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Do you like year-end parties?
As someone who loves alcohol, I'd cheerfully pack drinking plans into the end of the year, saying "well, it's a year-end party, so what can you do."
But sometimes I'd think:
"Honestly, there are so many of these—can't I merge the separate year-end parties?"
With an online year-end party, you can!
What sparked planning a joint online year-end party
At first it was, of course, the company year-end party.
"Hey, everyone, about this year's year-end party... ah... right... it makes no sense for only the year-end party to have people come out when we've gone remote... right... I knew it."
A crisis of survival suddenly arrived for the company year-end party I most look forward to.
Isn't there a mood around all of you too, thanks to COVID, that it's not the time for year-end parties?
Well, of course—I think that mood is correct.
So I thought, at least let's do it online—that was the start.
Not "online because we have to," but "online for the fun of it"
Once I decided to hold it online, it went fast.
Since we were holding it online anyway, I wanted to do something you can only do online, and that was the "merging separate year-end parties" I wrote about at the start.
If I held it on Zoom, I thought various groups of people meeting for the first time would all gather in one place and conversation wouldn't flow, so this time I tried using Remo.
About Remo ↓
https://japan.cnet.com/article/35152573/
It's a service that feels like the tables at a wedding reception, where you can freely move seats.
This time, the following four groups took part:
・IT Sports Club A Facebook group of people in the IT industry who like exercise.
・Yaki-Gyoza Study Group A LINE OpenChat group hosted by the Yaki-Gyoza Association (a general incorporated association).
・Wednesday Morning Run Friends who run every Wednesday morning. Lately held online.
・tentus Our company tentus's year-end party table.
The above four groups joined us.
A year-end party full of deep conversations
The result was a huge success.
Because each table had a clear direction for conversation:
At the IT Sports Club table, protein talk;
At the Yaki-Gyoza Study Group table, showing off the gyoza grilled as a snack while talking about favorite gyoza;
At the Wednesday Morning Run table, talk about training;
And at the tentus table, the gyoza grilled as a snack got burnt, so we came back to take refuge out of embarrassment.
Whichever table I went to, I could enjoy the deepest, richest conversations.
This probably works better the more strongly hobby-flavored it is, so everyone can enjoy it.
Just like a Minaminaruse Middle School reunion table—from the outside you can't even imagine the topics being discussed inside, and people other than Minaminaruse Middle School folks find it hard to barge in—so grouping by hobby is probably optimal.
Recommended points of a joint online year-end party
Finally, let me summarize the recommended points.
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Since it's held online, it's OK to join and leave at any time.
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Since it's held online, you can join together with people in distant places.
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Since multiple groups hold it together, you can talk with friends in the same group and also mingle with other groups you're interested in.
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Since each table has a clear topic, there's a clear motivation to move between tables.
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Since all participants belong to some group, it's less likely to get rowdy.
—so it's all upsides; please do try a joint online year-end (or joint New Year's) party!
And of course, when you do, invite me too! (A reason to drink.)