Get recent graduates in the door
A room of strangers twenty years older is hard to walk into. So make it easier:
- Price it for them. A lower ticket for graduates of the last five years pays off.
- Pick a place they’d go. A bar near where they live beats the faculty club.
- Ask a few to bring friends. Five recent graduates turn into twenty if each brings someone.
- Say what they’ll get. “Meet people who’ve done what you want to do” is more compelling than “reconnect”.
Promise older alumni a reason to come, too
Many like the idea of being useful and aren’t sure how. Ask them directly in the invitation. “We’re looking for people who’d talk to a recent graduate about changing careers” is a compliment, and it’s hard to refuse.
Keep logistics light
A volunteer chapter has a limited supply of energy. Choose a venue that handles food and drink. Run it on a weeknight, straight after work, for about two hours. Skip long speeches: a welcome of a couple of minutes is about right.
Connect the years
Left alone, people will find their own class and stay there. Name tags with class year make that worse, even though they’re also a nice conversation starter. Host-led introductions help, if your hosts know people.
Flare can do it for the whole room. Ask what graduates want help with and what they can offer, using the same answer choices. Don’t use graduating year as a matching rule. A recent graduate who’s looking for a mentor gets matched with a senior graduate who’s offering to be one, without your having to know either of them.
It needs iPhones, and older cohorts may vary, so ask your crowd first. A volunteer at the door can help anyone who gets stuck, and guests can type a six-digit code in place of scanning.
What happens afterward
Share something short in the next newsletter. Totals are enough: “62 graduates came, and 24 introductions led to a meeting.” Flare gives you those numbers without collecting anyone’s name, so it won’t help you maintain your mailing list. Keep your usual sign-up for that.