Reunions that stop living in a spreadsheet
Publish the event on your own site, collect RSVPs against a capacity you set, and walk into the hall with an attendance list that matches the guest list.
Every event page is part of your website: indexed, shareable, and still there next year as a record of what you ran.
What an alumni event actually needs
Most alumni teams do not need conference software. They need one honest headcount and a page they can send to 900 people.
Listings that read like a website
Date, venue, description, cover image and a page of its own with a real address, so it works in an email, on a poster or in a class group chat.
Capacity you set
The hall holds 120. Put 120 in the capacity field and RSVPs stop there, instead of you counting and closing it by hand at 11pm.
RSVPs attached to members
A reply is a member record with a batch year, not an anonymous form, so you can see which cohorts are coming and which needs a nudge.
Announce it properly
Publish the event, then send it as news and in a newsletter to the members it applies to. One system, so the link is never wrong.
News and newslettersThe list you carry to the door
Export attendance and print it. Caterers want a number and the venue wants a list, both the day before, not the week after.
Past events stay put
Last year's reunion keeps its page and photos, so a new visitor sees that things happen here.
Your events page is a page, not a portal
The alumni who never log in are the ones you most need at the reunion. Events publish to the open website, so the invitation works by email, by shared link or through a search.
A real install with real events in it. There is no public demo site yet, so screenshots are the honest way to show the product.
More screenshots
Running a reunion, from announcement to final headcount
Twelve weeks, one alumni officer, 900 people on the list. This is the sequence the software is shaped around.
Weeks twelve to eight: publish before you are ready
Create the event with the date, the venue and a rough plan. Half the value of an event page is that people can diary the date three months out. Set the capacity honestly now: raising it later is easy, telling forty people the hall is full is not.
Weeks eight to two: chase the cohorts, not the list
Because RSVPs attach to member records, you can see the shape of who is coming. When the 2010 to 2014 cohorts are missing, that is a message to those year groups rather than another blanket email, which is how associations train alumni to ignore them.
The last fortnight: the caterer's number
- Export the RSVP list and send the count to catering.
- Print the list for the door with batch years on it, so whoever is on the desk can find people quickly.
- Leave the page open for late RSVPs. The capacity limit does the closing.
After: the part everyone skips
Mark attendance, upload the photographs to an album and publish a short write-up. Attendance is the most useful field your association holds: the people who came to the last reunion are the people who come to the next one, and increasingly the people who give.
Events this runs well, and events it does not
Good fit
- Class reunions with a headcount
- Chapter and city meetups
- Annual general meetings
- Homecoming and founders day
- Careers evenings and talks
Workable with effort
- Paid events, if you collect money separately
- Multi-session days, as separate events
- Guest and plus-one counts, noted in the RSVP
- Reunions run by class reps with their own logins
Wrong tool
- Ticketed galas with table seating
- Conferences with tracks and badges
- QR check-in at the door
- Refunds and ticket transfers
Event questions
Can non-members RSVP?
You decide how open the event page is. Keeping RSVPs to verified members gives you a clean list and stops the hall filling with people nobody can place.
For a public careers evening, publish the page openly and take replies by email alongside it.
What happens when the event fills up?
RSVPs stop at the capacity you set, so you are not policing it by hand. Raise the capacity if you find more room and the page reopens.
Plan the number early. A capacity that has to be cut is a worse conversation than one that is raised.
How many events can we run?
As many as you like. There is no event allowance and no per-attendee fee, which is unusual in this category. It is all in the one licence on the pricing page.
Can class reps manage their own reunion?
Yes. Admin accounts are unlimited, so a rep can own their year's event without holding the keys to the whole site, and can help clear the verification queue for their cohort.
Run the reunion on your own website
Events, RSVPs and attendance are in the same $49 licence as the directory, giving, mentoring and news. No per-attendee fee, ever.
Planning something unusual? Email hello@alumdeck.com and we will say honestly whether it fits.