| 03/05/09 10:26 PM |
#37
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Kip Clark
As Carolee says, we didn't have a huge turnout for the 20 year reunion, less than 100, but I think we can do better this time if we put our minds to it and get better organized. I know that the response thus far has been fairly modest, especially compared to Timpview, but there has been a gradual increase in traffic of late. Also, let me make a few suggestions to help increase our numbers. Most of what I'm about to say has already been said by others, but I'll repeat it anyway ;-)
1) We need to keep spreading the word. Everyone who reads this message should read through the list and find a couple of additional people to track down and invite. Just today, I saw Phil Plothow's name on the list of people who haven't registered yet. Phil and I weren't really friends in high school and aren't friends even now. But I know he's an opthamologist here in town, so I found his office number in the phone book and left a message with his staff to have him go to our website. The whole process took less than a couple of minutes.
2) We need to invite people directly to help with the reunion. I've already got a couple of people on the picnic committee because I asked them to help. And I'm telling others to contact Wayne. As soon as possible, we should have committees that are working on finding people, on planning the program, etc. I don't think most people will offer to help unless they are asked. There shouldn't be any pressure. But I think more people will be excited about the events this summer if they are involved themselves and see things happening.
3) We should use all of the tools at our disposal to find former classmates--the internet, the phone book, people's parents, etc. For example, I found Kelly Glassett a couple of weeks ago just by Googling his name. By the way, does anyone have a paid subscription to classmates.com? I was on that site the other day and saw a number of our classmates on the list, but you're really limited in what you can see if you aren't a paid member. Perhaps the reunion committee can pay for someone to have a subscription.
4) In addition to finding people to register, I think it's also important to contact the people who are already on the list. Say hi. Comment on their profile. Send an email. Let's rebuild some of the old connections so that people are excited to come to the reunion. That's one of the things I see happening on Timpview's site. In fact, I've even had several people from Timpview comment on my guest profile, which is nice. It makes me want to see them. I'm starting to see some of the same kind of excitement on our website, but it's just taking a bit longer to develop.
I've already said too much, but we should take heart from the fact that we can have a successful reunion even if not everyone shows up. Ideally, we can contact everyone or most everyone, but if not, I'd be very happy to attend our reunion if only the 38 people listed (and their significant others) showed up. It will be great to see friends again!
Kip
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