Gather Your Team for a Reunion
|
|
Were you a part of a championship team? Did your football or basketball team take
state? Did your tennis team dominate the region? Have you won a Super Bowl or a
World Series? Have you played hockey with the same kids from midgets to juniors? If it
has been a few years since you lived those glory days, maybe it is time to gather your
teammates for a reunion.
|
Start with your Team Roster
Take out that old picture of your championship team and come up with a complete list
of the names of your teammates, coaches and trainers. And do not forget the people
who supported your championship effort your fans. Whether your fans were your
parents, your classmates or an entire city, include them in your reunion plans.
|
Choose a Location
What was the site of your championship game? A football stadium? A Little League
park or your school's gymnasium? Start looking for a location to meet at the place
where you won your championship. Can you make arrangements to hold an event
there? Many high school, college and professional stadiums are available for events. If
the venue no longer exists, check with the local historical society to see whether or not
they have pictures of your old venue. You could hang those pictures up in the location
you do choose.
|
Locate Your Teammates
This can be the most difficult part of organizing a team reunion if you have not seen
your teammates in awhile. Put the word out through the media in your hometown.
Contact parents who still live in the area. Ask teammates to give you any clues
that they may know about the whereabouts of your former teammates. And, go to the
internet. There are hundreds of sources for people searches online.
|
Make Your Team the Theme
See how much memorabilia you can locate from your championship team such as
photographs, movies or videos, uniforms, trophies, newspaper articles, or programs.
Once you have located your teammates (and your fans) ask for memorabilia
contributions. Ask people to bring tangible items such as jerseys or trophies and to
make copies of their photographs, scrapbooks, movies or videos so that the originals
can remain safe and secure at home. Then, plan your event around re-living your glory
days. Cover the room in as much memorabilia as you can find and ask a computer whiz
(probably one of your teenagers) to put together a multimedia program for you to
watch during the event.
|
Negotiate With Vendors
You may need to negotiate with the businesses you may need to help you host your
reunion such as a facility, caterer, beverage service, souvenir manufacturers,
photographers or videographers. The best advice I can give you about negotiating with
vendors is to negotiate value over price. For example, you may not be able to get a
caterer to negotiate downward much on the price of the meal because they have costs
and they need to make a certain amount to stay in business, but you may be able to
negotiate a better salad or dessert or an additional side dish with the entree. Consider
everything negotiable from the level of service to the quality and quantity of the
product you are purchasing from a vendor before you settle on a final deal. Then, get it
in writing!
|
Make Your Communications Effective
Half of the battle in getting people to attend reunions is in planning an event that your
group members cannot wait to attend. The other half of the battle is in how you
communicate what you are planning. Give your teammates as much information as
they need to attend including the date, the time, and the place, but also a vivid and
enthusiastic description of what a great time they will have at the event and how much
they will be missed if they do not attend.
|
Send Them Home With a Souvenir
Send everyone who attends the reunion home with a souvenir of the event. Create a
before and after picture by making copies of your team picture from your
championship year and gathering your teammates at the beginning of the reunion for a
group photograph. Arrange with a photo processor to give you priority service so that
you can have copies of the new picture finished and ready to distribute by the end of
the reunion. Put the two pictures together in a double frame or ask the photo processor
to put the two pictures together on a single sheet. Or, create an update of an old
program. If you have a program from your championship game or match, use the
artwork from the program with a new date as the cover, and fill the booklet with your
reunion schedule and biographies of what your teammates are doing today.
Some of the closest relationships we make in life are those we make with friends and
teammates. We suffer the aches and pains of practice together, share the grief at a close
loss and the joy of a championship victory. What are you waiting for? Gather up your
old teammates for a team celebration.
|
By Dina C. Carson
Dina C. Carson is the author of Reunion Solutions: Everything You Need to Plan an
Extraordinary Family, School, Military, Corporate or Association Reunion, available at
your local bookstore or at www.ReunionSolutions.com |
 |
|
|
|