Secrets to a More Successful Reunion

Reunion planning is a big deal. We know your goals are always to boost attendance and get more participation in fundraising events. What if we told you that we can help you achieve all of those goals and more? Read our ultimate guide to find out!

‍Boost Reunion Ticket Sales & Attendance

Rather than do all of the promotion work yourself, use the power of social sharing to make your invite go viral. Just having the option to share the event socially leads to more people visiting the event page. And with more people visiting based on social shares from their friends, the more likely you'll see an increase in ticket sales too.
Use a platform that has high visibility and social connections to turn it into a campaign to get friends to go together. Offer discounts for bulk or group ticket purchases to also make it financially worth their while. This not only creates an engaging online gathering hub for these friends on the event page, but it also leads to more ticket sales and a better time for everyone as many friend groups and peers show up to have fun together!
Although it may be tempting to send out 10 amazing emails reminding everyone to come to the reunion, you need to achieve a balance with touch points. Throw some variety into the mix with a mailed postcard or a great social post with a picture from last year's event. Just make sure to keep the content relevant and compelling for your audience.
Use segmentation to reach out to different groups of people with uniquely compelling messages. The way you get millennials to attend a reunion should be different from the way you address the 50-year crowd. Think about it.

Have More Reunion Activities

Have your alumni take charge of some of the planning - use your class leaders to outline, budget, and execute reunion weekend events for their class year or group (you can easily coordinate/communicate with them online). By enabling them to help with the event, not only does it strengthen the relationship between class officers and your institution, it also allows them to have the freedom to survey and collaborate with a group to plan a weekend that appeals to them. It's okay - we know you don't get why the 5-year reunion crowd wants it to feel like the freshman year dance all over again - we don't either. Empower them to make the most of it!
Create games and plan other participatory events on visible online platforms, through email, and on social media. Reach out to the segments who can provide great content, such as extracurricular activity groups, sports teams, musical ensembles, and class leaders. Some great examples of campaigns like this include asking alumni to post their favorite memory from their time at school, asking them to send in a great picture from a prior reunion, or launching a poll asking questions like "what was your favorite dining hall on campus?" Nostalgia is a great way to get people to connect and engage, and when you put the power in their hands to contribute and help reach out to friends through sharing, it benefits everybody.

Raise More Money when Fundraising

Use crowdfunding to gain the competitive edge - make it a competition between the class years to see who can donate the most and hit their goals. Essentially, you can gamify this process by awarding prizes for different feats, e.g. the class with the highest total participation receives a pizza party the following year.
By providing your alumni with value, you can increase their donations. Most people think the value starts and ends with the event itself, but in truth, you can provide that piece way before the first email is sent out. Through careful planning, great online capabilities, and well-executed engagement, you can provide an online community of peers; a social and professional network; and a messaging, communication, and sharing platform that culminates in a fantastic in-person reunion experience that keeps on going, even after campus event is over.
Remember, "Empowered Networks Give Back." When the process of purchasing a ticket is easy, fun and engaging and content has been sent to segmented groups leading up to it, alumni will begin to have awesome online conversations with people they will finally get to see. As a result, these re-connected, re-engaged alumni are much more likely to donate and donate in larger numbers. You can augment this effect by simplifying the donation process with easy online giving options, including promoting the fundraiser on the events page and providing donation links in email communications.

If you think that’s a lot of work, well...it is. Thankfully, we have the all-in-one tool and award-winning support that makes it easy for you. Learn more about how 360Alumni helps "Empowered Networks Give Back" by Requesting a Demo today. And don't forget to share your amazing tips by leaving a comment below!

Get Your Members Looking Forward to Attending Events

Resources

https://www.marketo.com/event-marketing/

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