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When we met in November of 2019 to hold our annual orientation brainstorming session, our New Student & Family Programs (NSFP) staff dreamed of additional small groups, affinity group spaces, revamped evening programming, and increased opportunities for student connections. Four short months and many hours of planning/training later, we found ourselves in a similar brainstorming session. Except this time, it was late March, we were facing a global pandemic, and we had just shifted our orientation season completely online in response to COVID-19. Like most orientation, transition, and retention professionals around the world, we found ourselves devastated and overwhelmed. We had a very short turnaround time (18 days), but one thing was essential for us—we would preserve as much student/family engagement and interaction as possible. In this article, we explore the decision-making process, methods, action steps, and considerations for implementing a virtual orientation that embraced student and familial engagement despite the global pandemic.

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