1. Start Early
    A year in advance is not too soon and sometimes needed to locate a venue. The most
      important element is to publicize your reunion early, notifying all classmates of the date
      and place.
2. Gather a Committee
     Reach out to active members of your class. It can be advantageous if the committee
     members live in surrounding towns. However, electronic media allows for long distance
     planning by anyone that is interested.
3. Tasks for the Committee
     Positions you may want to consider / clarify:
     A. Chairperson (duties to be added),
     B. Treasurer (someone to accept funds, maintain the list of attendees, the reunion
          checking account and pay bills),
     C. Communications chairperson (someone to locate members, maintain email data
           base, create news articles and invitations, and prepare mailings),
     D. Members to investigate venues and plan the program, and
     E. Obtain volunteer classmates to help decorate as well as clean up at the end of the
          event – request help in the final class registration / announcement.
4. Date Determination
     By polling the Reunion Committee and as many classmates as possible, determine the
     preferred season or month to hold the reunion to encourage the greatest number to attend. 
5. Decisions Prior to Notifications to Classmates
     It is up to the Committee to determine what is right for your class and make the following
     decisions. Venues used in the past have included: Canaan Country Club, White Hart
     Inn, Lakeville Town Grove, Wake Robin Inn, Litchfield Inn, Cornwall Ski Lodge,
     Torrington Country Club, Wyantenuck Country Club, Egremont Country Club, and more.
     A. Venue Visits Choosing the Venue - Meet with two or three facilities being
           considered to compare options, costs, space to mingle, etc.
           1. Arrange and Plan to meet with facility if available date exists.
                a. Venue’s available dates
                b. Have a ballpark figure, number expected to attend
               c. Type of meal – luncheon or dinner, with diet restrictions considered.
                   1. Buffet: variety and number of items considered, or
                   2. Served meal: choice of three choices of entrées, variety of other items
               d. Price of buffet vs. served dinner, buffet is always less costly, and facility usually
                   can handle a few last-minute walk-ins. Total venue’s per person cost: meal, tip,
                   and taxes – so, no surprises!
               e. Amenities included in venue’s price – tablecloths, blue and gold napkins, flowers
                   or other table decoration, reception table at door with two chairs, etc.
               f. May class decorate with signs, streamers, posters / photos placed on easels? If
                   yes, check on
                   1. Set-up time on day of reunion, and
                   2. Clean-up time, following reunion or next morning?
           2. Make Venue Decision
               May need to sign an agreement, confirming with a deposit to hold the date.
               Consider setting dates for:
                a. Cancellation with full refund of money if emergency occurs,
                b. Date when the preliminary count to venue is due,
                c. Date when the final count to the venue is due?
                d. May the count be adjusted the week of the reunion based on total reservations
                received?
     B.  Weekend activities or Solitary event?
           Sometimes, reunions are held over a weekend with an introductory “meet and greet”
           event on Friday evening or holding a breakfast on the Saturday morning. Social
           events, possibly to be held on Saturday, include golf tournaments, a tour of HVRHS,
           meeting at a historical location for a tour, sampling wines and having lunch at the
           Land of Nod, usually then capping off the evening with an inexpensive buffet or more
           costly sit-down dinner. Sometimes a Sunday breakfast is included as the last event of
           the weekend. However, events can be quite simple: a BYOB picnic.
     C. Set a per person price with mark-up to cover venue’s cost and miscellaneous costs,
           such as mailings, etc. If different activities are offered and an advanced number is
           needed for reservations, list activity and cost. Be mindful of keeping total costs
           economical for the entire evening / weekend for people coming outside the immediate
           area to allow them financially to attend. Also, to attract the greatest number of
           attendees.
6.  Find your classmates!
      A. This is probably the hardest part of planning a reunion. It is helpful to have both
            mailing addresses and email addresses.
      B. Suggestions for obtaining addresses:
           1. Some addresses that have been obtained by the Alumni Association are available
               by requesting your class information from Julie Marshall Lang, HVRHS executive
               secretary, at jlang@HVRHS.org,
           2. Social media can be helpful in locating classmates. If you cannot find a particular
               classmate for whom you are searching, it is sometimes helpful to search for a
               relative who may lead you to the correct person,
          3. Search services are available for a fee such as Intelius or even Ancestry.com,
          4. Place Reunion notice and missing classmates list on the Reunion section of the
               HVRHS Alumni website,
          5. E-mail a missing classmates listing asking for updates from those classmates for
               whom you do have emails or USPS addresses, and
          6. Place free articles in local newspapers with a short lead-in paragraph announcing
               preliminary Reunion information, listing all “missing” classmates’ names for
               updates, and giving a contact name and phone number or e-mail address.
               Newspapers to include: The Lakeville Journal, The Register Citizen, Republican-
               American, Berkshire Eagle, Harlem Valley News, Poughkeepsie Journal, etc.
7.   Invitations
      A. Plan to keep overhead costs at a minimum
           1.  Limit as many USPS mailings as possible,
           2. Determine the dates and numbers of mailing / emails,
           3. Email first announcement to all for whom you have e-mail addresses and mailing to
                all remaining classmates,
           4. Include as much information in each USPS mailing as possible,
           5. Do not include returned-addressed envelopes
           6. Do you want to send out a “save the date” to classmates or the first announcement
                of the reunion at least a year in advance, with just the final invitation / registration
                form and enclosures being sent six (6) months in advance along with informational
                attachments?
      B. When mailing envelopes, it can be helpful to put the phrase “Address Service
           Requested” on the outside of the envelope. If the envelope is returned, you may
           retrieve it at the post office for a small fee to receive the current forwarding address of
           the recipient.
      C. The first invitation should share the essential information – date, time, itinerary,
           code of dress, approximate cost per person, and who to contact with questions and
           List the committee members with contact information. This can be e-mailed to
           classmates for whom you have email addresses; for others, mail to home addresses.
           List the classmates for whom you do not have addresses, asking for help in locating.
      D. The second reminder and, perhaps, final invitation should include a registration
            form with spaces provided for classmate to fill in: name, address, home and cell
            phone numbers, number of people attending, name of guest and emphasize the
            deadline date for reservations and receipt of payment. Also, include the name to
            whom the check is to be made payable as well as the person’s name and address to
            whom to send.
             1. Include space on the form for classmates to fill in answers to other questions such
                  as how long married, distance traveled to the reunion, fondest memory of HVRHS,
                  favorite teacher, etc. This information could be used for trivia questions at the
                  reunion or for compiling a booklet to be distributed to all classmates with contact
                  information for each.
             2. Ask for volunteers to man the registration table, decorate, and clean-up.
             3. upon request by e-mailing: Julie Marshall Lang - jlang@hvrhs.org. Listing will need
                  to be updated A list of area hotels, inns and Bed and Breakfasts in the area may be
                  obtained by Committee before its Distribution.
8.  Reunion Day Activities
       A. Decorate if allowed by the venue. Things such as streamers, blue & gold napkins,
            posters to display class favorites, class prophecy, photos of other class events
            including former reunion photos. Also, table decorations and/or flowers if not provided
            by venue.
       B. Set up Registration Table: Arrange for two volunteers to serve at half-hour intervals
            to welcome attendees, have them sign into an attendance booklet with current email
            and home address, phone numbers. Name tags can either be prepared using the
            registration list or hand-written when they arrive. Provide pens and extra name tags
            for walk-ins. Make sure that everyone has a name tag. It is often entertaining to use
            their yearbook picture as the name tag!
       C. Other thoughts to consider: Reunion favor (engraved vase, wine glass, magnet).
             Perhaps, have HVRHS items for sale such as ball caps, t-shirts, or leftover
             yearbooks. Some classes have added decanters to the registration table for
             donations to the reunion costs or to the Alumni Association.
 9.  Reunion Program
       A. Do we want music? Can be fun to dance but sometimes interferes with conversation.
       B. Do we want a master of ceremonies?
       C. Do we want to invite and pay for guests, e.g., faculty members?
       D. Acknowledge guests in attendance.
       E. Do we want to remember deceased classmates by announcing their names and
            followed by a minute of silence?
       F.  Do we want trivia questions or to give awards for furthest traveled, most years
             married, least changed, etc., skits performed, tributes given – any number of
             things that are relative to your class.
       G. Do we have memorabilia to share? Pictures, yearbooks, class rings, letter
             sweaters/jackets, newspapers of the time, etc.
       H. Do you want a photographer? It is great to look back on the day and share these with
             classmates who could not attend.
        I.  Do you want to compile a booklet of classmates for distribution to those who could or
             could not attend?
10.  Set up and clean-up
        Make sure volunteers know the responsible classmate and what time to start.
11.    Evaluation
        After the event, it is helpful to gather the committee once again to review the good and
        the bad of the reunion and keep notes for future reunions to be kept somewhere safe,
        possibly, in two different places.
12.   Share the reunion
        Committee members are encouraged to:
        A. Forward a photo with identifications and write-up to the Alumni Association’s editor of
             the “Blue ‘n’ Gold,” Ruth Epstein, at kcsruthe@aol.com and
       B.  Send an updated list of classmates’ addresses to Julie Marshall Lang,
             jlang@hvrhs.org for future reunions as well as photos and short article for uploading
             to the Alumni Website Reunions section