Suggestions for activites

Suggestions for Class Activities

Kinds of events

A number of different types of events were suggested:

• “Underground” tour;
• Harvard groups touring events (Glee Club, Pudding);
• Pot luck at a classmates home;
• Centered around book signings or other events related to classmates achievements
• Drinks after sports/music events on campus
• Raffle of books by classmates (free tickets for attendees)
• Mini reunion in Puerto Rico
• Piggy back on other events
  • Harvard/Yale game
  • Pudding
  • Pops (with 25th class)
  • Return to Harvard Day
  • Arts First
  • Sports events- hockey, basketball, etc

Locations

• HAA Lounge/conference rooms
• Restaurants (private room, or public area)
• Harvard clubs
• Faculty club
• Theatre room at the Faculty club (cheaper than private room)
• Hilles penthouse
• Queens Head Pub

Location difficulties

• Many locations require a room charge, including Harvard locations
• Many require advance deposits
• Harvard clubs not open to non-members

Communication

• Set up a committee that meets at the reunion and plans for events for the coming years;
• HAA Events
• Postcards
• Email
• Add Yo Yo Ma to your class
• Send out one attention-getting mailing to inspire classmates and get email addresses, for example, enclose a CD, book or umbrella
• System to call classmates
• Web-sites
• Wiki

Communication difficulties

• High cost of mailings
• Classes who do not use email widely
• Classes don’t have direct access of email lists, and HAA staff time restrictions at reunion times
• Web-sites difficult to create and maintain

Finance

• Plan Free events
• Get a class budget established at your reunion (’78 does this and allocates $ for start-up costs). This is also a good time to get a list of volunteers. Enthusiasm is high at that point.
• Informal lunches
• Find a classmate with deep pockets
• Establish a class bank account which can be used for up-front deposits. This fund can be generated by a sponsoring classmate, raffle, classmate art or books, silent auction, or surplus from events.

Finance Difficulties

• Private rooms at restaurants require a deposit or a credit card;
• Some events require upfront dollars;
• Setting up a class bank account- what tax id number? Legal costs.
• Gaining non-profit status for the bank account.
• Who has access? Class government issues.

Tools

• Access to email lists
• Info on how to send a questionnaire
• HAA lists sorted by geographical locations; also by occupation

Notes

Return to main Class Activity Chair page