Now that you are one year out from Reunion, you’ll want to begin to market Reunion on your class website and social media page. Add the Reunion dates to your class pages and get classmates excited. Consider hosting pre-Reunion events.
In addition, you’ll want to define and recruit both Reunion committee members and campaign committee members. Along with Reunion chairs and registration chairs, will you want committee members to help with social media? Be greeters during Reunion weekend? Help plan a special forum or event for your class?
In the fall of year 4, Alumni Affairs sends out a pre-Reunion survey to your classmates. We provide a copy of the results prior to the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference (CALC), and it is important to carefully review to get a sense of what your classmates are hoping for or expecting when they return next year. Information from this survey can inform decisions about caterers, souvenirs, and class specific events.
It is also important for Reunion chairs to attend the Reunion of their sister class (the class one year older) in Year 4. We encourage chairs to attend class events, check out spaces on campus, taste food from local caterers, and begin to visualize what you will do to make your Reunion special. Talk with your sister class about registering with their group.
Develop your succession plans and the class officer nominations process. Appoint a nominations chair and begin to recruit committee members. Discuss with current officers their plans to stay in their current role, change to a new role, or roll off, and decide how you will recruit new volunteers. Focus on diversifying your officer base. The nominations chair should not have any intentions of holding an executive class officer role. Some classes use more formal structures such as surveys and CUVolunteer, while others reach out via email, phone, or social media to put out a broader call to all classmates.
Additional Responsibilities
- Recruit Reunion and campaign committees
- Establish an affinity committee and develop an affinity networking plan
- Review results of pre-Reunion survey and decide how best to effectively use the data
- Review your class constitution and by-laws to determine any term limits
- Continue efforts to locate classmates on bad address in advance of Reunion communications