How to organise a reunion
With our help you will find your reunion much easier to organise. We won’t organise the event for you however – that’s all part of the fun!
Getting started
To ease the workload, get a small organising group together to help you. Speak to your group and work out the most suitable date for your reunion. Some graduates may have to travel long distances to attend so it is best to start planning at least 12 months before the reunion. There are a number of questions to consider at this stage:
- Who you want to invite? It is a particular year group, course, club or society?
- What sort of event do you want?
- Do you want to invite partners?
- Do you want to hold the event at Queen’s
How we can help
Once you have decided who you wish to invite we can help you to get in touch with people by putting out a notice by mail to your group. It is useful to send out an initial letter to the group to gauge the level of interest for the reunion and what preferences there are towards location and the type of event. When you have made all the arrangements a second letter should be sent out informing the group of the final programme and requesting payment - we will also undertake this mailing for you if you wish. There is no charge for this service.
If you want to hold your event at Queen’s we can assist with room bookings and we are happy to arrange a meeting with the Catering Manager to discuss your requirements for the event.
Budgeting
Draw up an outline budget to determine the anticipated cost of the reunion, and to enable you to calculate the ticket price per head. It is also best to open a dedicated reunion bank account, with at least two signatories.
Publicising the Reunion
We can help publicise your reunion by posting the details on our website. If you wish we can also include a notification in our e-bulletins and in the alumni magazine, The Graduate.
Make a Class Gift
As you may be aware, more and more reunion groups are choosing to make a class gift to the Annual Fund. This is a special way of marking the anniversary of your class’s graduation. The money raised is used to fund scholarships, provide extra resources for student societies and clubs, and projects of urgent need throughout the University. Please consider encouraging each of your classmates to make a personal donation to the Annual Fund, and to sign a Gift Aid Declaration. Gift Aid enables us to top up the value of donations by nearly a third at no extra cost to the donor, simply by reclaiming tax already paid to the Inland Revenue in the UK. All donors receive individual acknowledgement for their gift.
Feedback
It would be great to hear how the event went. If you send us a short report and some photos we will try to feature them on our website or in our publications.
Also, if you discover any graduates whose address details are incorrect we would be very grateful if you could let us know. This information would be extremely useful as we are constantly trying to update the alumni database. We do not disclose contact details to any third parties.
For further information on organising reunions at Queen's please email Adele McMahon or telephone 028 9097 5289
