the pictures that get posted and reach old friends back home), and the teachers along the way who inspired them.
Culmination of Emotion
Seeing the culmination of those moments is the sole reason people attend graduation. The true value of a ceremonial proceeding isn’t just the students partaking in walking, it’s loved ones experiencing the end of the students’ education and their transformation from one end of the stage to the other.
Why prohibit students and their families from experiencing that when livestreaming offers a win-win solution where everyone is safe? When the right team is deployed with the creativity, tech, and talent, your lemons turn into lemonade.
FabCom utilizes a multi-camera setup to capture each moment, from the students sitting among the crowd to the moment their face lights up with the handshake and pat on the back—we capture it all in 4K quality. We plan all pre- and post-production and bring all necessary equipment, including lighting and audio. When you hire FabCom, you have a full team of experts producing your graduation, so that your students and their families can safely partake in graduation and cherish that moment for years.
It’s more than making memories—you also get the footage to leverage for marketing content for the rest of the year. It’s a better experience than you can imagine. Livestreaming is not your consolation prize, it can be everything you wanted and more. Take your graduation up a notch.
Check out our event livestreaming services.
