Written by Carolee Avery

Thumbnail Photo by Kathy Marsh on Unsplash

Saint Mary’s University has decided that in order to accommodate all students, including those who are unable to return to Canada due to Covid-19, it will hold classes both in an online and in-person “hybrid” approach. With some students returning to campus in the fall while others choose to remain online, societies face a unique challenge: how do you host events that include all members, even those who can’t make it to in-person events? The aim of this article is to provide society executives with some ideas for events that can include all members, and the pros and cons of each event.

Movie Night

Many societies saw success with movie night events during the quarantine phase, so it stands to reason that they would be successful during the hybrid phase as well. There are many ways to stream movies over the internet, including Teleparty. Teleparty allows users to sync their screens with each other and allows for the movie to play at the same time and speed for each user. For the members who are able to attend in-person events, society executives could look into renting a classroom in the Burke building, which societies can book through the Conference Services free of charge or the football field, which requires a bit more planning and permission from the athletics department. As an extra bonus, societies could offer movie night themed treat bags with popcorn, candies, and other treats. Societies could even theme the treat bags around the movie they are showing. For example, if they were showing a horror movie they could include gummy brains and strawberry syrup as fake blood. For those who can’t make it to the in-person events, societies could offer other suitable gifts that could be mailed to members.

A major con of this event is that this was one of the only types of events that societies could hold during the quarantine, so many society members may be bored of this type of event and choose to skip it. Another con is that society executives might find it hard to choose a movie, though a way to avoid this is to allow members to decide on the movie themselves. Executives can do this by holding an online poll or suggestion box.

Trivia Night

Another easy to execute event, trivia nights were another popular quarantine event for societies. All executives need to hold a trivia night is Zoom (or another group calling platform), a host, trivia questions, and a prize. There are several ways to collect responses to questions including google forms, having the host collect answers after each round via text, or by creating a Kahoot! As for prizes, many societies offered bragging rights while others offered $15 Amazon gift cards to winners. It would be up to the executives and the society’s budget to decide what the prizes could be.

Much like movie night, trivia night was one of the only events that societies held during quarantine, so many members might opt to skip these events. Societies might be able to circumvent this by offering enticing prizes, such as gift cards to Amazon or the SMU bookstore. Another con to trivia night is that it is a lot of work for executives, from creating questions and answers to hosting (or finding a host), which might be too much for executives on top of already busy schedules.

Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity (or CAH) is always a fan favourite and it’s easy to play both in-person and online; all that you need is a computer and an online group call. There’s a website that allows you to play CAH online with up to ten other people, and it has all of the expansion packs that are available in the physical version of CAH.

The only cons of CAH are that the website often has a lot of traffic and it causes the servers to overload and go down, and some people may find some of the cards offensive.

Board Game Night

Another crowd favourite, board game night is also easy to facilitate for both online and in person. Just like Cards Against Humanity, there is a website that allows people to play board games together right in their web browsers. It’s called Board Game Arena and has a variety of games, including Yahtzee and Uno (called solo on the website), and it allows up to five people to play at one time. The fact that it allows for five people to play at once means that societies can have multiple games going at once and they can be switching games throughout the night.

There are a few cons when it comes to board game night: the major one being that in order to play on Board Game Arena you need to create an account, and some of the games are locked behind a premium paywall. However you could get around this by using another website; Tabletopia is a good alternative and even though there are still some games locked behind a paywall, there is a larger variety available for free. Another con is that it might be hard for some people to learn the rules of the games as online board games can vary from in-person games.

Virtual Escape Room

Escape Rooms are a puzzle game meets Clue events where group members must work together to solve puzzles, find clues and solve riddles to meet a specific goal in a set amount of time. This event would be best for larger societies as there is a minimum number of four participants required for the event to work; however, it is extremely easy for executives to set up as the company does most of the footwork. The company also offers an in-person version of the escape room so it would work well for those societies that are able to meet in person.

The major con for this type of event is that executives need to pay for the event package through the website and depending on how many members plan to attend the price for the event may increase. Another con is that there is a minimum number of members who need to participate in order for the escape room package to work, so it might not be the best option for smaller societies.

Five Clicks Away

Five Clicks Away is a logic game that became popular at the beginning of the pandemic. To play, each player must start on a random Wikipedia page for the starting point, to do this players can use the “random article” button on the Wikipedia main page, and in no more than five clicks reach the endpoint. The ending point is usually decided by the game master, who can be decided on at the beginning of the event. The idea is that Wikipedia has so many internal links that you should be able to follow a chain to reach the endpoint in less than five clicks.

A major pro to Five Clicks Away is that it helps strengthen research skills by teaching participants how to navigate websites by following internal links. It can also teach participants how to easily narrow research topics and find specific information from large general searches. Another pro is that it helps improve people's ability to quickly skim a page and retrieve the information they are looking for.

There are a few cons to the game, the biggest one is that it takes a while to get the game started as learning how to follow links from the starting page to the ending page in only five clicks is hard but the longer you play the faster and better you get. The other con is that it might be hard to facilitate as in person you would have to use a projector so that all present members could see what the player is doing, and you would need to be able to screen share with the members who are online. There is a way around this though: the website The Wiki Game allows you to create groups, send invite codes, and offers an app so that anyone in a group can play and see the results.

While this list isn’t exhaustive it should give society executives a good starting point for incorporating hybrid events into their society's event schedule for the coming hybrid semesters. If you have any event ideas that you would like covered in a future article feel free to reach out to me at Carolee.avery@smu.ca.

Hybrid Activities Guide for Society Events

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