The reunion’s over … now what?

The food and drinks are gone, and the last streamer has been taken down off the wall. Just because everyone has returned to their regular lives, doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the camaraderie of the weekend. With your HighSchoolAlums.com class Web site, its easy to stay in touch.

After the reunion, encourage everyone to keep their profile updated with their latest contact information. Every few months, use the Reunion Coordinator functionality to send out a mass e-mail that keeps classmates updated on new things going on in each others’ lives. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a classmate every so often just to say “hey.” By keeping on constant contact, you don’t have to go through all of the “Hey, I haven’t seen you in forever” awkwardness at the next reunion. You can just concentrate on enjoying seeing one another again.

Try hard to keep the message board active. The more interaction classmates experience, the more often they’ll come back to it. Once it starts to slow down, people forget about it. Maybe even plan message board events, and see how many people participate.

If you didn’t set up a HighSchoolAlums.com class Web site, now’s still the perfect time to do so. With the good times fresh in their mind, you can pique their interest and get them to sign up for their free account.

As successful as this reunion was, if you can keep people active and engaged in the years that follow, it’s almost guaranteed that the next one will be even better.

When planning your class reunion, you should keep in mind that 30-40% of your classmates will be coming from out of town according to some estimates. If you keep in mind the potential need for hotel rooms when choosing your locations and events, you can save some serious headaches and hopefully improve the attendance and overall experience for your classmates and their families.

Ideally, when looking at potential dates for your reunion, you’ll do a little research to see if there are any other major events going on during the same time frame. If, for example, there is a big business conference in town, hotel rooms could be scarce.

The best way to ensure a place to stay for your classmates is to reserve blocks of hotel rooms. It is common for a hotel to require a minimum of 10 rooms to be reserved, but you can often get a special rate for your classmates by doing so. At some hotels, when you reserve the block of rooms, you will be given a cut-off date (usually several weeks before the event). Make sure that your classmates know that anyone who reserves before the cut-off date will get the special group rate, but after that date the rooms are no longer guaranteed.

Do your homework, and try to find hotels that are convenient to where your events are being held. At the same time, try and be sensitive to a variety of budgets by offering several different choices. You can compare rates, amenities and other relevant info online.

When you get down to your top-five choices, call and talk to a group sales representative. They can simplify the reservation process and answer you questions you may have about deposits, cancellation policies and more. They may even be able to sweeten the deal for you to get your business.

One last thing: We cannot underestimate the importance of early planning for hotels. The last thing you want is to wait until a month before the event to try and reserve rooms, and find out there is nothing available. That could be disastrous for your attendance, and make for some unhappy classmates.