Why This Inspirato Member Loves the Club’s Virtual Events

When Inspirato was forced to cancel its in-person events last year as the COVID-19 pandemic began, many of its members were disappointed. But Inspirato’s Events team came up with a clever way to continue bringing members together in a time when they needed it most.

Since last spring, the team has put on more than 150 virtual events for Inspirato members, with such varied options as cooking and mixology classes, calligraphy, wine tasting, photography, fitness, virtual tours, and so much more.


Along the way, the events have picked up some regular participants and big fans. One of them is Inspirato member Jackie, who’s taken part in more than 25 events from her home in Chicago.

“I have kids at home and it’s hectic, and I’m trying to carve out a little sanity and space for myself, and these events allow me to do that,” she said.


Some of her favorites have been the Three Sticks Wine tasting, cooking classes from Truffle Shuffle and the Cooking Touch in Tuscany, as well as baking classes with Le Cordon Bleu chef Molly Wilkinson.

Jackie appreciates that the Events team puts together classes that she feels aren’t “typical,” like finding smaller businesses that members wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise.

“I was an event planner, so my background is all food and beverage,” she said. That gives her a better insight into how difficult it is to plan the events–especially when they’re all done virtually.

“The way that they’re produced and the way they moderate things, even the way that they sign everybody up and ask for feedback, it’s so well done,” she said. “It takes a lot of skill to make an event look easy and effortless, and they do that.”

Aside from the classes being really interesting, everything Inspirato does is done so well—you get transported to another place, whether it’s France with a baking class, or Florence with a cooking class, or a tour of a river cruise somewhere. I’ve learned about and been exposed to such fascinating places.
Jackie

She continued: “I love being able to go somewhere like Charleston—virtually—and learn about a business or their background story. Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit, for instance; I ended up ordering some products from them and the manager told me that the next time I’m in Charleston to let him know and he’d give us a tour. Little things like that make it special.”


Jackie also loves the convenience of the ingredient kits that are sent along with some of the classes.

“It’s great, because I don’t want to run around and get all of the ingredients myself, and so many places are still shut down here,” she said.

Speaking of shutdowns, Jackie said that’s another aspect of the events that she loves—the opportunity to interact with other people, even while we wait for a sense of normalcy to return. She hopes that Inspirato will continue to put the events on in the future, too.


“It’s wonderful to have something to look forward to. It’s been a salvation. I feel like it’s connected me to people in a time that’s been so isolating,” she said. “To just have a laugh and feel like you’re interacting with people has been so refreshing.”

Interested in experiencing one of Inspirato’s virtual events for yourself? Click here to see what’s coming up.