How Video Conferencing Works for a Variety of Classes

The ultimate guide to virtual classes for all industries

People love to learn—but what if they can’t get to in-person classes? Well, that’s where video workshops come in. Once reserved for company meetings and client consultations, video conferencing has fast become a mainstream way to provide classes online. It’s not just for big companies, either—small and medium-sized companies can benefit, too.

Video-based learning isn’t a new phenomenon—in fact, e-learning found its niche long before the pandemic. Analysis by Research and Markets in late 2019 projected that the video learning industry value would increase to $350 billion by 2025. That figure could change as a result of the massive amount of e-learning uptake during the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, according to Studocu the e-learning market size exceeded $315 billion in 2021 and is still growing exceptionally fast in 2023.

Stats aside, now is the ideal time to get into the video class market. Whether you continue to offer in-person classes or not, adding e-learning to your product repertoire will improve your value proposition.

In this guide, we’ll explore reasons to adopt e-learning channels, and then we’ll look at various classes that work well over video.

Benefits of video conference & virtual workshops to small business

There are lots of reasons to run virtual workshops, e-classes and remote learning channels. Let’s take a closer look at four of them.

Keep business up and running

The coronavirus pandemic led to widespread business closures—and some brick-and-mortar retailers didn’t make it. Sky high rents, coupled with absent or very low footfall led to revenue inversions. Companies with rigid business models went bust all over America.

Some small businesses took their businesses online early in the COVID-19 crisis. They replaced in-person sales with click-and-collect, mail order services and digital products. Music teachers, fitness instructors and baking mavens began streaming classes to the wider world. When businesses began using digital technology in light of the pandemic, they often survived.

Reach a wider audience

Video workshops can help you expand your customer base, no matter where you are or how well you’re doing. You can even tap into foreign markets and grow your business internationally. Unbound by the constraints of a physical location, you’re only limited by the number of digital products you can imagine.

Circling back to consumers in your local area, virtual classes offer housebound folk a chance to learn and meet other people, too. Individuals with disabilities who wouldn’t normally be able to attend in-person sessions and elderly people with mobility problems can learn to bake, play an instrument or paint from home.

Connect with people

When people can’t be with each other in person, they can still connect online. Group classes develop a sense of camaraderie as they all learn together. Online teachers can keep this feeling going by setting “homework” and monitoring progress by email between classes.

People with niche interests don’t always live close to other people with the same specialized hobbies. Video workshops, online classes and e-meetings help them connect with peers living all over the world.

Offer a new service

If you want to offer a new class, but you’re not sure it’ll work as an in-person session, you could gauge interest with an online workshop instead. On the other hand, if you know you won’t be able to drum up enough interest in a subject locally, you could begin offering video classes in addition to regular in-person classes.

Video conferencing technology isn’t very expensive—in fact, many instructors use their smartphones to record or stream classes. Video software subscriptions like 8x8 Meetings don’t require a major financial commitment, making them ideal for smaller businesses

Types of virtual classes:

The sky’s the limit when it comes to virtual class subjects. Let’s explore 13 different e-learning options and talk about how they work remotely.

Virtual cooking classes

In-person cooking classes are as old as time. Online cooking classes, on the other hand, have grown in popularity only recently—and especially so during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learners join in from home, where they create stews, pies, seasonal meals and cultural delicacies along with the host.

One of the many benefits of online cooking classes is the host’s minimal setup cost. In-person classes either require a lot of space and extra cooking equipment—mini burners or additional ovens, for instance—or they end up being demonstrations, rather than cook-along endeavors. E-learning classes shift the responsibility for equipment and space onto the student instead.

Virtual dance classes

Dance is an ancient form of physical expression, and it’s found in almost every culture on the planet. Typical dance classes include ballet, ballroom dancing, tap, salsa, jazz, hip hop and contemporary. People also like to learn traditional cultural forms of dance, like Indian Kathak, Balinese, Middle Eastern Dabke, Highland dancing and German, Ukrainian and Polish folk dancing.

Online dance classes work well—especially when participants have partners available. Students simply need to clear enough floor space to follow the instructor’s moves.

Virtual yoga class

Yoga is relaxing, and it helps improve flexibility, strength and balance. This age-old Indian practice dates back more than 5,000 years: it’s even mentioned in the sacred Hindu Rig Veda text. According to peer-reviewed studies, practicing yoga helps diminish stress, promotes better sleep and reduces inflammation and chronic pain.

Online yoga classes work beautifully for several reasons. First of all, they enable continued yoga practice when people can’t get to in-person classes. They also encourage otherwise shy people to try yoga in the comfort of their own homes. Additionally, virtual yoga class management software simplifies scheduling, enrollment, and real-time interaction, making it easier for studios to connect with their students remotely.

Virtual art classes

When you create art, the levels of dopamine in your brain increase. As a result, you feel happier and more fulfilled. Therapists recommend art classes to patients with depression and other forms of mental illness. Pottery classes, stained glass workshops and weaving tuition all improve mental health and make people feel accomplished.

E-learning students experience similar satisfaction levels. They learn new skills and don’t have to travel to do so. Art teachers don’t have to provide materials or find space for the class: everyone wins.

Virtual painting class

Lots of people want to learn how to paint, but few of them know an accomplished local artist willing to teach them. If you’re an artist with an urge to teach and you don’t mind instructing students via video, why not set up an e-learning course? You may have to modify your hours to accommodate different time zones, but you’ll gain the chance to pass your wisdom on.

When painters provide online tutoring instead of—or in addition to—in-person tutoring, they can teach out of even the smallest studio. Art materials, including paints, canvases and boards, become the responsibility of the student.

Virtual fitness classes

In-person fitness classes are fun, motivating and uplifting. Video fitness classes aren’t really a new concept—they’ve been around as long as television. Live online classes are a contemporary deal, though—and they’ve exploded in popularity since the beginning of the pandemic. In July 2020, one study found that 85% of fitness-centric consumers were attending livestream classes—a 77% increase over 2019.

If you’re a fitness instructor and you’d like to offer online classes, you don’t need a studio. You just need floor space, a camera and some decent lighting. Some instructors charge subscription fees and provide both livestream classes and pre-recorded classes.

Virtual cocktail class

Who doesn’t like a nice cocktail or mocktail at the end of the day? What if you didn’t have to go to the bar to get a daiquiri? That’s where virtual cocktail classes come in handy. Seasoned pros teach novice drinks-makers how to whip up a whiskey sour, make a Moscow Mule and shake up a Southern Exposure.

There are lots of reasons to take cocktail classes online. Arguably the best perk is that its participants can drink what they make without risking a tipsy drive home. Equipment, alcohol and mixer expenses also fall to the participants, rather than the cocktail maker.

Virtual pilates classes

Pilates is a little bit like yoga, but it’s not the same thing. Several different muscle groups get a workout at the same time, including abdominal, thigh and back muscles. Because it’s a low impact exercise, Pilates is ideal for everyone and is especially well suited to an e-learning environment. People can do Pilates with or without equipment—although mats are useful.

Pilates students don’t need more than a little free floor space to get started. Pilates instructors need a decent-quality camera, basic lighting equipment and a streaming service like 8x8 Meetings to broadcast their classes.

Virtual acting class

Some people avoid drama at all costs; others take acting classes. Professional drama coaches are more common in some areas that others—and they can be pretty thin on the ground in Midwestern states. The solution is an online acting class, where students and coaches bridge the gap via video.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, drama students tend to be a dramatic bunch—some more than others. Online acting lessons give coaches and individual students the chance to connect one-on-one, so quieter personalities get attention too. They’re also easy to set up—all an acting coach needs is a camera, a script and a little pizazz.

Virtual birthing class

Birthing classes can be very reassuring for expectant mothers—especially if they’re pregnant for the first time. COVID-19 disrupted in-person birthing classes and led to a rise in video courses. Industry experts believe that that trend, along with other pandemic-related changes, will probably stick around after the immediate coronavirus crisis ends.

Virtual birthing classes give soon-to-be mothers a chance to prepare for labor at home. If they’ve missed an earlier in-person class, they can still take a class online. Pregnant women interested in several different birthing methods—Hypnobirthing, the Bradley method etc.—can easily access several courses.

H3: Virtual baking classes

Baking classes, like cooking classes, work very well on video. COVID-19 caused a resurgence in baking enthusiasm all over the world: if you’re a professional baker, you can still capitalize on that. You can teach your avid students how to create sourdough starter from scratch, how to bake a perfect loaf, how to make filo pastry and how to get a light cake crumb from the comfort of your kitchen.

Students buy ingredients and use their own ovens to produce results; all you need to do is buy a tripod and set up your wide-angle camera. Bakers can also pre-record classes to share with students who can’t view live sessions.

Virtual sewing classes

Sewing is a perennially popular hobby. Patterns, techniques and pieces of equipment, on the other hand, can be tricky to use. Professional machinists and experienced hobbyists can cash in on that confusion with their own online sewing classes. Zipper insertion, serger threading and darts go from incomprehensible to clear as a bell.

From thermal thimbles to hand embroidery, virtual courses help novice sewists hone their skills. All instructors need to do is set a couple of cameras up—one wide angle, and one close to the sewing machine foot—and subscribe to a streaming software.

Virtual meditation classes

Meditation helps to calm and focus the mind. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone, though, which is why virtual meditation classes work so well. Instructors introduce mindfulness concepts and then conduct guided meditation sessions, with or without ambient sounds in the background.

Meditation mavens often offer more than one type of class, and more than one class length. Shorter 10-minute meditation sessions work well for busy people, while longer half-hour or hour-long sessions suit folk with less frantic schedules.

Find the right type of video conferencing software for your business

Video conferencing isn’t a big brand exclusive—it also makes a great solution for small businesses. Cooking classes, dance classes, yoga classes and baking classes all work well on video. Virtual birthing classes provide valuable childbirth guidance when pregnant moms can’t get to in-person courses; virtual fitness classes help people stay active at home.

The right video conferencing software can take your company from grounded to great. With a virtual product in hand, you can reach a much wider consumer base and enhance your business’s value proposition. To learn more about reliable, affordable video conferencing solutions like 8x8 Meetings, contact us today or call 1-855-399-1797 today.