A top private university in India witnessed a humongous attendance at their alumni event. Out of 2220 RSVPs received, more than 90% of the alumni attended making the event a grand success. This was achieved by the institution’s alumni team through meticulous planning and impeccable decisiveness over a timeline of two months. Through their alumni portal, they made the necessary arrangements for the alumni which provided a smooth, wholesome experience for the alumni and the team alike.
Challenges:
Despite having a huge alumni strength, the alumni association found it a bit tough to track the alumni turnout in the past. The association was uncertain about the headcount of the people appearing due to their large alumni database. There was no concrete procedure for reaching out to the alumni regarding the event. They also faced hurdles in collecting the alumni’s food and transportation and lodging choices.
Steps Followed:
The alumni association devised a robust campaign to increase the alumni turnout for the event. With Vaave’s assistance, they pulled out all the stops to ensure that all the promotional aspects of the campaign were precisely implemented. Their biggest jewel in the crown was digitization of the process which saved a lot of time and brought abundant traction as well. Some of the techniques exercised by the team are:
- Monthly Newsletters: To keep the alumni in the loop, the team started sending monthly newsletters two months before the date of the event. This hooked the alumni’s attention and kept them looking forward to the event.
- Regular App Notifications: The alumni association periodically sent mobile notifications to the mobile app. This piqued the alumni’s interest as they were reminded very regularly about the upcoming event.
- Promotions Using Event Banners: To ensure an all-around promotional engagement, the liaison team put up creative event banners on the alumni association’s social media handles. This particular move magnified the efforts put in by the team.
- Mass Email Campaigns: With two months to go for the event, the team came up with the idea of sending mass mailers to the alumni. The emails acted as an effective reminder and prompted the alumni to make plans for the event.
- Customized Event Form: By using a customized event form on the portal, the alumni association gathered all the preferences of its huge member base. It helped them to break all logistic barriers like food, transportation, and accommodation.
Impact Created:
- Increased Alumni Presence: The digitization of all the processes essential to the events optimized all the efforts put in by the team. The QR code check-in process made it easy for the organizers to track the attending alumni. More than 90% of the RSVPd alumni turned out for the event. The team made this happen in just 2 months.
- Overcoming Engagement Challenges: With the input of the team at the university, Vaave helped the institution overcome the small engagement snags by leveraging techniques such as newsletters, app notifications, mass mailers, and social media promotions.
- Successful Event: The university with the help of Vaave, facilitated a successful event. The engagement levels were amplified by the increased alumni participation which helped in fostering strong connections.The digitization of the whole process made the verification hassle free making the event secure.