Educational institutions such as schools, universities, colleges, childcare centres and other educational institutions host an annual open day. Open days are held every year for prospective parents and students. In recent times, with people unable to attend events they have had to rethink the concept and go virtual. Many will comprise of a live stream with some pre-recorded photos and video for people to view. They may also contain downloadable PDFs with information about the subject or facility. All these are useful; however, they don’t fully engage people. The term virtual open day has become a necessity for many of these institutions to showcase their space and facility. Let’s take a look at how a virtual tour adds value and is excellent for exposure and user experience for a virtual open day.

Virtual Open Day – Virtual Tour

Engagement & Exploration

You have everything set up for the virtual day. People can log in and register to attend virtually, watch your live stream and photos/videos, and see valuable information, but something is missing. They can’t explore your campus/building. No matter how hard you try, they can’t walk around at their own pace and explore just like they use to. A 360 virtual tour fixes this by giving the user the ability to explore at their own pace. By coupling this with the same controls of PCs/mobiles, people can spend time looking and see all that is around. This way, users feel like they are learning and seeing what you showed them. The virtual tour gives them the freedom that is unavailable with other options.

Bring Your Location To Their Home

While this is touched on in ‘Engagement & Exploration’, the truth is that there is nothing quite like a 360 virtual tour that brings your location into people’s homes. No other digital content makes you feel like you are onsite. On a side note, all our virtual tours are VR-ready. While not required, they can also enjoy our virtual tours by using a cost-effective Google Cardboard headset right through to expensive high-end VR headsets. Virtual Tours and VR headsets go more into detail in our blog Headset For Virtual Tours – Do You Need One.

Relevant & Contextual Information

One feature that virtual tours have that other mediums do not have is the ability to integrate interactive and informative hotspots. These are clickable areas in the tour that can be text, photo or video (or a combination). The tour can be custom-designed to fit your needs with a specific call to action. These can send the user to the right URL or even clickable phone numbers that dial the enrolment office from within the tour. Our virtual tours are custom branded and designed to your style guide and marketing team’s specifications.

More Than Just A Day

All the other videos and live streams are custom-designed for the open day. Virtual tours are designed to last for many years after they are created. They can be used with open days for years to come. They are often embedded into the website so anyone can view the tour anytime. Virtual tours have many cross-funnel possibilities. They are used with socials and EDMs and emailed directly to prospective parents/clients. They make great long-term sales and marketing tools.

Case Study 1: TAFE NSW

TAFE NSW asked us to create a 360 virtual tour for the virtual open day. It was quite an extensive virtual tour featuring facilities from 10 campuses across NSW. They had live streams, scheduled talks and more. The virtual tour gave me the feeling of being on campus. It lets people experience their facilities as though they were onsite themselves. This open day, they had a great turnout of over 2000+ people looking to enrol in 2 days. More information about TAFE NSW virtual open day is available here.

Double-click on the virtual tour for TAFE NSW to make it go fullscreen, or click here

Case Study 2: Kinross Wolaroi School

Kinross Wolaroi School, nestled in the picturesque town of Orange, New South Wales, is renowned for its commitment to excellence in education. As a leading co-educational day and boarding school, Kinross Wolaroi offers a holistic learning environment that nurtures both academic growth and personal development. Kinross Wolaroi School invites families to explore their campus virtually. Through a captivating combination of photographs, information, and 360-degree images, prospective parents can step into the heart of the school.

The virtual tour let families from across Australia walk through the school grounds. This immersive experience allows families to witness firsthand the vibrant learning spaces, the camaraderie among students, and the rich tapestry of school life. Whether you’re in Sydney, Melbourne, or anywhere across Australia, the virtual tour bridges the geographical gap, making Kinross Wolaroi accessible to all. It’s more than pixels on a screen; it’s an invitation to be part of a thriving educational community. More information about Kinross Wolaroi School’s virtual open day can be viewed here.

Double-click on the virtual tour for Kinross Wolaroi School to make it go fullscreen, or click here

Virtual Tours For Virtual Open Days

Many elements are integrated for a virtual open day to give as much information as possible online. A virtual tour is the missing link that allows one to explore the school grounds, campus or building firsthand. We work with schools, colleges, childcare centres and universities to create the perfect virtual tour for their virtual open day. We work directly with you and your team to deliver a virtual tour that is right for you. If you are looking to create a virtual tour for your open day, you can call, email or fill out the form on this page.

Are you hosting virtual open days for your school/college/university? Are you thinking of integrating a virtual tour into the experience? Leave a comment down below and let us know your thoughts :)

Dimitri Cassimatis( Founder )

Dimitri is the founder of Simply 360, which specialises in creating immersive, interactive and engaging 360 / VR virtual tours, AR integration and marketing consultancy. He has worked in the digital marketing industry for over 15 years and has a passion for creating virtual tours with a key focus in strategic implementation.