Summary:
A how-to article for class reunion planners that introduces them to reunion planning and offers tips on creating a planning committee. Written by an author with firsthand knowledge of class reunion planning, this article also provides a sample agenda for the committees first meeting.

Details or Sample:
Let me just pause here to warn you that class reunion planning is not for the meek. It"s not for the weary. It"s time-consuming, and it"s aggravating at times. It took more than a year of researching how to plan a class reunion, locating classmates, convincing some stubborn classmates to attend and making preparations to pull off the event.

But it was worth it. You feel 16 again when you rediscover classmates you haven"t spoken to in years. And when the big event finally comes, it"s extremely satisfying to know that you helped bring everyone together again to relive some great memories and make new ones.

I consider our class reunion a success. About 70 classmates (plus their significant others) out of a class of 200 attended. That"s about 35 percent. From what I"ve read, a class reunion is successful if 40 percent of classmates attend. But I"m not sure how you can truly gauge the success of this kind of event by the numbers. What"s most important is that the people who participate have a fun and memorable time. We achieved that.

In this article, I"d like to share some of the knowledge and experience I gained while planning my class reunion. Let"s get started with the first steps you should take to plan your class reunion.

Recruit Help

While you must have a leader to coordinate the class reunion planning efforts and keep everything organized, one person simply can"t do everything. I was fortunate that I had kept in touch with a few terrific classmates who were eager to pitch in.
My initial goal was to get a classmate to volunteer for each aspect of the class reunion planning: classmate finding, decorations, promotions, door prizes, fund raising, music/entertainment, catering, etc. You didn"t think there was that much to a class reunion, did you? Yes, it"s similar to planning a wedding, except it"s harder. This is because, unless you want to pay for it all yourself, you have to ask your classmates to pay to attend. So you definitely need some help.

Don"t worry if you can"t get one person assigned to each of these areas. I ended up handling several of them myself, and I didn"t faint from exhaustion. But don"t try to do it all, either. Sometimes that can be easier than having to rely on others, but unless you want to end up resenting this class reunion, get at least two or three other people you can count on to coordinate areas that might not be your specialty.

Matching jobs with people"s talents or interests is always a good idea. People will work much harder doing something they enjoy, especially when they aren"t getting paid for it. And when they"re happy with their jobs, you"re less likely to see those jobs fall back into your lap.

Now, can you think of some reliable classmates who might fit the bill? Great. Send them e-mails, post comments on their MySpace pages or give them old-fashioned phone calls and ask them to join the class reunion planning committee. Then ask them to do a little research on the costs associated with their assigned areas, and find out when they can meet.

Hold a Planning Meeting

Getting class reunion planning committee members together in one place at one time might seem impossible, but it"s important to try to do so at least this once. You can get by with e-mails and phone calls during the rest of the class reunion planning, but I strongly recommend that this first meeting be face to face. You want everyone focused on the topic at hand, and you want to make some big decisions. If you try to do that via e-mail, you"ll never get anything accomplished.

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Written by: Amy Francisco
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