Level of difficulty: Basic (Each event is basic, but  coordinating many is intermediate.)
Cost to attend: none (At museum, there was a low cost pay your own lunch at cafeteria.)
Award Winner: 2019

Project:  Class leadership invited classmates to host parties in their homes across the country for other classmates in their area. Class leadership then helped coordinate 9 get-togethers, one of which was a museum tour. The Class (1985) branded the events “Preunions” to build attendance for its upcoming on-campus reunion in 2020.

Lead time: Varied. The DC Smithsonian tour took six months of planning. NYC catered event the same. Others four months. Biggest mistake is not allowing enough time to promote an event .
Date of event: All through 2019 (April through November): San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Washington DC, Boston, Seattle, Beverly Hills, Hudson Valley
Ongoing: two of the four years between reunions

Resources:
The two class officers engaged a “Preunion” leader. Class leadership conceived of the multiple get-together idea then delegated to local classmates to run the events. But Class leadership continued to handle invitations and promotions.

At the Brooklyn event, eight of the ’85 Whiffenpoofs pulled together a performance.

Permissions required: One classmate (Prof. Steven Nelson), had a connection at the Smithsonian to obtain a group reservation.

Funds required: Varied by event. Most events were funded by the host and/or participants paid for their own food in a restaurant or cafeteria. Anonymous donors funded the NYC event to about $3K to cover catering for 85 in a private home. The National Museum of African American History and Culture was particularly turnkey. Free admission, free tour guide, GREAT food in the spacious cafeteria at moderate prices self-paid by participants.

Results:  9 events with total of 257 attendees, attendance per event ranged from 6 to 87.

Why a success? More classmate engagement. This was the first year that the Class of 1985 made a concerted effort to expand its already robust non-reunion-year gatherings to geographies outside New York and Los Angeles. Without a lot of infrastructure and cost, they were able to set a tone, inspire widespread participation in 10 cities, and delegate action through outreach and ability to support classmates on Eventbrite. Brian Hammerstein ‘85 coined the term “Preunion” to describe the gatherings, which met with broad adoption among hosts, placing events under a single cohesive brand that drove attendance. Brian also drove the Eventbrite marketing.

Details: With the Class handling invitations and promotions, the Class found at least one classmate in every major city outside of New York City who agreed to open his or her home and cover the cost of a reception. Due to the sheer numbers of classmates in New York City, they instead identified one classmate with a large space, then recruited generous classmates to cover the cost of catering. The DC event was at a museum (VIP tour of the National African Museum of History and Culture, including commentary by Prof. Steven Nelson ’85, with a post tour pay-for-your-own lunch at the museum cafeteria). None of the events had an admission charge.

Eventbrite was key: Since all the events had no admission charge, they could use the free tier of Eventbrite to manage events and share administration with hosts and class officers. They used geographic targeting by zip code and Eventbrite’s emailing feature. Eventbrite invitations had excellent deliverability from the Class email list, relieving the need to rely on the YAA for emailing.

The multiple gathering format is replicable: The Class believes that most classes can use the “Preunion” theme alongside the Class “Birthday” theme to organize events in two of the four years between Reunions.

Lesson: If you can’t get a classmate to reunion, get a reunion to the classmate. Even some who don’t go to reunions came.