Like everyone else in the world, we here at Walking on Water have been struggling over the past year to connect with and meet new people. Never one to sit idly by, we started racking our brains for innovative ways in which we could bring people together and make some new friends. Wanting to continue WOW’s mission of bringing a unique experience to Toronto’s fashion scene meant that we needed to try something new, something that will inspire people during this trying time. With days dragging on, we all needed a bit of motivation. After a lot of brainstorming, we decided that the best solution was to get with the times and go digital. Henceforth, WOW Connect was born!
As many of you may know, Walking on Water is an annual summer fashion show, set to the gorgeous backdrop of Toronto’s skyline. For the past three years, we have brought people from all over Toronto together, for a night of networking and fun. We initially set out to connect individuals from all walks of life, whether one was in the fashion industry or just a lover of fashion, and we were not going to let a pandemic stop us. Always striving to adapt and improve, WOW had already dipped its toes into the digital world, with the virtual livestream show last season. However, since our guests were not able to network during this virtual show, we knew we needed a refreshing concept that could bring everyone together.
On Tuesday March 2nd, 2021, Walking on Water hosted its first ever virtual networking event, WOW Connect. This exclusive event enabled industry professionals to connect with a diverse group of individuals one on one. From fashion designers, to models, to media professionals, our attendees were not left wanting for more. They got to spend a lovely evening chatting to and connecting with people from the comfort of their own homes.
“Congratulations on the first WOW Connect! It was great and really cool to meet everyone that attended.Hopefully for the next WOW Connect it’ll be in person!”
Networking made easy. This event was perfect for the shy individual. If you’ve ever been nervous about going up to a stranger at an event, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. This event took away some of that stress, since you knew everyone attending was there to network. The software also had ready-made dialogue prompts that helped you get the conversation started. No more awkward small talk, whilst standing around with a drink, and trying to make eye contact or avoid it. You could get straight to business and discuss what you really want to talk about, without all the bumbling about you can get with in person interaction.
“Interesting format, congrats.”
Hosted on Run the World, WOW Connect allowed for each individual to have private, one on one conversations with industry professionals, which got rotated every seven minutes. You didn’t need to worry about choosing who to talk to, since the software took care of all that for you. All you had to do was show up and have a good, stress free time. Rather than spending your evening lounging around in pyjamas binging Netflix, like most of us have been doing the past year, attendees got to spend an hour on a Tuesday evening networking.
“It was a great way to connect!”
If we’ve learnt anything from this experience, it’s that virtual networking will never be able to replace the joy of connecting with people in person, as there’s just something so special about in person human interaction, that even the most introverted of us have missed over the last year. However, now that we’ve tried our hand at going digital, who knows, this might be something we do more of in the future. You never know, you could see another WOW Connect on the horizon.
By any means, we won’t be rushing to replace our events with virtual events anytime soon, but if the world falls into another pandemic, we know that we will be prepared to handle anything! If a pandemic can’t stop us, I’m not sure that anything can.
There are great things in the works for WOW ahead. If you don’t want to miss out on our future events, are interested in a cheeky promotion code, or just want to keep updated on the latest and greatest in Toronto fashion, be sure to join our mailing list!
