How To Plan a High School Reunion During a Pandemic
For most of us, high school was one of the best times of our lives. Were you voted class clown or most likely to succeed?
It’s only natural that we lost touch with some of our closest classmates once we all left high school. It’s for this reason and many others that you might be wondering how to plan a high school reunion during a pandemic.
Below you’re going to find a comprehensive guide that helps you put together a reunion that no one will forget. Get out your event planning handbook because it’s time to throw a zoom reunion and boogie the night away.
Contact the Alumni Association
The reason you’re going to want to contact your alumni association is that they will have the funds and resources you need to pull off event planning during COVD-19. The association will have an updated list of all your classmates and ways to contact them since leaving high school, making it easier for you to send out invitations to the event.
Connecting with your alumni association is also beneficial if you want to send trinkets to the alumni because they could provide the funding that allows you to do so.
Choose a Platform
Since the beginning of the pandemic, several streaming platforms have been born with services that allow people to hold mass group meetings. Choose a platform that is easy to use and can support the number of reunion guests you intend to have.
It’s best if you choose a platform that guests are already familiar with. It reduces the likelihood that they will run into issues the day of the event and not attend.
If you plan to host your event in-person, you’ll want to find a place that can accommodate your event while still adhering to pandemic safety guidelines.
Have a Schedule
It’s easier to go with the flow when you’re hosting an in-person event, but with a virtual reunion, the last thing you want to do is be left staring at a screen with nothing to do. Before the event, sit down a create a schedule that the meeting will follow.
When you send out the invitations, it might prove useful to send out a screenshot of the schedule so that people are prepared ahead of time. Your schedule should include the activities for the event as well as feature different guest speakers.
To ensure that the schedule runs according to plan, you will still need to have someone emceeing the virtual reunion.
Plan Event Activities
If you’re not sure what type of activities you can play during a virtual event, there’s no need to worry. The first thing you should do is play some type of icebreaker activity.
After all, you’ve not seen or spoken to several of your classmates in years. Your icebreaker game should help everyone put a name to a face because people’s appearances may change and have the person speaking state something about themselves like their career or whether they have children.
Since this is a high school reunion, another fun activity to try is re-voting on class superlatives. It will be fun to see who gets voted most likely to succeed and most athletic this time around.
If all else fails, you can check online to see what other organizations have done to pull off events seamlessly since the beginning of the pandemic.
Rethink Your Chair Positions
Most high schools have a group of people that will work together to pull off a night that will go down in history. However, because we are still dealing with a pandemic, the typical way of doing things and the responsibilities for each chairperson will differ.
It’s for this reason that we recommend you rethink the roles of each chairperson. You don’t have to get rid of the positions, but it’s helpful to delegate new tasks for each person to take on.
Plan For Speakers
You don’t want the whole night to be filled with people speaking, but it’s still useful to plan for a couple of speakers throughout the event. People that give speeches should be teachers that you and your classmates had or perhaps your class president.
Ask each speaker to keep things short so that you don’t lose the attention of your guests.
Create a Photo Slideshow
What’s a class reunion without a blast from the past captured in photo form/ Relive the memories of the halls you used to walk and the sporting events you and your classmates used to attend by putting together a slideshow.
The best way to do this is to contact the head of your yearbook committee and inquire about whether they kept photos from your graduation year. It’s not uncommon for there to be several photo archives from previous school years.
Sit down and look through the photos choosing ones that make you laugh and others that showcase wonderful moments. Photos are a great way to start conversations between each other and keep the event going.
Now You Know How to Plan a High School Reunion
Are you still wondering how to plan a high school reunion? Take the time to contact your alumni association and ask them for the latest contact information for your former teachers and classmates.
You’re also going to want to find a place to host your event. Are you still searching for the perfect venue for your class reunion?
Stop looking now and contact Midlothian Conference Center. We have the space you need to pull off a successful reunion and keep everyone safe at the same time.