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It’s 9:00 p.m. on a Friday, and the coworkers have gathered with Santa hats, reindeer headbands and Christmas sweaters.
Drinks in hand, they spend almost two hours laughing, joking, chatting, singing and joking.
But this is not a scene from last Christmas, it will take place in 2020, and what is happening fully meets public health guidelines.
It’s one of around 200 virtual office Christmas parties that Dynamic Events hosts this holiday season.
The events company normally hosts around fifty corporate Christmas parties during the holiday period.
But after a significant investment in their conferencing equipment and zoom licenses, they have brought the expertise to the internet and dozens of large Irish-based firms have signed up for a virtual celebration this Christmas.
This event, which takes place on the night of the Toy Show, is being hosted by a team of workers from the energy company Energia.
When RTÉ News arrives (virtually) to test the atmosphere, about half an hour before it ends, workers are performing competitive tasks in various “meeting rooms.”
The three Dynamic Events hosts sit in their offices, in their Christmas sweaters and Christmas-themed Zoom backdrops, awaiting the return of revelers to the main forum.
Director Niall O’Connor tells me how the props and vans they often use to host Christmas events have been gathering dust in their warehouses since March and that they have turned part of those warehouses into mini web cabins to facilitate hosting these events in line.
They started offering virtual events like these in April and the demand has gradually grown.
They will host more than 200 virtual office parties this holiday season for companies like Google, KPMG and Salesforce.
The most popular ones are Christmas Crackers, Disco Bingo, an online escape game, and something called Around the World Challenge.
Niall O’Connor described the demand for these types of events as a “mini boom”, since although the company’s income had decreased by 90% compared to the year before the start of the pandemic, Christmas income was now twice what they were. the same period last year.
Energia staff come out of their break rooms in a bubbly and dizzying manner.
They watch as the antics in each room are repeated for all to see.
There’s a respectable rendition of a group recorded Christmas song, a game of passing glass through screens, a mock cooking demonstration, and a surreal takeoff from the East 17 Christmas hit video ‘Stay Another Day’ in which a member of staff leads a terrifyingly wolf-headed life.
You would almost forget that everyone is home if it weren’t for the occasional housemate or companion leaning into the shot to see what’s going on or to refill the participants’ drink.
A winner is declared, everyone seems delighted, and I ask some of them how it compares to their previous office party experiences.
Dean Davis says the team usually goes to a Christmas luncheon and was “50/50” on how the virtual experience would compare, but says he really enjoyed the experience and would be “up there” with one of the best parties. that he assisted.
Lorna Danaher said she also had second thoughts about attending the online office party, but was quickly converted.
“It was actually a lot more fun than I expected. You forget it’s over Zoom when you actually go in and see everyone’s faces.”
Amy O Shaugnessy added her approval, saying, “It’s been a year where everyone works from home. We haven’t seen each other in real life, so it’s great to be together outside of work hours and have fun and a little laugh. “.
Geoff Cood said it was great to use Zoom for more than just business calls that he describes as “transactional.” He also says that he’s also relieved that he doesn’t have to worry about taking a taxi home.
When asked if any of the party participants will have trouble facing their colleagues over Zoom on Monday, as is common after the office party, the group chuckled but said no more. What happens in the breakout rooms seems to stay in the breakout rooms.
These virtual office parties aren’t the only way companies are finding alternative ways to mark the traditional Christmas milestones that aren’t allowed this year.
Visits inside Santa Grottos are currently prohibited, so a number of alternative Christmas experiences have appeared, including the Drive-in Santa on the RDS.
Established by a company that typically runs drive-ins, this Santa’s visitors stay in his car for the entire trip.
They stop at four stations along the way, including a toy store and a post office, where they roll down the window to interact with the elves before visiting the man by car.
Cars are covered in snow, there is music and lights, and the overall experience lasts about 15 minutes.
Promoter Michael Keelan said that when they learned of the restrictions on interior visits to Santa, the team behind Drive-In Santa “was quick to set up this event.”
He says they think they have done a good job of bringing some happiness to the kids this Christmas and they hope to get about 200 cars a day during the event.
Keelan admits that some of the magic of the traditional Santa visit will be lacking in the experience, but says the same is true for many aspects of Christmas 2020.
When asked if he could see himself running a similar event next year, his answer sums up the collective sentiment that seems to hold everyone through this unique Covid Christmas “hopefully it won’t be necessary.”
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