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eunions are neither planned check back and make sure the persons PO Box 11727 overnight nor in a day. If your goal is responsible for various chores/steps/projects/ Milwaukee WI 53211-0727 to have the best, most memorable tasks are doing what they’ve promised. reunion ever, planning is essential. A Nothing will be more disheartening than to call 414-263-4567 successful reunion requires good think someone is getting something done visit www.reunionsmag.com leadership. Careful planning and only to discover they’ve not done a thing by e-mail editor@reunionsmag.com committed leadership cannot be the deadline and there’s little you can do emphasized enough. No one can tell about it. A couple years ago, I learned about you that better than someone who did not plan early or take a reunion where no one checked on the person who was all the details seriously. We learned that from planners who supposed to be making hotel arrangements. He’d not made admitted they thought a couple of months was enough to plan even one call. End of reunion! It was cancelled because it was all they’d envisioned, only to realize that many details had too late to get everything they wanted. been overlooked, ignored or simply not realized in time. The first rule of reunion planning, therefore, is to give yourself enough time. First time reunions may take one to two years before they actually happen. So many details … lots to think about … lots of questions to answer … so many people to contact and hear back from … so many opinions and ideas to take into consideration … so much more planning than you can even imagine! Long standing reunions, of course, have many traditions that are already in place and can happen every year or every few years without a hitch.
Getting started … If your reunion is a Sunday afternoon potluck picnic in a park, it may take only one or a couple people to plan. But reunions that have evolved over decades are events that even convention and visitors/tourism bureaus (CVB) are interested in investing time and effort in. Contacting the CVB, whether in a distant city or your own home town, is a very wise early step to determine what they are able to help with. Most of their services are free and well worth taking advantage of, no matter what stage of planning you’re at, though the earlier the better. An essential step in planning any reunion is to not plan alone. Reunion planning should be a team effort. This adds to the enthusiasm and commitment of the reunion. Listen to everyone’s ideas. Many reunions are planned by committees (often more than one) who volunteer to take care of one or more details. That way, no one person is saddled with all the work necessary to stage a successful reunion. There should, however, be one person who oversees all the committees to make sure planning is moving along and on time for a successful reunion. An important responsibility of the chairperson or leader will be to check with others regularly to make sure everyone is on track. Ask persons in charge of parts of the reunion to report progress regularly. Delegation is a wise approach to getting details accomplished. When delegating, make sure each volunteer understands the purpose and your expectation of the task. If necessary, write instructions, read them together, then ask questions to make sure the job is understood. Once delegated, it’s important to 4 REUNIONS v www.reunionsmag.com
The Seidemann Family Reunion is nearing 90 years old, but nonetheless, a large committee meets to review details and progress each year. The annual reunion is on a farm near Newburg, Wisconsin.
Now with the advent of ZOOM meetings, committee members do not all have to be in one place, but can perform their duties from anywhere and report regularly. Though that would not have suited one committee man who reported that he looked forward to committee meetings because “the food was always so good!” A good place to start is Reunions magazine’s online timetable: www.reunionsmag.com/reunion-timetable/. It starts at the very beginning from when you get the idea to plan a reunion and goes through many steps, some of which may not pertain to what you are planning, but that you might want to consider. The timetable goes all the way to an important final step to evaluate the event and learn what was great and what could be improved. We’ve annotated and linked the timetable online with podcasts and articles to explain the steps and give you ideas about how to do them. While you may not need to do everything, there are many things all reunions have in common. Consider starting with the interest members have in having/coming to a reunion. continued on page 6
