Many class reunion planners think that once the event is over, their responsibilities are over. What they don’t realize is that there is a lot that needs to be done before you can walk away.
We have broken down the responsibilities into the following categories:
- Things to do after the class reunion Is over
- Things to bring to the alumni office
- Things to save for the next class reunion planner
- Things to do to keep classmates interacting with each other
Let’s start with the first category:
Things to do After The Class Reunion Is Over
Send out post class reunion surveys
How well did you do? You’ll never know unless you ask the attendees what they thought of the event. Sending out an email survey is a great way to get feedback so future reunions can be planned more effectively.
For example, if you spent hours planning activities and your classmates responded that they would rather have had more time to catch up, then that information that can be used towards planning future reunions. Do you need help creating a post class reunion survey?
Post Videos And Photos On The Class Reunion Website
After the reunion, post photos and videos online. Send out a mass email to attendees and non attendees inviting them to the website to read the class reunion recap and view photos and videos.
Schedule A Post Class Reunion Meeting
The post class reunion meeting should be all about celebrating the successful completion of an event that took up a lot of your time and energy.
Host the post class reunion party at a local restaurant and invite the entire planning committee. The purpose of the meeting should be to recap the event and go over what worked and what did not work.
Questions to ask are:
Reunion
- Could we have chosen a better date?
- Would it have been better to have done a one day, two day or even a three day event over a long weekend?
- Was [time of year] good for the class reunion?
- How many out of town guests attended the class reunion?
- How many stayed at the hotel that we reserved a block of rooms in? (Learn how to reserve a block of rooms for your class reunion)
Cocktail party
- What should we do differently next time?
- Was the time we selected convenient?
- What kind of snacks worked well? What did not?
- Did the ice breaker serve it’s purpose? Any suggestions on a future ice breaker?
Saturday banquet
- Was the location what we wanted? Did they do a good job?
- How was the food? Was there enough variety? Should we offer more options?
- Would it be better to do a sit down or a buffet
- Cash bar vs open bar? Which one is better?
- How was the DJ, Photographer, and Videographer? Did they do their job well? What could we have done differently to make the experience better for our classmates?
- Was the entertainment satisfactory?
- What would we do different in terms of decorations?
- Who is holding onto the class memorabilia for the next class reunion?
Sunday Picnic/Brunch
- How was the food?
- How was the location?
- What would you do different next time?
- Was it worthwhile to do a memory book? Did enough people buy one?
- What are the suggestions to make the next class reunion better?
- What should we do with the leftover funds? Donate it to the school? Create an endowment? Give it to next years class reunion as a startup fund?
Pass On Information
Your class reunion has a treasure trove of information that you can pass on. Make sure to put together a packet that includes the budget, planning minutes, activities, committee recommendations, and any other information that you think will come in handy for the next class reunion planner.
As a best practice, make three copies of all the information with one copy given to the alumni office and the rest to two separate classmates.
Help People Connect
Create a document with everyone’s contact information so classmates can keep in touch after the class reunion is over. This should be emailed to the entire class regardless of whether they attended the reunion. Also, provide a copy of this list to the alumni office for their records.
Memory Books
If you ordered class reunion memory books, then get some people together to help you pack and ship them out in a reasonable amount of time. Let classmates know when to expect them so you don’t get dozens of emails asking the same questions.
Things To Provide The Alumni Office
The alumni office at your school is a great help in providing direction and information to class reunion planners. Give back by providing information about your class reunion and handing over any documents, decorations etc. that can be re-used by future class reunions. Here is a list of things that you can pass onto them.
- Attendance numbers
- Cost per person
- Alumni contact information
- Templates for invites, registration forms, save the date cards etc.
- Class reunion supplies and decorations should be given to the alumni office or to the next class reunion to see if they can re-use any of the centerpieces, boards, easels etc.
- Finalized class reunion budget – Figure out what the actual cost (per person) for the class reunion so future class reunions have a number to go by.
Things to Save For The Next Class Reunion Planner
Your next class reunion may not be for another ten years or so but that does not mean you can’t put together a bunch of things to help them out. Here are some ideas:
Start a buddy list among your classmates. Have everyone fill it out with their name and three people in their immediate family or friends that would absolutely know where they are. This makes finding a classmate a lot easier for future reunions.
Create a file to pass along to the next class reunion committee that includes what worked (and didn’t), how much everything cost, a list of cheap vendors, fundraising ideas, why certain decision were made, budget, cost per person etc. This information will be invaluable to them.
Things You Can Do To Keep Classmates Interacting With Each Other
Once the class reunion is over, the challenge then shifts to helping people stay in touch. After all the hard work you put into getting classmates to catch up, it would seem prudent to facilitate a way for everyone to keep in a touch. Here are some ideas:
- Organize an online class reunion every year or so to get people to chat live. Send out an email to everyone and post the schedule of chats on the home page. Weekends are usually the best time to get this going.
- Consider having a birthday email. Once a month, list any upcoming birthdays and send it to the entire class. Encourage people to post their birthday wishes online either on the classmates profile or in the message boards.
- Encourage people to post recent news about them or send you the latest news so you can post it to their profile.
- Alternately, you can choose to update a profile monthly about one person. This feature will encourage people to visit the class reunion website more often and will keep them better engaged with other classmates.
- Send out an email asking classmates for photos and videos that they took during the weekend. Ask them to send any that are particularly interesting so you can post it on the class reunion website. Also, ask them to share any special memories or occurrences that happened over the weekend. Offer to post their stories on the class reunion website as well.
The above list may seem extensive to some but everything mentioned will either help you or help someone else in the future when they are setting up a class reunion. Try to do as much as possible and as always, ask for help. The class reunion legacy you help create will last a lifetime.
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