It’s been like what, 15-30 years of not seeing each other? A lot of things have happened since high school graduation, and surely everyone is excited to hear stories. Well even though the pandemic cancelled your reunion, it’s not impossible to see each other.
While social media can help us stay in touch with our close friends, there are some people that we can’t easily find. Fortunately, an online reunion is possible! It’ll help your batch to catch up with the past years you’ve missed.
This alternative can also prepare you for a face-to-face reunion in the future. If you want to know how you can host a perfect virtual reunion, then check the list below!
1. Have an online meeting
Planning is the first thing you need to do for a successful reunion. Whether it’s virtual or face-to-face, this is the most crucial part.
If ever you’ve already planned for the face-to-face reunion before the pandemic, you’ll still need to start from scratch.
First, the planning committee should be decided. Make sure that these people are committed to giving their time and effort until the reunion day. Then, you’ll need to contact all your batchmates so someone should be in charge of contacting your alma mater.
Lastly, set dates for the regular meeting so that everyone involves in the preparation is updated on the current progress.
2. Hire event coordinators
You can also hire event coordinators, as an alternative. Even if there’s a pandemic, you’re not sure that everyone will have extra time to deal with all the preparations. It’s better to ask for some professional help, which can also provide an emcee for the event.
Hiring event coordinators will remove tons of things to do in your schedule. Furthermore, you’ll save more money because they already know the businesses to contact depending on your needs.
They can provide you with different options if you need giveaways, prizes, and souvenirs. Technical support is also a good help, and you won’t have to assign an attendee for it. There are more things events coordinators can do that will help you plan a perfectly stress-free reunion.
3. Decide on a theme
When it comes to deciding the theme, the planning committee is in charge. You can have an online poll so that everyone gets to vote. List a minimum of 5 themes that reflects what your reunion is about such as the most popular movie or fashion icon when you graduated.
Having a theme also requires dressing up. It’s not an excuse that it’s a virtual reunion because you’ll still get to see each other. You can vote for the best dresser of the night so that everyone will put their efforts into it.
4. Pick the most convenient platform
The most popular and convenient platform you can use is Zoom. It’s also the most used platform for video calls and meetings ever since the pandemic started. The good thing about it is that you can subscribe depending on the number of participants.
If you’re not that familiar with Zoom, you can ask your batchmates for other options. Otherwise, you can assign someone to manage the call during the reunion.
5. Set the list of activities
Normally, reunions don’t start with a lively crowd. However, if you have a great list of activities, then there will be no awkward silence the entire time. You can start by asking about the members of the cliques back then. From there, stories will just pop up.
Next, you can ask about their most unforgettable experience in high school. After that, you can start playing games and make sure that there will be prizes.
Let the emcee have a copy of the list of activities beforehand, and explain how each game works.
6. Invite all your batchmates
Make sure that everyone from your batch will get the invitation. Research on their emails, and don’t forget to give them a call if ever they didn’t respond to the invitation.
Worried about the layout for your invitation? Don’t be, because you can find a lot of virtual invitations online, but if you hired event coordinators, they’ll give you designs to choose from.
7. Set some rules for the reunion
Before sending out the invitations, make sure that you already have the rules for the event so you can include them. In addition, you should also mention these rules before you start the programme.
During the programme, you can create rooms where people can decide which room they want to join in, They can spend about 15-20 minutes in each room so that they can catch up individually. Have your technical support arrange these rooms before the event day. Having these rooms will prevent inaudible conversations.
8. Have a great time
Finally, the most important part of the celebration, have fun! Just forget about the problems brought about by the pandemic even for just this moment. It’s best to have fun because this event won’t happen often.
At the end of the reunion, you can create a plan on when you’re all going to meet in person. It’ll add more excitement because they know that they’ll still get to meet their friends in the future.
Isn’t it fun to have a great time again with your high school friends after all these years? That’s why you should not let the pandemic stop you from catching up with each other. Let us know how your reunion went by leaving a comment below!