Where to Find Activities Online? 12 Free Online Event Portals

Where can I see a live show or interactive performance online? Where can I meet with a group of people online and have a good time? There are many portals out there that let you connect in real time with others online. Here’s a list of 12 of the most promising platforms I’ve found for live virtual events.

Since I’m home a lot more these days, I like to know where to find activities but this can be hard to do in a crowded online environment.
I’m hoping this article helps people find a fun activity, connect with others, or discover a new interest.

Each event site in this article must satisfy the following criteria:
-Must offer free events.
-Events must be hosted online on a virtual platform.
-The event offerings must be live and have some means of interaction.

Site 1: Eventbrite
Link: www.eventbrite.com/d/online/events

Eventbrite looks to be the first search result that comes up when I google online events.

On the main page of Eventbrite I clicked on the “See more button” on the “Popular Online events” section I got some helpful filters that allowed me to sort events by Date (events happening today, this weekend, etc.), Price (i.e.: paid or free), Category (i.e.: Music, Food, Hobbies, etc.), Format (i.e.: Class, Performance, Game), etc.

As I look though the events happening today I see that there’s a Virtual Poetry Reading going on tonight. Oh Boy! I wonder what kind of people will be joining in on that! I might have to check it out.

 

 

Site 2A: Facebook Live
Link: www.facebook.com/watch/live

Most people I know have a Facebook account. Facebook seems to have all kinds of content on it that can keep you mesmerized for hours (I’m admit to being mesmerized often by Facebook). One faucet of Facebook I appreciate is the “Facebook Live” feature.

Once you’re logged in to your Facebook account and search to your homepage, you will likely find a “Watch” button on the sidebar. This will lead you to the “Live” portion of Facebook which shows a wide range of strange and wonderful video streams.

There doesn’t appear to be any useful filters for helping you explore the available live video streams but you’ll usually get some interesting choices – these appear to be based upon your user history and what the facebook machine thinks you’ll enjoy.

The interaction with others is limited to the comment box on the side of the screen which isn’t great. I think it would be cool to have rooms where you could actually talk with people watching the same thing and not have a constantly shifting stream of random messages flashing across.

Facebook live shows me the following categories:

-Popular live videos
-live news
-live gaming
-live recent videos (these appear to relate to my watch history and social circle on Facebook)

It’s disappointing that I cannot browse live videos by location or topic. There is a search bar on the side but that will show you mostly saved content which I’d rather go to Youtube to see since it’s probably easier to sort through.

Site 2B: Facebook Events
Link: www.facebook.com/events

When you click on the “Events” sidebar link on Facebook, you’ll find a mix of both online and in-person events. When you click on “Discover” you’ll find some helpful filters come up to help narrow down the Event time, type and location. Notice that I’ve checked “online events” in this case.

While I type this I’m noticing that searching by location doesn’t do anything and browsing events in Toronto Canada is the same as searching for events in Dublin, Ireland – which doesn’t make sense. Bad Facebook. On a whim I searched for an event from Mexico City. Facebook doesn’t seem able to return results for this but instead shows me local online events only. The Facebook events search is pretty bad since it’s hard to find details on remote events. I had better luck using google to find a Facebook group workout event. I managed to find out that Planet Fitness is offering free online workout events. Link below if you’re interested:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/PlanetFitness

Site 3: Roll20
Link: www.roll20.com

Have you ever played a table top roll playing game (TTRPG) before? I find they’re great fun and an excellent way to meet new people or gather with old friends. Collective storytelling and dice rolling with people around a table has traditionally been an in-person activity, however a few websites do a good job at facilitating this virtually. Some excellent websites have grown around this hobby and one such is Roll20.
Roll20 is cool because you can run your own game (Game Master) or search for existing games to join.

There are a ton of listed RPG systems on Roll20. If you’re in the mood for a classic fantasy story, there are currently about 8 pages of Dungeons & Dragons 5^th Edition listed under the “free to play” setting that are seeking new players:

Other popular roll playing game systems to search on Roll20 would be GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, Starfinder, and Shadowrun, (etc).

If you’re new to RPGs, you might start with GURPS because it’s so widely played, there are so many flavors (fantasy, western, modern, etc.) and there are many free materials out on the web to get you started.
To play online with others, you’ll need a computer/laptop, microphone and speakers.
If you’re looking for a decent online headset to use, I’d recommend the Coirsair VOID wireless. I’ve been using it for a few years. It is decent.

Roll20.com offers a virtual tabletop and voice connectivity. To connect with the other gamers, you’ll need to link up with your microphone to be heard. There’s also an option to use a webcam if you’re into that.

Roll20 Audio and Video input options are listed under “My Settings”:

Roll20 offers a virtual tabletop with customizable materials, including; dice, maps, grid, tokens, music and other fun features.

Besides Roll20, there are other online gaming platforms that I’ve heard good things about like; Fantasy Grounds and MapTools – these might be worth checking out but I have no experience with them. After searching for a game, the first step to joining a Roll20 event would be to contact the game organizer (Game Master) for further instructions, or create your own game and invite players.

Site 4: Youtube – Live
Link: www.youtube.com/live
Youtube needs little introduction but Youtube Live is something that might. On the Youtube sidebar, you’ll notice the “Live” link under More from YouTube.

Here you will find the following headings:
-Heading Name
-Featured Live Streams
-Live Now
-Recent Live Streams
-Upcoming Live Streams
-Live Now – News
-Live Now – Gaming
-Live Now – Sports

One feature I’d like to point out is the “Set Reminder” button that sends a notification when it’s time for a particular video source to go live. If you activate this reminder you’ll typically get a notification sent to your smartphone if it is connected to your google account. Many artists, musicians and attractions will stream video to help you engage and interact with them in some way. Usually there is a chat on the side of the video that you can pop out for easier viewing:

Here’s a cool live stream of an eagle looking majestic. The chat for this one has been disabled which is too bad because I wanted to tell that bird how awesome I think it is:

Site 5: Twitch
Link: www.twitch.com

Twitch is a virtual live-streaming website that is owned by the online e-commerce giant Amazon. Most streaming on Twitch is of videogame play but it can also branch off into other realms such as live art, cooking, talking or whatever. One of my most memorable Twitch streams was run by a lady from New Zealand who was preparing dinner before an episode-release of Game of Thrones. The general discussion was cooking and the Game of Thrones and she spoke to all her viewers, including me. She was so fun and bubbly. I loved her stream it was interactive and fun.

Site 6: Nuyorican
Link: www.nuyorican.org

Nuyorican is New York café that hosts a variety of interactive online events – including free art classes and open mic nights. They look pretty cool and so are worth a look:

Site 7: Chicago Public Library
Link: www.chipublib.org

The Chicago Public Library has all kinds of events – many of which are free and do not require a membership. The Live story time readings look pretty interesting here:

Site 8: New York Public Library
Link: www.nypl.org/events/calendar/online

The NY Public Library is one is similar to the Chicago one. As I type this, the site shows about 238 upcoming events which is respectable.

Site 9: New York University
Link: events.nyu.edu

The New York University is pretty large. When you’re on their events Calendar, check out the “free” events that are “Open to the public”:

There are some interesting workshops. After some brief searching I found a Laughter Yoga session. Haha, why not?:

Site 10: Mixcloud
Link: www.mixcloud.com

I found DjTallPaul trending on Mixcloud doing a Live stream. Not a bad artist, pretty groovy dance music he was playing. I’ve never heard of him but I think I could be a fan of his after watching him perform for a couple of minutes.

There were also some Ghanaian musicians playing some pretty neat stuff. The site looks like a cool place for live streaming musicians from around the world.

I noticed the site leans a little more towards rhythmical musical genres that you’d typically hear in a dance club.

Site 11: Coursera
Link: www.coursera.org

If you have an itch to learn new things you’d do well to check out Coursera. I’ve taken some great free classes on this website. Everything from Accounting to History can be found on here. A great many well-known schools offering free teaching.

Site 12: Eventful
Link: virtualevents.eventful.com

This site looks interesting but they mainly provide links to Youtube and Twitch streams. Kind of like this site I guess.