Here is the Friday Reunion Update! Please, try to contain yourselves
!!
(1) Sign-ups:
- Friday Night School Tour, Football, and After-Party: 8
- Saturday @ Speedway Club: (13 Paid Online) plus (4 Paying by check) = 17
- Sunday Picnic: 4
If YOU haven't registered yet, please make sure you do it by Monday’s deadline. And, by the way, I'll be extending registrations until Saturday the 25th for anyone that wants to pay online. I'll Email and post that update Tuesday, just so the people who put it off until the last minute Monday can register first!
(2) Website: I've had some problems with a small number of people registering for their website account. A few, some in our class, had the problem, but anyone using the Facebook connector seems immune. I upgraded to the latest version of the registration software last night. Hopefully that fixes it. If not, I can at least request developer support, now that I'm using the latest version AND I renewed my support subscription.
In spite of this issue, we have had about 30 new members create accounts since Steve joined nearly a month ago. That isn't a huge number, but it is more than the handful per month I was getting before.
(3) Contacts: Wednesday, I sent out 2 bulk emails. The first message had 2 incorrect times for the Friday Night Tour. I resent the message a few hours later with corrections.
Of 142 addressees, 100% were delivered, but only 37 have been opened so far. I don't know if some email clients are behind firewalls blocking my tracking links, but it could be the reason the "Opened" number is so low. I also mailed (USPS) 31 flyers to all our contacts with home addresses but without an Email address or phone number. We still have a list of 72 "MIA" classmates to still find. Keep your collective ear to the ground! See
http://centralalumni.org/forum for the list in Excel format.
I will be sending out information tonight on the Embassy Suites' discounted group rates that Grier sent me. If anyone has more info to add to that, let me know before 10 PM EST tonight.
(4) The Planetarium Fundraising/Class Gift idea hasn't changed since last week, as far as I know. We need to decide on the date to make the gift. The later in the year, the more we can donate as a class. Taking up a collection at the reunion events is a good idea.
I want to gather info, pictures, and history about the Planetarium for our website. We can solicit online and/or ask for mailed donations. We should talk to the Planetarium Fund manager to find out the correct way to do this. Should it be direct checks to the fund, or can we collect the funds and then send one donation from the class? We can provide online donors tax receipts from PayPal. When we know it's OK to collect, I can add the PayPal "DONATE" button at that time. Later, I can post the pictures and write-ups when I get my digits on them.
(5) Friday Night: looks like almost all of the major details are complete. No items to bring and no money to collect.
-- Do we need to call Boardwalk Billy's if our crowd (okay, party) gets over a certain number? By when?
-- Do we have to warn them Grier will be with us? (I assume he hasn't been banned from there -- yet).
(6) Saturday Night: I still have a couple of questions:
-- For the DJ and Bartender: I know the DJ is a 3-hour minimum at $100/hr. What about the bartender -- is there a minimum? If we decide the group is not big enough to warrant a dedicated bartender, how late can we cancel?
-- What day do we need to give a head count to the manager?
-- Do we pay the per-person cost up front before the event, or that night?
-- Do we want to have any decorations? Games/door prizes? Karaoke with Hits from the 70s and 80s?
(7) Sunday Picnic: The location and times are set, and the format is decided.
-- Once we have a head-count, we need volunteers to bring the paper products, table cloths, plastic ware ....
-- Do we want/need any (cheap) decorations? Balloons, streamers, ... ?
-- 1pm - 7pm is a big chunk of time. Do they have game/sports equipment available, like volleyball, horseshoes, and shuffleboard (for the older folks)?
(8) FYI - I'm departing Hawaii on the red-eye Monday night, 9/27. We'll be in the same time zone on Tuesday evening!
That's it for now. Keep up the good work, and try to get in touch with anyone you can to help spread the word!
ALOHA!
--Doug
