My 35th high school reunion was supposed to happen this summer, but unfortunately, it was canceled due to “lack of interest.” I couldn’t believe it and was a little disappointed to say the least as I always look forward to our class reunions and reconnecting with all my old friends, most of whom I haven’t seen since our last reunion.
Distance and time constraints prevented me from being part of the reunion committee, and I certainly don’t blame the group for trying to put this together. It is not an easy task and it takes a lot of time and effort to plan a successful event. However, I looked back on the way it was planned and determined that it failed not because of lack of proper planning, interest, poor location, or high cost. Rather, the cancellation was necessitated by inadequate notification and follow-up of members of the graduating class. Many in the class just didn’t know.
The only notice of the meeting was a series of about 5-6 emails announcing and describing the event, inviting graduates to attend, and following up. Although email is cost-effective and can be useful, it should be just one element of the notification and promotion process.
Making your class reunion (family or military reunion) a successful event requires the use of a variety of different promotional tools to get the word out and get as much participation as possible. We hope that the rest of this article will give you some tips and ideas for a well-attended meeting.
Locating your classmates is obviously the first thing you should do, and is a topic for a whole other article on its own, and won’t be covered here. For now, you can do a web search on “find classmates” or some similar search phrase to find the various tools available to accomplish this daunting task. Once you have your list of classmates together, the fun really begins!
Publicity of your class meetings
Or email. It’s a great way to be present with your classmates and let them know about upcoming deadlines and event reminders. Create multiple guest lists and send specific emails to each group. Email is also a great tool for asking classmates for help locating missing classmates. Popular uses of email include newsletters, special announcements, thank yous, “In Memory” notices, and help finding missing classmates.
or Telephone. Get together one night with the rest of your committee, over pizza and drinks, and start scoring. Not only will you have fun with this, but you can often recruit others to help spread the word.
or Mail. Send a letter to the whole class. In most cases, classmates who are not personally contacted are unlikely to attend. The letter should include the following: a form requesting biographical data, a survey of desired reunion activities, a list of “lost” classmates and a request for any available information on these individuals, and a postage-paid return envelope . Having input from each class member will make the task of accommodating each individual’s different interests less challenging.
or local newspapers. Most will post an ad in the community notices section for free or for a small fee.
o Your high school website. Most have pages dedicated to upcoming meeting announcements.
o Your high school alumni website. You can discuss promotional ideas with your school’s alumni director.
o Class websites from other years at your high school.
o Alumni services websites (i.e. classmates.com, alumni.net, reunion.com, etc.)
o Your own class website. A reunion website for your high school reunion is a great way to ensure you have a great turnout for your class reunion and build excitement among your classmates. When your classmates read stories and see the photos of teachers and old friends, it will create a nostalgic mood that will build momentum until the high school reunion.
o Create a blog. Blogs are a great way to post a lot of timely and interesting content related to your meeting, and you can create an interactive experience among classmates who comment on your posts and keep them coming back often for updates.
o Message boards. A website will often come with a built-in message board application. Classmates can communicate with you and each other on your website through message boards. Use it as a forum to share ideas and suggestions. Message boards are designed to bring classmates back to your website as it is often used as a question and answer forum.
o Social websites. Don’t forget about sites like Facebook and MySpace.
o Public meeting announcement websites (i.e. reunionannouncements.com, etc.)
o Announcements from public and public access radio stations and their websites.
o Word of mouth can also work very well.
Don’t forget to document what worked and what didn’t, in case you’re lucky enough to be on the committee for your next meeting. If you can use several of the ideas in this article effectively, you will substantially increase your chances of having a successful event!