Why Virtual Parent Education Nights Are Reaching More Families

One of the most common requests we hear from schools across Canada is for parent education sessions on digital literacy and internet safety. Parents and caregivers want to better understand the online world their children are growing up in, and schools want to meet that need.

However, while enthusiasm is high, attendance at traditional in-person parent nights often tells a different story. After more than three decades of delivering parent presentations, our experience shows that the average turnout for in-person sessions is about 20 - 30 parents, even when schools offer the sessions for free and are well advertised. Some evenings attract more, but many draw fewer. We remember presenting at a school of 1300 students and at the well advertised parent presentation we only had 3 parent s show up.

When you consider the administrative hours required to organize these events, along with the snacks, prizes, and other incentives often provided to boost attendance, the return on investment for schools can often be questioned when it comes to future parent education nights.

A Better Way to Reach More Parents

Over the past 10 years, we’ve found that live virtual presentations consistently attract higher engagement. On average, 70 - 100 parents attend our live online sessions, often double the number who attend in person. Recently, a live virtual parent presentation we did for a school district attracted just about 1000 parents and caregivers who watched it live, but over 2000 also watched the recording of the live event over a 48hour period. Why?, because they can watch in the comfort of their home.

Every school that books one of our live virtual presentation, receives a 48-hour recording of the session. This allows parents and caregivers who couldn’t attend live, perhaps due to work, family commitments, or busy schedules, to watch the presentation at a time that works for them. Many parents also appreciate the ability to re-watch portions of the session to reinforce what they’ve learned.

In addition, when a school books any of our student or parent programs, The White Hatter becomes a free year-long resource for principals, teachers, and parents, who can contact us anytime during the school year for guidance or support on issues related to technology, the internet, or social media. We are not a “one and done” organization, we take on a “wrap around” approach!

Added Value for Every Family

Each virtual presentation includes a free copy of our web book, “Parenting in an Online World”, along with access to our library of more than 800 free articles on digital literacy, privacy, and internet safety. In other words, we don’t pay-wall our articles, guides, and reviews - they are free! Information to be useful must be shared and accessible.

Unlike a standard Zoom or Teams call, our live virtual sessions are professionally produced, interactive broadcasts using two fully equipped presentation sets and seven 4K studio cameras. The experience is dynamic, engaging, and built to mirror an in-person event. You can take a look inside our studio here: https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/studio 

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Principals, teachers, students, PACs, and parents consistently tell us how much they enjoy our live virtual programs, and how these live virtual events attract greater parent and caregiver attendance and participation. We are so confident in their value, that if our presentation doesn’t exceed your expectations, we’ll refund the cost, though no school or parent group has ever taken us up on that offer.

The Cost Of Our Live Virtual Presentation For Parents:

$695.00 (1 school up to 1000 individual classrooms)

$895.00 ( District level multiple schools up to 1000 individual participants, more if need at an additional cost due to bandwidth requirements)

If your school or parent group is looking for a cost effective, attention grabbing, and high impact way to support parents and caregivers with evidence based education on digital literacy and internet safety, visit www.thewhitehatter.ca  to learn more.

No other digital literacy or internet safety organization in Canada or the United States offers a live virtual presentation experience that matches the quality and production standards of The White Hatter.

We also have programs specifically designed for US based schools.

Digital Food For Thought

The White Hatter

Facts Not Fear, Facts Not Emotions, Enlighten Not Frighten, Know Tech Not No Tech