Virtual Mini-Reunions

Event Organizer’s How-to Guide and Detailed Timeline

Holding a virtual class mini-reunion is a great way to connect classmates across geography and time zones without the worries of cost, health, or travel. During the pandemic, virtual programming was one of the only ways classmates could connect with one another by “seeing” each other face-to-face, and demand for this connection increased tremendously. Events morphed from being purely social, i.e., virtual happy hours, to include more educational offerings, such as panels of alums and/or faculty discussing relevant topics of the times. Even post-pandemic, the desire to connect virtually remains strong.

Virtual mini-reunions can be planned just for fun and purely social reasons, but many find they are more rewarding when focused around a Vassar program, a specific and relevant topic, or celebrating alums and/or faculty in their fields of study. Note: If you would like to involve Vassar faculty or alum experts in a particular field in your program, be sure to let Engagement staff partners know, and they will help you with options.

Before planning a virtual mini-reunion in detail, be creative and consider the purpose of gathering your classmates. Why do you want to bring classmates together at this specific time? What outcome do you hope to achieve, i.e., encouraging classmates to participate in Generation Vassar, showcasing classmates’ talents, and/or building interest and enthusiasm for Reunion? Once you define a purpose for your event, you are ready to begin planning!

Below is a list to help you think through the planning items as you prepare for your virtual mini-reunion. Before finalizing your plans, please contact the Engagement staff partners listed below with any questions:

Jolee DuBois, Associate Director for Volunteer Engagement: jdubois@vassar.edu
Katherine Cerino-Jones, Office Specialist for Engagement: kcerinojones@vassar.edu
Amanda Tyrrell, Assistant Director for Volunteer Engagement: atyrrell@vassar.edu
Tobias Devor, Office Specialist for Engagement: tdevor@vassar.edu

For your convenience, here is a handy Zoom guide for planning and executing your virtual class events.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Engagement staff partners are unable to support virtual or in-person mini-reunion programming during April-June due to their concentrated involvement in Reunion planning and execution.

8 weeks before the event (or more)

Determine plans for the event:

Confirm the event description including the purpose of the event and the outcome you hope to achieve, i.e., encouraging classmates to participate in Generation Vassar, showcasing classmates’ talents, and/or building interest and enthusiasm for Reunion. There are many more possibilities; we encourage you to be creative and deliberate in your approach, as this will help with your planning and the achievement of your event’s ultimate goal of increased class engagement.
Confirm the event date(s) and time(s) after reviewing the calendar for key participants, the College, and the community, and check for major holidays, religious, cultural, or legal observances.
Identify the point person(s) for the event. If necessary, establish a committee and/or key players for the planning process, and set the planning meeting frequency and times.
It is strongly recommended to have at least one person on your committee who is comfortable with Zoom functionality present during the event, so they can run the technical end of the Zoom (i.e., breakout rooms, screen sharing, etc.). If the Zoom event is scheduled during regular business hours, Engagement staff partners may be available to start the Zoom meeting and transfer hosting capability to the class point person, and then will leave the meeting to the class committee to run.

6-8 weeks prior to the event

Determine invitee list, i.e., all classmates, other classes, etc.
Work with Engagement staff partners to send an email broadcast to the invitee list as an event announcement, along with online event registration. Engagement staff partners may also schedule one follow-up reminder email, if necessary, based upon review of registration, i.e., if registration numbers are less than expected. If deemed necessary, best practice is to schedule the reminder two days prior to the event.

4-6 weeks prior to the event

The College will send the email broadcast and open registration.
Provide your class Social Media Coordinator with details about the event and the registration link so they can advertise it on the class social media. (Engagement staff partners will provide you with the short URL for registration.)
Market the event yourself by contacting fellow alums on your own via phone, email, or your social media with an online registration link and details. (Once the Best Practices Notice for Volunteers has been reviewed by the volunteer, Engagement staff partners can supply a class contact list to the volunteer for this purpose.)

1 week prior to the event

If necessary, based on a review of registration 2-3 weeks prior to the event (i.e., if registration numbers are lower than expected), the College will send a reminder email to the invitee list two days before the event.
Optional: You may set up a rehearsal session with your Engagement staff partner(s) to review the event’s show flow and practice the Zoom functionality needed (e.g., breakout rooms, screen sharing) so that you are comfortable using Zoom on your own. Here is a handy Zoom guide that provides invaluable information on Zoom functionality, enabling class committees to run their own programming.

Day of the event

Engagement staff partners will send an email confirmation to the registration list, reminding registrants of the event date and time and providing the Zoom information needed to join the meeting.
If the Zoom event is scheduled during regular business hours, meet with the Engagement staff partner on Zoom 10 minutes before the event begins to go over any last-minute details or questions. The Engagement Staff partner will open the waiting room at the event’s designated start time, transfer hosting capabilities to the class point person, and then leave the meeting.
The class point person is now the host and can use Zoom features, including assigning co-hosts to help with the platform.
If the Zoom event is not scheduled during regular business hours, Engagement staff partners can meet with a volunteer(s) during office hours to train them to run the Zoom on their own.

1-7 days after the event

Supply class officers and Engagement staff partners with the list of attendees and feedback on the event.
Ask the Social Media Coordinator to report the event on the class social media, including pictures if available.
Send “thank you” note(s) to the presenter(s), etc., as appropriate, and an email to participants thanking them for attending. (Once the Best Practices Notice for Volunteers has been reviewed by the volunteer, Engagement staff partners can send the list of registrants’ email addresses to the volunteer; or can send the email to the registrant list on the volunteer’s behalf if not.)