Planning a Virtual Memorial Service or Celebration of Life
Planning a memorial service or celebration of life can be challenging, especially when you are trying to do it virtually. To make it easier for you, we have created a detailed step-by-step guide on how to plan a virtual memorial service or celebration of life as well as a list of ideas to help you get creative.
Step 1: Choose Your Date and Time
The first step to planning a virtual memorial service or celebration of life is to choose your date and time. If some friends and family members work shift work and are unable to attend, you can simply record the event to share with them later.
Step 2: Distribute/Assign Roles
Delegating roles to multiple people can relieve the stress of having to run the entire service by yourself, which means more family and friends can feel involved. Below is a list of different roles we suggest you have, but more can be added if necessary.
Hosting a Memorial Service Virtually
This person will host and moderate the virtual memorial service or celebration of life.
Before the event, the host should:
- Prepare the program for the service. This includes the order of events for the service, who will be speaking and when, any memorial tributes, etc.
- They should also prepare an introduction to the service.
During the service, the host should:
- Lead the service by introducing each speaker before they are about to speak. This tells the attendees who that person is (even if most will already know them) and it also keeps the service or celebration organized; everyone knows when to speak.
- Don’t forget to thank each speaker for sharing their message before introducing the next speaker.
Speakers
It's a good idea to have the organizer pick a selection of people to speak at the event. Having multiple people participate will allow for more story telling and memory sharing of the deceased. It also helps to ensure that the virtual memorial service or celebration of life will not be too short. However, having too many speakers can make people feel like they do not have enough time to speak or can have people tuning out.
Before the event, the speakers should:
- Prepare what they are going to say. Speeches can be written individually or collaboratively.
- Send any visual components of the speech to the technical person.
During the service, the speakers should:
- Bring any notes they need to remember their speech.
- Wait to be introduced by the host before starting their speech.
Writers
Most speakers will write their own speech, but it's also a good idea to collaborate with family and friends on what to say. This ensures that everyone feels included, even if they are not speaking during the service or celebration.
The Technical Person
For a virtual memorial service or celebration of life, it would be a good idea to have a technical person on-hand who understands the platform you are using to host the event.
In advance, the technical person should:
- Decide on the tool(s) you will use for the service and make sure they are familiar with them all.
- Schedule the memorial service or celebration of life video conference in the application of your choice.
- Help those who may have a harder time using the application.
During the service, the technical person should:
- Mute and unmute the attendees, control the spotlighting, run any slideshows or videos, and manage the screen sharing during the event.
Step 3: Share the Details Online
Use an online platform to share the event details. For example, you can make an event on Facebook and share the details on how to attend the virtual event. It may also be possible to add this information to the deceased's obituary.
Step 4: Choose an Online Platform
There are a large number of video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, etc., available for people to use. We suggest that you use the one you are most familiar with. If you are not sure, there are many resources that compare the qualities of each program. Be sure to read participant numbers and time limits each program offers with their free versions before making a decision.
Step 5: Send Invitations
Since you are holding a virtual service, it would be a good idea to send online invitations. Online invitations can be sent by email, through social media, text message, etc. No matter your invitation format, make sure you include every detail and clear instructions. This will help you avoid having to answer the same questions over and over again.
Step 6: Personalize the Celebration or Service
Consider personalizing the decedent's service by using a slideshow, videos, or any other type of memorial tribute.
Step 7: Practice
It's a good idea for the host, speakers, and technical person to do a practice run in order to ensure there are no technical problems.
Virtual Celebration of Life & Memorial Service Ideas
We understand that families are unable to gather and celebrate the life of a loved one due to the pandemic. That is why we have compiled a few ideas to help you plan a unique service that friends and families from afar can still participate in.
1. Create a memorial website.
- Share stories and photos collaboratively with family and friends.
- Share comforting scripture verses.
2. Utilize social media.
- Create an album of photos captioned with the stories of when they were taken (done on an event page or the deceased person’s social media).
- Share a funny, sad, heartwarming, exciting, etc., story about the deceased every day for a week or more if desired.
- Make a meme social media memorial.
- Share your grief journal through a social media page or blog.
3. Gather their favourite songs into a playlist and share it.
4. Set up a trust fund or start a crowdfunding campaign to help family cover funeral expenses.
5. Live tweet, chat with family/friends, or create posts as you read their favourite books and/or watch their favourite movies.
- Some streaming services let you have "watch" parties and interact through the streaming service itself.
6. Create a memorial hashtag.
7. Join an event in memory of the deceased.
- A nonprofit organization that is currently hosting virtual events. It strives to inspire people to transform their feelings about death, grief, and life. The company holds events for people who can receive support from others who are feeling the same way.
8. Sing or play music together.
- Make it live or pre-record beforehand so you can share it at the service.
9. Create a memorial in your garden.
10. Live stream on Facebook.
- Facebook is a great platform for larger numbers of people wanting to attend. You can create an event page linked to the live stream.
- You are able to respond to live comments.
- You can save the live stream to share later.
11. Have a virtual religious service.
12. Host a video game event.
- One way to honour a person who loved video games is to schedule a service or celebration of life in the form of their favourite online game. Like other forms of virtual events, you can arrange for people to sign in on a designated date and at a certain time.
- The video game service can end by having everyone play a game together in honour of the deceased.
