Ask a typical Nigerian Celebrity if he/she does without partying or socialising in a week and the response you may likely get will be “No”. Naija for Show. And Owambe party has always been our way of life. This, however, seems to have changed in the last 2 months as many Nigerians who love to party have been forced to stay at home to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of course, for many Nigerian celebrities, who love to party hard, have insisted social distancing doesn’t have to mean the end of socializing even as the Federal Government has banned socialising or Owambe party.
Not only have many Owambes been postponed till further notice, many have to shift their special event till when it is safe to hold their parties. But of course, while burial reception, wedding receptions and naming reception could be postponed, major events like birthdays which comes with significant dates have been made easy with the latest App “ Zoom” which many Nigerians have now embraced.
Birthdays and some other special events in one’s life still calls for quiet celebration regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic and this is why many celebrities have embraced ‘Zoom as a tool of socialising.
Luckily, we’re living in a time when technology has made it easier than ever before to be connected even if we couldn’t be together physically through video chat platforms like zoom. So, though your parties may be a little different than they were in the past, they could still take place. All it takes is a little creativity and ingenuity. And the help of a celebrity event planner wouldn’t hurt.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the word “zoom” referred to driving somewhere in a rush or getting an image closer. Now, it’s taken on an entirely new meaning and a part of the daily quarantined life for millions of people. In December 2019, the video conferencing platform had approximately 10 million daily meeting participants with the number increased to more than 300 million by April 2020. So, despite social distancing rules, whether you’re a celebrity broadcasting a live performance or an average person virtually meeting with your team— there are more eyes than ever on our homes. Aside from this, a lot of communal events are taking place on Zoom and many Nigerian celebrities can now party, drink and wine with their friends on the application. Friends whom you can’t request to join you for an Owambe owing to Coronavirus pandemic could now eat, drinks, and enjoy good music with you on ZOOM. The likes of Dele Momodu, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, Mrs Ifeyinwa Ighodalo and many others held their birthdays penultimate weekend on Zoom and the parties were witnessed by prominent Nigerians home and abroad.
How does Zoom work you may ask? How easy is it to hold an Owambe on Zoom?
Well, when planning a virtual birthday party, there’s also a good chance you’ll have to be more organised than you’d usually be. The first thing that has to be done is to send out an invitation to all your guests. For Otunba Dele Mkmodu’s 60th birthday on Zoom, an invitation was sent a few days before the party. So just like your regular Owambe, endeavour to send out your party invitation before the day of the zoom party. Also, make sure that the invitation has time and password to use to login. You don’t want to keep your guests waiting. So, you must be prepared ahead to be the first to get to your party.
In the process of planning, executing, and hosting a Zoom party, note that you can’t invite lots of guests the way, you do real-life party. You cant have 1,000 guests the way you do for a face-2-face party in real life. If you want to throw a party in real life, you would usually invite at least 1,000 guests people to get into the party spirit. On Zoom, you’ll want to choose significantly fewer persons than you would do for a real-life party since everyone has to talk to one another at the same time.
You can technically play host to hundreds of people in one Zoom, but for the purposes of Zoom party, you invite fewer friends. This would turn out to be a perfect number of people for a conversation that everyone could be included in to flow naturally for a couple of hours. This is good as people would not be left out of the conversation.
Another reason many are embracing this Zoom app for Owambe is that they could Make it festive. How do you make Zoom party festive just like a real party? Guests dressed in party clothes while some celebrity women have makeups on. There are many different ways to make a party festive—use your imagination. And, of course, encourage all your guests to bring their favourite beverages and snacks.
Be prepared to lead the conversation.
For the host too, make sure you are ready. This is like an avenue for you to welcome people to your party and show that you are a perfect host. Sometimes, you could also get to introduce your guests to one another on the Zoom since everyone would be showing on the screen fully seated just like they do at Regular Owambe.
Do you know some have also added some sort of life to their zoom party during birthdays and this is telling guests the kind of food to cook for the reception. They have item 7 where guests eat various delicacies. Another striking thing that has made this app one of the most used for Owambe is the fact that they could press the mute button when not in conversation to allow others to chat.
If you are playing host to a party in real life, you would try to make sure everyone is having a good time. If you saw someone off in a corner alone, you might try to draw that person into the conversation. Those kinds of hosting skills are doubly important for a virtual party because having a conversation over video chat is more awkward than doing it in person, especially for people who aren’t used to it
Naija Celebrities have also taken it further, MCs, Musical band which are naturally live of the Regular Owambe are also at Zoom party. They play and sing head-swelling songs while the celebrator dances and all guests could also participate in the jollification.
– Abiola Orisile
with additional information from business insider
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