Thinking of organizing a reunion? This is where the Alumnae Relations can help! We want to help you plan a reunion to remember!
Contact our office! We have the resources to contact your classmates and we can get the word out that your reunion year is coming up. Team up with a few of your fellow alumnae to spread the workload. It is sometimes useful to send out any initial email or Facebook post to the group to gauge the level of interest for the reunion and what preferences there are towards the locations and type of event. Facebook is an excellent tool to garner interest in your reunion.
Do you want to include just your Seton classmates or include spouses, significant others, children or former teachers?
Contact the Alumnae Relations office for a breakdown of how many email and home addresses we have for your classmates. Be aware that the details we hold are only as up to date as our alumnae have provided us.
We ask that you keep the alumnae office updated with any new contact information you may find for your fellow graduates. Any new contact information we gather from attendees of the event will be updated in our database to ensure we have accurate data for your next reunion!
Will your reunion be during one evening, all day, or a full weekend?
If a committee is already formed or you have a few friends that will help you, you may be able to pull the event together quickly. For best attendance, you are encouraged to set the date as much as a year in advance especially for the 50th reunion, so people can plan vacations, etc. around the reunion. While your reunion can be held any time during the year, Seton’s typical reunion season ranges from September through November most years. You can view Seton’s calendar of events to plan around other events at Seton.
You may want to set up a meeting with your committee to help facilitate the following:
Determine the maximum cost per person for the reunion. Some reunions are set-up so you pay your own way upon arrival. These reunions are typically at a bar or restaurant.
Would you prefer a sit-down dinner, buffet, BBQ, or just drinks and mingling?
Will your class increase your cost per head to include a monetary gift back to Seton which will benefit the Alumnae Scholarship Fund?
Seton cannot act as the treasurer and collect payments for your reunion. A committee member should be designated to this role. Bank accounts should not be opened in Seton’s name for the purpose of a reunion.
Possible Reunion Considerations:
Use social media to promote your reunion. Consider posting classmate photos, current event memories, and music clips that may create some nostalgia.
Consider getting donations from businesses for raffle prizes. Hosting a raffle at your reunion could increase your revenue, again, for the purpose of giving back to Seton.
All of the above could be shared on social media to increase enthusiasm and interest.
About four-five months before the reunion:
Save the date card/email goes out to all invitees. (What, where, when, and invite others to help plan the reunion). Seton can mail one invitation or postcard, no more than the value of one letter stamp, which should be printed, sealed and brought to Seton for mailing.
About three months before the reunion:
The second email/phone call is to stimulate further interest. Tell them how many have shown interest (you could even list names) and that the more people attend, the better it will be.
One-two months before the reunion:
Follow up phone calls and emails to classmates. Remember that people tend to wait until the last minute to RSVP so be sure to set your final RSVP date early enough to account for your last minute RSVPs.
Relax and have fun! Consider having “update my information” cards on the tables so that people who were not on the mailing list can be provide their new contact information. A fun Split the Pot raffle with the winner receiving half of the pot, and Seton receiving the other half can be a fun way to get people to talk to each other and benefit the Alumnae Scholarship Fund. Most importantly, mingle and have fun. People change and you may find that you have a lot in common with people you hardly knew in high school!
Send a follow up thank you for attending through email or on your Facebook Class page. This will help if you ever want to hold another reunion in the future, too!
If you were a senior class officer, you may feel it is your obligation to organize a class reunion. Many people fail to accomplish this goal for 3 reasons.
The number one reason that people never get the high school reunion planned is that there were unable to generate enough interest. Planning a class reunion requires nothing more than a few people who want to make it happen. Although, having a budget can be helpful. In order to know how much of a budget you have, you need to get some sort of indication from people if they will come or not. As the organizer, the first priority is to get enough people interested that it makes sense to organize an event with a venue, food and entertainment. To be able to do that you need to know that there will be participation or else you will be financing the class reunion by yourself. This is not recommended.
The second reason that reunion sometimes do not get off the ground is that not enough people find out about the event. Ten years or more after graduation many classmates have moved and changed addresses (often more than once). Finding people is a big part of the challenge of generating interest, because if you can’t find them, you can’t invite them. Social Media helps a lot in the pursuit of classmates. Seton works hard to update current addresses, email and phone numbers but a reunion is a great time to have classmates update their information.
Another problem with high school reunion planning relates to the task of collecting funds. Assuming that you found a large percentage of people, and you have succeeded in getting people psyched about the class reunion, the next major hurdle is getting them to commit to coming. Many people become procrastinators when it comes time to separate themselves from their money. Therefore, the more options you have for accepting payment the better.
All three of these potential obstacles can be avoided by setting a date early enough that Seton can add it the website. That will give you plenty of time to generate interest, find people on Facebook, collect updated email or address information and collect money. The more time you have the better because classmates can save the date if they have enough notice.
If you have questions or need more information, please contact Christina McCarthy at mccarthyc@setoncincinnati.org or at 513-471-2600 x2423. Let me know if there is anything that I may help you with. Enjoy your reunion!
