Ever felt like your alumni are slipping away after their graduation? Does no amount of emails and messages make any difference to them? Alumni engagement should be from the perspective of the alumni if your school or college aspires to have a long-lasting relationship with them.
Alumni events will do just that. These are a great way to hook alumni’s interest and reel them in so that they revisit their nostalgic memories. Hosting alumni events creatively while considering their tastes and preferences will bring them back to their alma mater.
Alumni gatherings are fantastic opportunities for alumni to revamp old connections and make new ones. Alumni can entertain themselves and network at the same time. Here are six creative alumni event ideas to host that will forever etch into their memories!
#1 Themed Reunions
Alumni reunions are conducted regularly by institutions across the globe. These reunions are a go-to idea for colleges or universities as alumni will be interested in meeting their friends after a long time. To kick things a notch higher, your institution can conduct theme-based reunions for the alumni.
For example, if your college is planning a reunion for the batch of 1985, the theme can reflect that period’s iconic events, pop culture, fashion statements, etc. Encourage alumni to dress accordingly and do their hair that resembles 80’s artists and celebrities. Choosing a theme is important. Don’t choose it randomly; ensure it is relatable to the alumni.
Your institution can also hold decade, silver, and golden jubilee reunions. Make sure you touch every batch who’s celebrating their landmark anniversaries. You can redecorate the classrooms, dining halls, and labs exactly as the alumni experienced when they were students.
This will hit alumni’s nostalgic sweet spot. You can also host movie-themed reunions. Pick up a famous movie that was a rage back then and encourage alumni to dress like characters in the film.
#2 Sports Events
Your alumni would have liked playing sports when they were students. They would have participated in tournaments and brought cups and laurels to your college or university. Bring out the buried zeal and camaraderie lying dormant in alumni.
Your institution can organize sports events for the alumni on the weekends. A two-day sports tournament will be a nice change for the alumni from their regular hustle-bustle and take them back to their college days.
You can get creative by conducting a friendly cricket or football match between two batches. Alumni can meet their old friends and make new connections with alumni from various departments. Alumni can together go for running and cycling when possible and also form dedicated communities as well.
Host a volleyball, soccer, or baseball match between alumni and students on your institution’s sports day. This can act as a mixer for both groups. If you have a tennis court on campus, you can encourage alumni for a friendly tussle.
You can engage older alumni with indoor sports activities. Games like darts, carroms, and chess will draw the attention of the older alumni, and by coupling it with drinks and food, it becomes an excellent evening getaway!
#3 Career Development Sessions
Alumni events can be both entertaining and educational. Your institution can host webinars/sessions where students can interact with alumni. Invite successful alumni for an Ask Me Anything session where the students can ask questions related to the alumni’s role/profession.
Students can ask questions about the work culture, their daily office routine, and the skills required to be placed in similar industries. Sessions like these can be a perfect ice-breaker for the students to form professional connections with alumni.
Host upskilling and learning sessions where alumni from a specific stream such as data science can guide students and younger alumni on how to shape their careers. You can also bring alumni entrepreneurs to shed some light on how a start-up works and give them a roadmap on how to plan things while establishing one.
Your college or university can host career-oriented webinars where the alumni can speak about a specific career choice for some time and take questions from the students. For instance, you can bring in an alumnus who is an IT specialist to give a presentation on the basics of the course, as there is a steady demand.
Host professional networking meets where your alumni HRs or entrepreneurs can mingle with students and younger alumni. These meets can act as potential opportunities for students looking for new opportunities and for HRs, entrepreneurs who happen to be scouting talent for their companies. Your college or university can also conduct this as job fairs where you can bring a couple of companies through alumni referrals who can hire desired candidates.
Alumni can also guide the students and younger alumni in resume review and interview preparation. Students can share their resumes before the session, and the alumni can review them during the webinar. Host interview preparation sessions where students can volunteer for a mock interview with the alumnus and get instant feedback on their performance and suggestions for improvement.
#4 Fun Family Gatherings
One of the best things your institution can do for alumni is to help them form a tight-knit community. These alumni communities can help its members in need, host their little get-togethers, and much more. Alumni family gatherings can be a significant nudge in that direction.
Your mid & senior-level alumni will have families, and this might sound like a good idea to them as they will be eager to meet their friends’ families as well. Your school or college can host Sunday outdoor picnics, barbecue evenings, and movie nights so your alumni can mingle with each other and their families, too!
Your institution can also plan children’s specific activities. Encourage alumni to bring their children for fun activities like playhouses, obstacle courses, relay races, tugs-of-war, etc. While children can have a good time, alumni can relax and get to know each other again.
Your college can plan to host family gatherings around significant holidays. Host Halloween costume parties for their children, Thanksgiving dinners, and Christmas parties for the alumni staying away from their families. Gestures like these will matter to them a lot. You can also tailor these gatherings according to your alumni’s tastes.
#5 Weekend Escapades
Your school or college can plan a weekend retreat for the alumni to relax and rejuvenate themselves. You can whisk them off to a scenic destination or a resort where they can leisurely bond with each other. You can plan activities like nature hikes, river rafting, spa sessions, and saunas for the alumni.
If cost is what’s stopping your institutions, put up a token fee for the alumni to share the burden. They won’t shy away from paying a small amount, as they look forward to things that help them bounce back stronger.
If your institution prefers something lowkey, you can host campus sleepovers for the alumni. Invite alumni to stay in the same dorms and rooms as they used to when they were students. They can walk the corridors, eat hostel food, and experience the same things again. Alumni can interact with the students and share their hostel experiences too.
Additionally, you can invite the alumni to be a single-day student. Alumni can sit through a lecture, interact with their favorite professors, and participate in college activities to rekindle the students in them.
#6 Volunteering for Community Events
Community events allow alumni to give back to society while reconnecting with their alma mater and fellow alumni. These events foster a sense of responsibility and create an opportunity for your school or college to raise funds. Organize a 10K run for the alumni to raise funds for a specific cause. Encourage alumni to participate and gather funds from their friends and families as well. Encourage alumni to take up activities like cleaning lakes, garage sales, distribution of old clothes to name a few.
Your institution can encourage alumni to sponsor and guide for a college project. It can be building a prototype or software that can be used for the betterment of the institution and society in general. Recently, some alumni of NIT Trichy supervised the students in building an Overhead Tankless Water Controller to tackle scarcity in nearby villages.
Your college or university can take up a back-to-school initiative where you can leverage alumni to collect backpacks, books, shoes, and other essentials and donate them to underprivileged kids. This can be held around the time when schools start for better reach and impact. Alumni with expertise in specific subjects can offer tutoring services to poor students. This can be done through physical and virtual formats, making it accessible to a broader audience.
In Short
Alumni events are pivotal to the success of your institution’s alumni engagement. Always remember that conducting events is one thing, but making it an unforgettable experience for the alumni is different. When conducting events, make sure that you cater to the preferences of the alumni. Make it easy, affordable, and accommodating for your alumni.
Focus on making it memorable rather than planning what your institution can gain. When your alumni come back and connect with you after an event, that’s when you will realize you hosted a successful one.
Vaave helps institutions and corporate entities across the globe in realizing the power of alumni and offers strategies for engaging them. We offer a full-fledged alumni management ecosystem that helps you to leverage alumni to its fullest.
Drop in your details at hello@vaave.com & +91 91006 88850, we will get in touch with you at the drop of a hat!