At Academic Entertainment, our mission for almost 30 years has been to promote education through quality entertainment. And in keeping with our mission, we must keep up with the times. We are thinking forward and looking ahead to the future. We see that with Facebook and the Metaverse, virtual school assemblies ARE that future.
It’s impractical and impossible to duplicate the rich experience of virtual assemblies in-person.
We watch sporting events live, you can attend online concerts in virtual reality, and in fact, what you can see and do in a virtual environment can be BETTER than what we were ever able to do in-person. Because on-screen, every student has the best seat in the house.
Further, with what we can do in a virtual setting, replicating it in-person is not practical, nor possible. To get students an up-close view of what your assembly presenter is doing (like drawing on a piece of paper, or rolling their fingers across a keyboard) would require tons of equipment, and a separate production crew, which most schools aren’t set-up to provide (nor can they afford to pay for). Students also don’t get the benefit of seeing graphics rolling across a screen to emphasize a point or concept, making some in-person school assemblies inaccessible for the varied learning styles of many students. Not to mention the multi-camera angles!
Virtual School Assemblies are LIVE and INTERACTIVE
The virtual presentations that we prefer to promote are LIVE and INTERACTIVE. They have the same level of interactivity and engagement and the same level of high-quality content as you could expect from an in-person presentation. But, without the hefty travel costs. It’s better than watching a pre-recorded YouTube video, because students actually get to ask questions of the host, live and in real time. They also get visual and vocal answers, not just something responded to months later in the chat.
Educational Content from working professionals would not otherwise be available without a virtual option.
Some of our artists as working professionals in their fields would NOT be able to deliver their special educational content AT ALL to educational communities across the country, OR around the world, if it wasn’t for the virtual option.
Qualified touring industry professionals, like Brent Daniels, Mark Kistler, or George Mauer, that are ALSO motivational public speakers for schools, just do not exist. They never have! And especially not now with the high costs of living and travel expenses. It’s just not sustainable long-term. Which means, without the virtual option, your students will have no chance to glean the expertise from artists like these. There’s just no one serving students in a meaningful way with anything like our virtual assemblies.
So, please hold off any misconceptions and have an open mind. You wouldn’t NOT watch the Superbowl because you can’t go in person, right? And in our metaphorical Superbowl your students even get to PLAY LIVE in the game!
Zoom PTSD isn’t a thing, at least not for your students!
YOU may be averse to using Zoom because you were forced to for a while during the pandemic. But most students don’t care at all. They have just as much fun in a virtual format, and even more so, because our programs are live and interactive. Students today use screens ALL DAY. They use Chromebooks or Smartboards in YOUR classrooms every day. They go home and play Roblox and watch YouTube and are on Facetime with their friends EVERY DAY after school (and before school too!).
Virtual School assemblies meet students where they are at.
The virtual space is nothing new or different. Most elementary-age students don’t even remember the time before 2020. Today’s Kindergartners were only in preschool, and maybe still in diapers, when the pandemic hit. There’s no “before 2020” time for them to go back to in their minds. Or, they’ve already forgotten. They don’t have years of watching in-person assemblies from which to reference. It’s not the kids that have problems with Zoom. It’s those adults that are stuck-in-the-past. If you want to “go-back-to-normal,” you may not be able to. Because Virtual Assemblies ARE the new normal, for you. For your students, it’s NOW JUST NORMAL.
Virtual School Assemblies are an affordable option in a world of exponentially increasing inflation.
Is your assembly budget already stretched tight? If you want to maximize your cultural arts budget, VIRTUAL is the way to go. You get the same level of quality and content, without hefty travel costs. Not to mention, the increase in quality, sound, visual and production value that it is not available in-person. With virtual assemblies, a one-person presentation becomes a professionally produced, high-quality experience, In HD and digital sound!
Virtual assemblies are safe, secure, and simple.
Additionally, with ever-increasing concerns over who is allowed in your school (and what viruses may be coming in with them!), Virtual School Assemblies are a safe and secure way to bring in an outside vendor, especially accounting for building security and unknown respiratory illnesses that may be floating around.
Further, our experience lends every aspect of scheduling from start to finish to be an easy experience for you. Your school can host an amazing educational program using your existing technology. There’s no need to clear the gym for an hour before and after the show for set-up and tear down, or to fumble with outdated pa systems. There’s no need to shuffle all the classrooms into the auditorium. We come to you, right in your classroom. Of course, you CAN bring all your students together in a common space if you would rather. We can work with that too!
A virtual assembly in an auditorium or dedicated performance space is NO different than going to see a live concert nowadays with big screen projections for those in the back!
Many schools in the United States DO have amazing modern auditoriums or multipurpose rooms with fantastic projectors and sound systems, suitable for a live concert or theatrical production. This often doubles as the gathering place for a guest speaker or school assembly. Many of our clients have also been LOVING the fully interactive and live experience of our virtual school assemblies on the big-screens in their auditoriums. The presenter is more visible than if they were there just in-person.
With only a laptop and internet connection, your school can tap into your existing technology to bring in the gold standard of school assemblies into your auditorium no matter where you are located in the country (or in the world!)
If you want the best people presenting for your students, virtual presentations are the only option.
Based on the above benefits, and with our artists in-demand more than ever, along with busy schedules as working professionals, virtual is the only option. You will not only get the very best in educational entertainment, you will get the ONLY options out there. The good news is, with virtual, it’s easier, more fun, more effective in delivering a message that will resonate with students, and better than it ever was in-person.
Higher Education is also adapting and K-12 needs to catch up.
It is the goal of most K-12 educational communities to prepare your students for higher education, college, and career-readiness. Professional workplaces all around the world are leveraging the flexibility and capabilities of doing business virtually. We must prepare our students to be successful in a virtual workforce.
Further, in attempts to keep college student enrollment high, successful colleges and universities are learning to leverage the virtual option, because that’s what students want. College-level educators understand that virtual is the future too. And so naturally, K-12 learning environments must adapt as well.
It’s time to destigmatize virtual educational entertainment as a pandemic stopgap and to recognize it for what it is, which is the next wave of our future.
Please reach out to us at Academic Entertainment to learn how easy is to bring our outstanding, live and interactive, virtual educational experiences to your school, TODAY!
