Home Online classes continue to grow, so now’s the time to jump on board

With Victorian communities relying on the digital world for exercise classes and activities, it’s a great time to think about how you can move your own events online and we’re here to help you maximise their success.

Learn from others!

To help you kickstart your planning, we spoke to Lauren Foote from Darebin City Council to hear how they created online classes for their community to increase activity, promote health and ensure there were opportunities for social connection during the coronavirus pandemic. And spoiler alert, they nailed it! 

Presented by Sifu Lily Liang for JinLi-Wushu Tai Chi https://www.jinli.com.au/

See what their members are saying in the comments

Transitioning online isn’t a simple copy and paste

When creating online content, you have amazing opportunities to think creatively and don’t need to follow the same steps as creating physical events. 

Here’s what Darebin City Council considered when planning their online activities: 

• Who is the target audience – It is vital to consider who uses online technology. You may not be able to reach individuals who don’t have internet access or don’t use social media. Darebin City Council acknowledged this and reshaped their target audience and made separate plans to address those key population groups like older adults and lower socioeconomic populations with paper-based workouts. 
• Budget – When speaking to suppliers it’s important to factor in time for uploading and editing content. Lauren said they planned for any technical issues which could have resulted in higher costs. 
• What activities will work online and who should present them – Not every activity will work online, so it’s important to look at what will work best and who will bring enthusiasm and positivity that will translate through a screen. 
• Which format is right for you –Darebin City Council used Facebook to share videos and gave their instructors temporary access so they could stream directly from their house. However, there are many ways to deliver videos online. If you want a large audience, Facebook Live is a great way to get many people involved at once. You can also pre-record videos and house them on your website or post them to YouTube. You can see some examples on the This Girl Can – Victoria website here. 
• Support your instructor and get them prepared –Just like any presenter, the key to a great performance is practice and planning, even if it is digital. Darebin City Council provided an online guide to explain how to stream activities on Facebook Live, and created a test group for practising. Lauren also gave instructors the option to record classes from their own homes, or from Reservoir Leisure Centre (while ensuring they practised physical distancing). 

Lauren shared some of the other key challenges and successes from Darebin City Council which can help you when you start your planning: 

Get your event #trending  

Firstly, create a Facebook event and make This Girl Can – Victoria a co-host, to immediately reach more than 16,000 Victorian women. You can learn how to do that here and once accepted, your event will be listed on our Facebook page and the Online Events page of the This Girl Can – Victoria website. Creating a Facebook event listing enables you to promote it and allows time for people to mark their calendars. Darebin City Council used their guest instructors to gain more interest and increase registrations.  

Trust us, your community will love this! 

This Girl Can – Victoria recognised that when the boom of online classes started, there was a real lack of diversity in both instructors, classes and fitness levels. As a council or sports club, you can tap into this market and provide the community with content that they will love and greatly benefit from. It also provides another way for women to connect through physical activity.  

Darebin City Council reflected on what success would look like and acknowledged attendance is key but also the positive feedback they received from the community reiterated the value of online community-based content.  

We can’t wait to co-host your events and share them with the This Girl Can Community! 

Have a coronavirus question?  

For all coronavirus questions visit  www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au or call the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) hotline on 1800 020 080.