Plan a Reunion!

Interested in organizing a UB Reunion?

 

So you have an interest to organize a get-together with your UB friends, some of whom you haven’t seen or talked to in quite some time?  Great!  How do you find out where they are living now?  How do you get in touch with them?   When and where do you hold the reunion?  What kinds of events and activities should be planned?  How do you make sure that there is a good turn out?  How do you begin and what do you need to do?

These are frequently asked questions of individuals and groups who are interested in organizing a UB reunion.   This web site has been shaped to answer some of these questions and provide a path for reunion organizers like you to follow.

What is a UB reunion?

A UB reunion happens when UB friends comes together after having been separated for some time.  Reunions might involve your classmates, people who lived with you in a residence hall or dorm, played a sport with you, belonged to the same club or society or simply might be a group of UB friends who have no other connection than just being your friends while at the University.

Like many UB reunions, your gathering might take place on the UB campuses, but it might also occur at a southern resort, at a restaurant or at someone’s home.  While being back at campus can add an important dimension to a reunion, it is important to remember that UB reunions can occur anywhere and at any time, and with any number of people, great or few.

What does it take to organize a successful reunion?

A successful reunion happens when the attendees leave the reunion with a positive feeling about the experience.  Participants get to see friends, professors, etc., and recall fond memories together.  A good turnout happens and people get to see who they really want to see.  There is nothing worse than coming to a reunion and either very few or none of your friends are there.

1. Recruit others to help.  The most important ingredient to a successful reunion is a dedicated group of volunteers who are prepared to do what it takes to organize the activities, and to encourage their friends to make the decision to attend. While the alumni office will lend a hand, the reunion will only be successful if you and your fellow volunteers put in the effort. The first task, then, is to recruit others to help you with your reunion. 
   
2. Plan the reunion with these friends.  Having a committee will help to spread out the responsibilities and tasks, and help in making the major decisions, which will include:  deciding on a format; dates, times and venues; budget and the overall timeline and tasks. 
   
3. Make sure people attend.  This is one of the most important tasks.  Quite often, this effort includes a personal approach to potential reunion goers. Telephone calls, personal letters and/or emails are the most effective forms of marketing.  And everyone on the committee can help!

 

Can the Alumni Office help?

Yes!  Once you have decided to organize a reunion, the Office of Alumni Relations is ready to help you with your reunion planning.  We have staff that will work with you and your volunteers to make sure your reunion experience is as successful as it can be. 

Here are ways we can help:

Find your friends.  The Alumni Office has a data base of over 197,000 UB alumni living all over the world. In most cases, we are able to track down your friends.  In addition, did you know that you can look up your friends too through UB Connect, the online community exclusively for alumni?  Be sure to check out your directory profile too, to ensure it is up to date. 

Market your reunion to your friends.  The Alumni Relations Office would be happy to assist you in generating your email and/or mailer and sending out to your group. Our experience tells us that the personal touch is important in getting good reunion turnouts. We can work with you to develop an effective marketing plan. We are able to provide you with a list of your group. (Organizers must accept the terms of our Privacy Policy.) We can also send your mailing and email to your friends (postage can be incorporated into overall budget, so there is no out of pocket expense).  In addition, we can publicize your reunion on our website, in our alumni magazine, UB Today (if timing permits) and on the UB Calendar.  You may also want to include a list of 'lost' classmates whom there has been no contact from. (Just keep us posted of any alumni address changes for our database).

 Advisory Services/Contact Information -- Provide you with leads, phone numbers, contact info to assist you in making your necessary reunion arrangements

Advise on what activities you should plan. Based on our years of working with reunion organizers, we are able to provide you with helpful suggestions for reunion activities that will make your reunion work for you.

On-Campus facilities arrangement. If your reunion is being organized on the UB campus or campuses, we can assist with the booking of facilities and will put you in touch with UB's various service providers (food, audio-visual, etc.) and help to coordinate your on campus needs.

Handle Reservations.  Through our online registration system, we can handle the RSVP's, keep you posted on who is coming and collect the monies if desired (subject to UB transaction fee).
Should you decide that you would prefer that the Office of Alumni Relations collects the monies, we can also use those monies to pay the reunion bills directly for you as well.

How about financial assistance? The Office of Alumni Relations and the UB Alumni Association have limited resources to assist with the organizing of alumni reunions. In most cases, organizers are expected to recover expenses from participants through ticket sales, registration fees, donations, etc. The Association may be able to contribute financially to reunions, but in a very limited way and on a case-by-case negotiated basis.

Is there anything else? 

Yes!  Upon request, we will:
•    provide nametags for event
•    post photos on Alumni website
•    Track who attended the reunion
•    Continually update alumni records in our database and keep your reunion list up-to-date for future communications and reunions

Where do I begin?

Contact Patty Starr at 1-800-284-5382 to get started.

Office of Alumni Relations
103 Center for Tomorrow
North (Amherst Campus)
http://www.alumni.buffalo.edu/