If your reunion is this year, January is a great time to prepare yourself for looking and feeling your best for your event.  It is important to most of us to make a good impression with our alumni and friends at reunions no matter how many years it has been.   In fact, getting ready for a reunion is a great opportunity and an excellent excuse to improve upon your personal health goals. Check this list and make some targeted selections.  Then choose the realistic options and get started.

In the next few articles, we will be discussing basic reunion planning questions for catering managers, CVB directors, and program directors for hotels, banquet halls and other large event locations.  We will have interviews with various catering managers on the appropriate topics and need to know information for amateur reunion planners.  

Non-professionals who plan their own reunions should make an informed decision when selecting the right location for a reunion.  The place needs to be large enough to handle the expected turnout and yet enticing enough to encourage attendance.  We want our reunions to be well attended, lots of fun and financially successful.  Let's begin with some key questions for the catering / event manager.

I think this question is probably considered by every high school graduate in America at some point in their lives. Since all rights of passage are memorable for a range of reasons, whether or not to attend one's high school reunion is probably on the same level as other high anxiety-prone occasions that produce sweaty palms and hyper ventilation. The creative thinker would change the question to a statement, "Why I would never miss my high school reunion."

To Go or Not to Go?  It is always interesting to see how people have changed, stayed the same, moved on, stayed put, are friendly, still stuck-up, or are generally happy or struggle with their lives.  We find it fascinating and yet it may be difficult if you learn that former classmates, family members or military buddies are facing their own personal troubles.  But, ultimately, everyone comes together not knowing what to expect, yet wanting to catch up and enjoy the ambiance our youth for a few hours.

Reunions give us these moments in time to experience. We get to revisit and reunite with friends and family we otherwise may not have the opportunity or ability to see. More often than not, we don't get such chances to connect with old friends and family, unless such events are formally planned by others or happen inadvertently or spontaneously.

Mother's Day is an important celebration in this country. It gives us a special moment to thank and appreciate our moms. Yes, the flower industry, the restaurants and phone companies all do extremely well on this Sunday, as is the custom. But, I would like to offer a suggestion to encourage you do something quite different in appreciating your special lady.

First off, since this is a day to be attentive to someone else, ask your mom, wife, grandmother or other significant mom in your life about what she would like to do or what would make her happy on this special Sunday.

You may be surprised and relieved that an alternative plan will work much better than waiting a long time for restaurant prepared food that won't be great because they are so rushed and crowded. Since this is the most popular day of the year for the floral industry, pick another day to give your mom beautiful flowers. They will very likely be fresher and prettier and she'll appreciate them more.

T-shirts are the epitome of communication. They are used for just about everything you can think of without uttering a word. It is a subliminal suggestion to everyone you come into contact with as you move through life. You can be announcing your goals, feelings and passions or wear them to advertise, represent or identify just about anything you want to communicate in a bold yet unobtrusive way. Custom-designed shirts are visual advertising at their best: subtle but prominent, hidden yet direct, personal as well as commercial.

We have a love affair with t-shirts. They are our identity and we wear them with pride. We purchase them for fundraisers, charities, businesses and schools or in our case, reunions. I ordered custom designed t-shirts for my 25^th class reunion. Our high school logo was on the front and the year we graduated appeared on the back which included all 500 classmates names listed alphabetically inside the last two digits of our year. They sold well at the reunion and mine still remains a special keepsake.

Do you get sweaty palms when that day arrives every 10 years or so? You hold the announcement of your high school reunion in your hands and visions of teenager doom flash before your eyes. Is the first impulse to toss it into the trash or put it aside to think about it later? Are you getting palpitations thinking about having to lose those extra pounds before even thinking about responding? Do you start thinking about how unpopular, too shy or inept you felt?

For most of us, high school wasn't about learning algebra or doing homework, it was figuring out who we were, if we could fit in or feel competent at anything. It was more about polishing social skills and less about pursuing intellectual prowess. We probably just wanted to be popular, wear the right clothes or determine how to fit in.

Well, the reunion was over. I think it was a success. I was too close to the situation to really get the feel of success or so-so success. There were a lot of compliments so I shall take that as a good sign.

This is how it played out. Friday Aug. 9th everyone gathered in San Diego they came by plane and by auto, the farthest from Boston (my daughter and her boyfriend). There were a few who lived in San Diego where the reunion was held. I have to commend the hotel, the Shelter Pointe Hotel on Shelter Island. Over all, they did a good job of keeping our family members happy. The only hitch was the late check-in that occurred on Friday. We all had to wait around for our rooms to be cleaned until about 4:30 p.m. It wasn't entirely their fault, evidently one of their cleaning ladies fell ill on the job and they had to take her away by ambulance and that threw everyone into a dither. When I complained they gave us coupons for free drinks at their bar. Initially, as I explained, in my last report, the hotel prices that we negotiated were not as low as the Orbitz prices on the Internet. Other than those two problems the hotel was superb.

Planning My First Family Reunion

I know first-hand what planning a family reunion is all about. There are many personal issues that come up that I didn't expect.  I would like to share some of my joys and frustrations so that others may benefit when planning their own family reunion.

By Holding It At A Unique Location!

Train stations, castles, music centers, theaters, churches, ballrooms, country clubs, parks all hold promise as unique venues for your reunion, be it class, family, or military. We will take you from time to time, in this column, city to city describing each metropolis's distinctive locations.

You will find all of these and more at The Los Angeles Conservancy website that are interesting, beautiful, historic, and functional sites.

As examples they list:

The Naval Academy Class of 1954 held its 54th Reunion June 8th-11th 2008 in Annapolis, Maryland, with more than 400 graduates, spouses and widows attending. The activities started with a Luau complete with Hawaiian food, music and hula dancers.

A class meeting, a briefing by the Naval Academy Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen, Yard Patrol craft cruises on the Severn River, and a virtual tour of the Academy, pointing out the many changes since the class of 54 graduated, highlighted the next day. In the evening, we had an elegant dinner-dance in the Navy football stadium varsity dining room with our company mates with whom we were assigned as Midshipmen.

A Remembrance to Classmates
"Gone, But Not Forgotten"

It is always a challenge to determine how best to remember and memorialize our classmates who are no longer with us.

One compassionate way is to put a Memorial Poster on display at your reunion with names and yearbook pictures of those classmates who have died. This is a sample Memorial Poster for sale on our website which can be customized to your school's specifications.

School bells are chiming, the leaves are falling and summer vacations are now warm, fuzzy memories. Soon, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the December holidays will be upon us before you can say, Happy New Year!

Begin planning that reunion you have been thinking about all summer. Be it class, family or another group wanting to reunite, let's make the most of your early planning opportunities. Our book and software The Reunion Planner, How to Make Your Reunion a Social and Financial Success will help you through the planning process. To get you started, we have outlined some basic steps and listed the page number that has all the details as described in the book.

As class reunion season draws to a close around Thanksgiving, the holiday season takes over. Then it's the family phase. Time to celebrate, decorate and anticipate family gatherings. More on that next month.

But, before we talk about the holidays, it's especially important to complete the "After the Reunion tasks" while the reunion glow is still ablaze. It will keep the kindle shining even longer. The organizers can relax for a few weeks and enjoy the exhilarating after affects of thanks, pats-on-the-back and appreciation for your efforts.

The Aftermath tasks can be summarized in three parts, 1) organize, 2) be gracious and 3) think smart. In her book, "The Reunion Planner, How to Make Your Reunion a Social and Financial Success," Linda Hoffman outlines what needs to be done:

                   10 Tips for a Classic

                                              Reunion

It's Springtime! Every reunion should be a metaphor for this season. No matter what the time of year, class or anniversary that is being celebrated, reunion planners should make sure that reunions are fresh, bright and cheery. In fact, a few more adjectives come to mind including: exciting, different and upbeat. Therefore, in following this design, I can't help but spring forth with a few new tips. Ideas, to be sure, that will help make your reunion the event not to be missed!

17 Tips For A Family Reunion On St. Patrick's Day!

I think the luck of the Irish comes from having big families. Big families may spread out to far and wide locations. So, reunions are just the thing to keep everyone together, at least occasionally, if only to stay connected. But whatever the intervals between family gatherings, make your reunion fantastic and keep everyone clamoring for more!