How To Host An Online Club Event With Member Jungle

I can safely say that there weren’t many good things that happened during the Covid lockdowns. Off the top of my head, I can only really think of two things. One was the advent of online meetings and events via services like Zoom, and the other was the makeshift masks people used in shops in the early days when none of us could get proper PPE. 
 

 

Now I know what you’re thinking, and yes, the woman wearing the rubber German Shepherd mask is the creepiest thing ever captured on film. 

I know that at a certain point, we all had our fill of doing online video calls, and I agree. If I ever have to celebrate a birthday, go for drinks, or have another first date via video call, it will be too soon. However, hosting meetings, training, courses and even some events via video calls is actually an excellent idea. 

So, that is what we are going to be talking about today. Why should your club host online events, and how can you do so using Member Jungle. 

Before we dive in, here are two more pictures of people wearing makeshift Covid masks because who doesn’t want to see a man with a plastic bag on his bonce and a business casual stormtrooper taking the subway?

 

 

The Benefits of Hosting Online Events For Your Club

Running online events can be a great way to diversify the types of events you can offer and add extra quality to your club. The obvious benefit of hosting online events is that you and your members don’t need to meet in person. This means there is much less travel time, it’s more convenient for members who live far away, and the dress code is more casual. 

 

 

Some events will be better suited to being in person, others will work better online, and some will work best with a hybrid of online and in-person options. You may be surprised how many extra people will be willing to participate if your events are online or have an online option. 

Hosting Committee Meetings Online

If your club's administrative team or committee holds regular meetings to discuss and plan club activities, consider hosting these meetings online or in a hybrid format that combines in-person and online attendance. Doing so can significantly increase the number of team members participating in these meetings. 

If you want more regular members attending these meetings, let them join online. By providing an option to participate via video call, you will find much better engagement and participation from your members. Added participation and engagement in your club, even on the administrative side, is an excellent thing and will ultimately lead to a healthier club. 

Hosting Club Courses & Training Sessions Online

Whether your club or association hosts massive, continued professional development courses or short 30-minute training sessions, being able to host those courses and training sessions online is massively beneficial. 

Obviously, some courses need to be in person, or at the very least partially in person. When I did my open water scuba qualifications, I had several days of online training, and only once that was complete could I book in for the in-person pool and ocean training. 

Adding an online course or an online section of a course can enable many more members to attend your courses and lessons. You may find that a lot of people want to attend your training events but simply live too far away for that to be practical. 

Trialling online and partially online training is a great way to see your members' appetite for online learning. 

Continued Professional Development, Event Certificates and Member Jungle

You can set up and run training courses and online learning with your Member Jungle system at no extra cost. However, Member Jungle does offer three optional extras designed for those serious about the training and course they offer their members. These are the Online Course Module, the CPD and Event Certification Module and the Event Certification Module on its own. Depending on your club's needs and the quantity of online courses and training you are running, you may need none, some or all of these modules. 

CPD Module and Event Certification

The CPD Module lets members track and maintain their own professional development points. You can create categories and subcategories that track points or hours. Members can manage their records and download reports showing their professional development. The CPD Module is also compatible with the Events Module, automatically adding points and certificates to members' profiles when they attend an event.

For more information on the CPD and Event certifications please see Record CPD Hours with our CPD Log Module.

Online Course Module

The Online Course Module enables the sale of courses online, with students reviewing course content, completing an exam, and receiving a PDF certificate upon passing. It includes features such as payment acceptance, manual student addition, multiple-chapter course creation, a multiple-choice exam, exam result reset for students, and a PDF certificate download. 

For more information on how to streamline your courses, see the Learning Management System and Online Course Module.

Event Certification Module 

We offer an Event Certification service that allows you to create personalised PDF certificates for your attendees. This service is an add-on to our Event Module. It eliminates the need for manual printing and posting of attendance certificates. You can customise each certificate to include all the necessary details. When you mark attendance, a certificate is automatically generated ready to be emailed to the attendees. Attendees can also access and download their certificates anytime through the Mysite area.

For more on event certification, have a look at Event Certification and CPD Integration.

How To Set Up An Online Club Event With Member Jungle

For now, let's presume you are just using the Member Jungle Event Module to run all of your online events. 

Setting up an online event with the Member Jungle system is super easy and almost exactly the same as setting up an in-person event. You need to go into the event module of the system and create a new event.

 

 

 

Here, you will be able to add all of the following details:

• Event Name
• Start date & time
• End date & time
• Timezone 
• If the event is open to the public, member-only or admin-only 
• Event description 
• Event Category

Once that information has been entered, you need to click on the “Location” tab, as seen below. 

 

Here is where you can enter the event that is happening online and add the meeting link so your attendees can join the event at the right time. If you host a hybrid event, you can set an in-person location and add a meeting link.

Don’t worry, your online meeting link won’t be visible until the attendee has paid for an event ticket. So you won’t just have people turning up for free because they saw the link somewhere. 

From here onwards, setting up an online event is much the same as setting up an in-person one. So, if you want to know how that process works, please read How To Run An Event With Member Jungle - A Guide.

Host Online Events For My Club Or Association 

Online events will never wholly replace in-person events, and as people who made it through the Covid lockdowns, we know that’s a great thing. However, online events and courses will help you diversify your events and increase your members’ engagement with your club or association. 

If you want to know more about the applications of using online event modules to help run your association, please read Association Management Software - How Does Member Jungle Rate?

Otherwise, if you have more questions about how to host club events online or want to enquire about purchasing any of the mentioned add-ons for your club, please Contact the Member Jungle Team.