Corporate virtual wine tastings are such a new and exciting topic that I wanted to use this blog to tell you all about what they are, how they work and why you might like to consider doing a corporate virtual wine tasting for your clients or your colleagues.
Given its international nature, the world of wine has long been used to communicating over the various video platforms like Zoom, Google Meets or Teams. But it’s only since the pandemic happened that the virtual wine world has really taken off as a means of business communication and networking. With companies unable to physically meet their colleagues, their clients and their prospects in person, corporate virtual wine tastings have become a fun and engaging way of ‘getting together’ over a video call to talk wine, learn a few things and network with the important people in your business life.
Corporate virtual wine tastings can include a talk from the winemaker, different themes (‘hidden gems’, ‘female winemakers, ‘future classics’) and can be structured as part-presentation, part discussion. My own experience is that if you have more than around 15 guests, you don’t get as much of a discussion between the parties – whereas with smaller groups of around 10-15, most people will feel confident to interact and talk (especially after the first glass!). But bigger groups can work really well – I’ve done corporate virtual wine tastings for more than 200 people on the same Zoom call, so the sky is the limit when it comes to how many people you want to invite.
A good corporate virtual wine tasting will share some of the characteristics of a good ‘real life’ event – there’ll be conversation and chemistry, laughter and learning. In my next few blogs I’m going to go into more detail about how to structure a virtual wine event, how to get the mood and event right for your group and how to make sure you derive strong business benefits from your corporate virtual wine event.
