Class Reunion Planning 101 (High School or College Reunions)

I have learned a lot about reunion planning. It was several decades ago that I graduated from high school and was Secretary of the class. Somehow I knew, even back then, that I would be involved in planning the reunions. I deliberately never let anyone write in my yearbook, because I thought a "clean" version might be useful in the future. Little did I know that years later we would be photocopying it, and, today, scanning it, to make an online yearbook and name-tags. Every ten years I plan yet another reunion,  And each of them has brought forth a new set of challenges. In addition, new technologies have enhanced communication among classmates in ways that I never dreamed. In future updates, I will address many of tips I have discovered. I welcome everyone who has ever planned a reunion or been to a reunion to join me in this forum. Together we can help others who are grappling with the challenges of their reunions and share some fun stories at the same time.

Well, if not you, who else? I'm just saying, if the thought crossed your mind, then probably you're the one! But before you jump on board, be sure you can say "yes" to the following questions. 1. Are you sincerely interested in your classmates? Not that you have to communicate in detail with every last one of them, but are you interested in seeing them connect with each other? 2. Do you have an office at your disposal with a computer, access to the internet, knowledge to use it, fax, copier, and (ideally free) phone. These are all indispensible to being the point person. 3. Do you have an ability to delegate? You need to set up lines of communication and systems so that you understand how they work, and then teach others to do them, so things run smoothly. You do not have to do everything yourself - nor should you. 4. Are you organized? I am managing five teams of people: the search for lost classmates committee, the database team, the location finding team, the p...

One of the most interesting things to come out of our recent class reunion was an interest in sharing information about the business skills and expertise that our classmates have. This got us thinking. While we would never use the class database as a marketing tool for personal enrichment, why not allow people to advertise on the class website for free or a minimal cost. We are currently investigating two options for classmates: 1. A list of subject areas of expertise. Need a lawyer. Click on "attorneys" and a list of classmate's names come up. Click on the names to get to their individual websites. Click on "plumbers" and a list of names pops up and so on. This would be a free option. 2. Buy a full page or half page add in the website. Money for this can go to maintaining the website. Hosting costs, survey subscriptions, email blast subscriptions, etc. When we get closer I'll share more on this subject. In the meanti...

Some of the members in our Linkedin .com Group "Reunion Planners (High School, College, Family, Corporate)" have mentioned that short reunion cruises are wonderful alternatives to land-based reunions if you're near a major port city.   Linda Hilson of cruise planners, All Points Beyond  https://www.allpointsbeyondtravel.com /   tells me that there are several options. First, there are dinner cruises like those provided by World Yacht, http://www.worldyacht.com/ , which circles Manhattan. You depart at a certain time and return 4 or 5 hours later, having had the time of your life. But that's it. No down time together to relax. Strict in and out times, etc. Then there are two-day cruises to nowhere. Imagine going out to sea for two overnights, all meals included. It's a party on a beautiful ship where your reunion group can take part in festivities all weekend long. This type of cruise departs only a few times a year out of major cities and may not coincide with ...

Why wait 5 or 10 years before you get together for another class reunion? You should encourage classmates to put together mini-reunions any time or anywhere. Using the internet and Facebook an informal mini-reunion can spring up orchestrated by anyone who wants to reach out and say: "Hey I'll be here on this date and at this time. Meet me there." One of my friends, Vicki, has become the class ambassador. She travels a lot, and when she's in a major metropolitan area, she makes an announcement to her friends on Facebook that she'll be there and voila a party happens around her at a local restaurant or bar. It's truly amazing. Another friend, Barbara, knows she's planning a vacation in Fort Lauderdale in the Spring, so she has organized a mini-reunion welcoming other classmates to join her there for a weekend Luau. In this case she has 6 months lead time to generate enthusiasm and get commitments from the class. Steve has a band, (Steve and Steve), ...

I recently came across a New York Times blog called "Bits," written by a recent college grad, Jenna Wortham, who posed the question, "Who Needs a College Reunion? I've Got Facebook." http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/who-needs-a-college-reunion-ive-got-facebook/ . She was invited to her five-year reunion and adamantly stated that she had no intention of going because Facebook kept her up to date on each and every classmate she cared about. She knew who married who, what their children looked like, what gainful employment they had, what community groups they supported, and so on. And there's no doubt that she was keeping tabs on everyone that was important to her. But I have to extrapolate forward 10, 20, 30 years and wonder if she'll still feel the same way then? Somehow the passage of time, the frailty of the human body, and the growing nostalgia for days gone by takes its toll on our curiosity, and I believe she'll want to go back to se...

Looking for a good excuse to get a mini-reunion going? Celebrate your classmates' collective birthdays! This is not something to do every year, but rather try it the year you all have a significant birthday: 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years old. Don't wait for a major reunion, choose a location that will hold about 10% of your class. In my case, from a class of 600, I expect 60 to show up. No formal hotel facilities are necessary. Just book a nice restaurant with a room big enough to hold all of you and serve a nice buffet with a cash bar. If you have a smaller class than mine, then just meet at a favorite pub. The class before ours had great success meeting in the summer at a lakeside restaurant. The sounds of lapping water and reflections of moonlight make for a magical setting that requires nothing but the company of friends. Don't fuss with decorations, djs , a photographer, or videographer - unless you want to. People will shoot with their phones and upload them to Facebook ....

I always recommend that no one should produce/direct/or shoot their own reunion videos. You've waited all these years, why work at your party? Let someone else do the schelping and the interviewing. You should be free to enjoy yourself and not be chained to a camera all night. Consider having a professional video production company that specializes in party videos shoot and edit your program. Try to make a deal that if they shoot and edit it for free, they can "sell" the dvds to classmates after the fact and keep the profits. This only works if you have a fairly large class, but it does work. For example for our recent reunion, the production company is selling the dvds or digital downloads for $25.0. The video is a good value because not only is the party on it, but also all the party videos that we rolled in during the night's festivities. These included multiple shorts featuring scenes around town, the best tv shows, Time magazine covers, and montages of the deca...

Don't forget to properly manage the reunion check-in table. It is very easy to overlook this important aspect. It is also very easy to understaff it, and the reason is simple. Nobody wants to "work" at the reunion. Who can blame them? They've waited all these years to see everyone, and don't want to be stuck at the table. There are a few remedies for this - all of them must be managed by one responsible person on your team. Find a person who would be happy to build a team of classmates who will greet people at the door and sign them in. This person must also establish and supervise the check-in process for at least the first hour and collect the money from people who pay at the door. Believe it or not, this job is very important. The check-in table, it is the first impression that your reunion guests will have and if the first impression is total chaos. That is not a good thing. Depending on how many guests there are, I've recommended two long tables ...

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 ...

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....