Class Reunion Planning 101 (High School or College Reunions)

Another detail you'll want to review with your venue event manager is the floor plan. It's a mundane but essential part of making a successful party. The smooth flow of traffic is essential to keep a somewhat inebriated herd content. Here are ten floorplan "must-haves" to keep things running well: 1. two sign-in tables -usually in the foyer outside the main room for people to check in or pay if they haven't already. Consider splitting up the alphabet by last name - half at one table, half at the other. 2. name tag table - for people to pick up their pre -printed name tags or write their own if they paid at the door. 3. table for seating cards - if you have pre -assigned seating for your reunion (I don't recommend this), but if you do, people will need to pick up their table numbers outside the main room. Arrange the cards in alphabetical order by last name. 4. bar(s) -to avoid bottlenecks. Some places recommend 1 bartender per 100 people. Keep them away from

The party's set, the food is on the tables, the guests have all arrived and then you push "play" on the DVD player... and guess what? Nothing happens. Avoid an encounter with the technology gremlins. About a month before your reunion, you should have a talk with your event manager and ask about equipment needed the night of your party. He/she may put you in touch with their audio/visual coordinator or may handle the discussion him/herself. VIDEO For DVD or PowerPoint playback you'll want to discuss: 1. A playback source for DVDs or CDs a. If you have a Standard Definition (SD) DVD, you'll need a (SD) or Blu-Ray Player (either a DVD player or a computer with a DVD player). b. If it's a Blu-Ray DVD you're playing, only a Blu-Ray Player will work. c. If it's a CD for a slide show, a laptop with a DVD player will work. Make sure you test your media on the actual player you are going to use BEFORE THE PARTY. 2. Projection system. The intensity of the bulb

One of the hardest things about being a reunion planner is keeping the list of classmates who have passed on. You know they are gone, but you see them as they were - vibrant teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them. You are not alone in this thought. You share the zeitgeist of the entire class - the collective spirit of your alma mater. Together you mourn the loss of even one classmate. And as you get older the numbers rise, and it gets more surreal. Therefore, it is very appropriate for you to create a tribute to those who have "moved on." 1. a special page on your website or class directory dedicated to their memory is appropriate. 2. a video montage or slide show on the website is appropriate. 3. if you have an online yearbook with the ability to write blog messages on the yearbook page, encourage classmates to write their memories of those who died in the blog. I would not, however, suggest a video or slide show tribute DURING the reunion because it may irrevoc

I'll never forget the story of my girlfriend's brother,John. He was three years younger than us and had always lived life on the edge. Sex, drugs and heavier drugs. Therefore at the twentieth high school reunion, many of his classmates were not surprised to see his name listed among the "dearly departed" in their printed directory. "Too bad about John. He was a great guy, but I didn't really think he'd live this long," were typical comments. There was, however, one person who was very surprised to read about John in the memorial pages- and that was John. He could say as did Mark Twain, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Indeed John was alive and well. How did this happen? Well the reporter in this case, didn't check his/her sources. Whenever I hear about the passing of a classmate, I always try to get three people to corroborate the story and then verify it with a search in the Social Security Administration's

Should you enlist the services of a professional photographer? The answer is a resounding yes and no. Yes, you should bring aboard a photographer: 1. if it's free 2. if prints or downloads can be made available at a reasonable price 3. if you'd like a group shot of the whole gang 4. if you want formal table shots of each table If you publish your class reunion on public sites like http://www.reunionannouncements.com/ you will undoubtedly be contacted by several vendors selling services. One of them will be a photographer who will come and shoot your reunion at no charge, in exchange for being able to sell prints after the reunion. This is a win/win situation, particularly if you answered "yes" to any of the above. But read on there may be a reason to avoid having a professional photographer. You may decide you don't need a professional photographer for your reunion: 1. because everyone with a digital camera or phone is a photographer and that's good enough 2.

About a ten months before the reunion you should decide on where to have the reunion. Once that's decided, you'll need to figure out how much to charge for a reunion ticket so you can start selling tickets immediately. You will make the decision based on a number of factors: Basic Charges 1. Price per person for food. 2. Open bar vs. Cash bar 3. Tax and service charges _____________________________________ Say food is $50.00 cash bar is 0.00 Tax in NJ is 7% 3.50 Service Charge at our hotel is 21% = 10.50 ____________________________________ Price per person is: $64.00 So is that the amount you charge your classmates? NO!!!!! Because you have to take in account all the other costs involved in reunion planning Ancillary charges (try to get as much for free here as you can

About a month before the reunion, you'll want to check in with the banquet manager and review the details of the menu, the layout of the room, the location of the bars, the check in tables and any special needs you may have like multi-media playback. Hotels will provide projection systems and screens for a price, (and not cheaply, I might add.) The specifics of the menu can change up to about a week before (double check this with your banquet manager,) but you'll want to make the initial choices a month before. Things to consider: 1.Long before you've planned the menu, you've decided on whether to have a Cash Bar vs. Open Bar or something in-between (maybe wine and beer only.) This is because the price you charge for reunion tickets a year before must reflect the cost of food and drinks, if you are not having a cash bar. Double check that soft drinks, juice and water are free. That said, I believe a cash bar is the fairest way to deal with alcoholic drinks since not e

Even before this economy became unstable, some people were thinking that $95.00 for a ticket to their class reunion was steep. I've explained how it's not just the meal and banquet hall that costs so much. It's the entertainment, the party favors, decorations, cost of mailings, monthly survey and e-mail blasting services, video transfers, website hosting costs, office supplies etc. that really impact the final cost. For our reunion, I know $95.00 is the right price point. But I also know that some people would be more likely to come if it were somewhat less. How how do we help them? At the beginning of ticket sales (about 10 months prior to the event) offer a discount -$10.00 off the price. This is an important incentive to get people to sign on early, so you can meet the minimum that the hotel requires. It also helps them out financially - win/win. Another idea centers around what I call "scholarships." One month before the reunion, offer $20 off the ticket pri

As the checks come pouring in, you'll find notes accompanying them. Many of them ask the question: What's the dress code? As planner for the reunion, you are setting the tone of the party and people believe you have a "vision" of what it should look like. And maybe you do. Essentially the "place" seems to dictate the level of formality when it comes to dress code. But there is no question that everyone wants to look their best. For the banquet hall reunion that I am planning cocktail dresses and jackets and ties would be appropriate. But my advice is: don't overdo it, and make sure you look like yourself. You don't want to put people off. For casual reunions at the poolside, lakeside, at picnic groves, or in someone's back yard, tee shirts, shorts and bathing suits may be the order of the day. Or not. You'll want to wear what works for you, particularly as you launch into your 40th and 50th reunions. Just wear what you feel good in. I tell

Back in June, I wrote a little bit about about "people finding" websites in How Do I Find My Classmates? There are several to choose from if you Google "people search" as a subject. the differences between the are subtle, but each offers value to your search. 1. http://www.whitepages.com/ is a good basic "name," "address," "state," "phone number" tool which offers basic and advanced searching, but there is not a great deal of difference between the two search modes, and it very quickly wants to hand you off to a helpful, but paid service called www.USSearch.com . (Note USSearch promises to give you a free search for your first 24 hours. So if you can work long and hard, you may get a lot accomplished for free here). 2. www.zabasearch.com/advanced.php is the advanced mode of http://www.zabasearch.com/ . The advanced mode allows you to search also by middle name, and approximate birth year, as well as the usual "name,&q

That is the question. Actually it's more than one question - because videos can serve several different purposes. You can create: 1. videos to entertain at your party 2. videos to document your party and/or 3. videos to inform classmates on your website or Facebook page First rule of video production: ask someone else to do it, if you are the class reunion planner. Canvas your classmates and see if anyone wants to handle it. Reunion planners like us have enough to do. Entertainment Think about starting your party with a video. Nothing is more exciting than launching the party with a great video with a rocking soundtrack. Consider editing the following elements together to make a short and sweet, 2-3 minute party tape: contemporary footage and old photos of your favorite haunts around town, pop culture and news footage from your decade, headlines from the town paper from the year you graduated, photos of classmates horsing around. Combine fast-paced cutting with favorite anthems

Sometimes people are funny. They don't want to be the first to sign up to buy a ticket and would rather hedge their bets to see who of their friends have committed first. We've solved that problem by offering incentives to our classmates and, believe me, they work. 1. Most successful is the "early-bird special." Assuming you have started a whole year in advance. Offer people a discount for those who sign up in the first three months. We met our minimum number right off the bat and were breathing a whole lot easier. We promised the hotel a minimum of 125 people, and during the "early bird" phase we sold 124 tickets. Amazing how that worked. (This, of course presumes, that you have a margin of extra money to play with.) 2. Another phenomena that I didn't predict was the "free drink on me" incentive. Several classmates helped with the sign up drive by each offering to buy the next ten people who signed up a free drink at the reunion.&qu

There are many services out there that will offer templates for high school reunion websites. They are better than nothing, but if you want something a little less boilerplate, you'll have to make it yourself. If you have a dedicated web designer in your class who will willing to volunteer his/her services, as we were fortunate enough to have, (thank you Jan Reisen of http://www.perfectisite.com/ ) you can custom design a site to meet your needs. Make sure your designer understands that this website will have a life long after the reunion and that he/she is an intrinsic part of the reunion committee forever and ever. Jan understood this and has exceeded our expectations time and time again. She designed our site based on a few basic components we felt we had to have. 1. A news page for updates about the reunion 2. An on-line yearbook (our directory) with blogs on each page to write messages to classmates and a in-memoriam page 3. A place to upload photos with instructions. We chose