HOW TO THROW A WINNING mini-REUNION
Patricia Perazzini ’82, P’15 so enjoyed co-chairing her 30th Reunion Committee that she abandoned her accounting career and began a new career rallying Fairfield University alumni. Perazzini generates good vibes among alumni chapters to keep the Fairfield Stags coming back.
Perazzini still gushes about her own 35th Reunion — an event so perfectly strategized, it herded more Bison back to Bucknell than any other 35th-year Reunion class in at least the last decade.
No one wants to show up not knowing anybody. I tell Reunion volunteers to reach out to their friends, old teammates and roommates and say, “I’m going — why don’t you come with me?” Sometimes all it takes is some nudging to get people to come out.
For big events, I do a lot of marketing on social media and send e-blasts, but it’s that personal outreach that really makes it happen. One successful event brings more successful events, so I tell people to talk us up!
I’ve been a Bucknellian for 41 years — I’ve seen how well Bucknell’s University Advancement does it. They engage key classmates to start the process and then the classmates each reach out to their friends. You task 30 people to contact 10 people they know and now you have 300.
The commonality of reunions that brings everyone together in the first place makes them happen organically. It’s all about school spirit and embracing that connection to a place.
I put out a little bit of everything so everyone has options: vegan, gluten-free, meat — but nothing too crazy. It should be lovely, not wild.