Superchoir goes hybrid! How we’re leading the way in a new type of session

Throughout the pandemic we gained over 50 members through our online sessions. All of these members made friends with our longest standing Superchoirers who lived in Wales. We didn’t want to split the choir and to lose this experience!

For the entirety of July, Superchoir is trialing a new type of session!

Returning to in-person sessions

With the government easing COVID-19 restrictions across Wales, we are now able to run socially distanced choir sessions for our members located in South Wales! As Superchoir members live primarily in both Cardiff and the Valleys, we returned to running sessions in these locations!

However, throughout the pandemic over 50 members joined through our online sessions. All of these members had made friends with our longest standing Superchoirers who lived in Wales. We didn’t want to split the choir and to lose this experience!

Creation of the hybrid model

We decided to create a hybrid model whereby our physical members attended in person by booking their place. At the same time, we offered the same experience to online members as before! We achieved this by displaying the Zoom session using a projector in front of the physical members. This time we used two cameras: one in front of the motivator and one showing the choir to everyone online!

Experience

We retained the same amazing experience as before for our online members, with the added addition of “choir cam” which showed our in person members. For physical members, we spaced them out in a socially distant manner to create a COVID-19 safe environment, with cleaning supplies available to maintain that safety. We muted the “choir cam”  to internet latencies, however the members at the venue sung together in person for the first time in over a year, which was incredible!

Zoom has a useful setting which meant that we can share sound while the device is muted, so Emily sung along with the in-person members but did not disrupt the music for the online members!

Below is a clip of our first hybrid session from Monday 5^th July, in our Valleys venue. We’re so happy with how we ran the session and can’t wait for the next!

Did you join the hybrid session on Monday? We’d love to know what you thought, so please fill out the feedback form we sent to you! We would like to continue providing an amazing experience for both our online and in-person members!

Would you be interested to join our first ever hybrid choir? Click here to sign up for our next taster session.