How to Get People Involved at Your Events
- Official Greeters. Assign people to be part of a “welcoming committee.” Ask them to introduce themselves to new participants and help them start mingling.
- Name Tags. Ask alumni to add their major and/or grad year to their name tags (or grad decade if they prefer). Other examples are their maiden name or the dorm they lived in as a freshman. This provides a simple conversation starter.
- What’s Up on Campus? Search uwalumni.com, On Wisconsin Magazine or www.wisc.edu to find out what’s happening on campus. Everything from cutting-edge research to student trends to campus politics is interesting to alumni. Post the latest campus “happenings” on a flip chart or message board (butcher paper works great). Have markers on hand so alumni can write comments and feedback.
- General Opinion. This is a sneaky way to get alumni to tell you what they like to do. Again, using markers and large flip chart paper or poster board, pose questions like “What’s your favorite local restaurant and why?” or “What do you like to do on a sunny day?” or “What’s your favorite area event and why?”
- Where Are You From? Ask guests to write their hometown on their name tags as a way to spark conversation. “Both from the East Coast? Who knew”? or “From Lodi? So am I.”
- Pocket Polaroid Cameras. Assign one or two people, armed with instant pocket Polaroids, to take pictures at an event and post them on a central board or flip chart. The decision about allowing participants to caption them is up to you.
- Badger Bingo. Alumni and student versions are available at uwalumni.com or contact your chapter representative.
- One Question. Hand out an index card to every person. Ask them to write down a question they would feel comfortable asking a complete stranger. Have them pair up and ask each other their question. Once answered, they switch questions and each move on to repeat the process with another person. Or simply provide the direction and question (e.g., introduce yourselves and describe the details of your ideal dream vacation).
- 4 C’s. Each person writes down on an index card their favorite: color, cuisine, country to visit and closet dream. Participants can pair up, exchange C’s and move on.
- Visual Displays. Put up billboards and story boards, and post information that is informative, easy-to-read (e.g., no small type or reversed text) and of interest to participants. Ideas include points of pride, articles about the UW, old yearbooks. Place displays throughout venue to allow people to wander and strike up conversation with others about the content.
- Campus Slide Show. WAA has a slide show that chapters can run in the background during events. Contact your chapter representative for more details. If one of your chapter members has been back to Madison in the past year and happened to take photos, go ahead and put together your own slide show.
- Introductions. Have new attendees and visitors introduce themselves. Provide thoughtful, detailed introductions (e.g., Bill likes to cook or Sharon likes camping) so people with similar interests can connect and find other like-minded individuals. Introduce the oldest, the youngest, who came the farthest, who has a birthday, etc.
- One way to accomplish this is to include such information when introducing new attendees or visitors. Or, divide group into pairs, have them talk to each other for a few minutes about their interests. Then, pairs could go around to other groups each introducing the other.
- Interest surveys help with this as well. If you have a list of who’s registered for the event, and know that two people share similar interests, introduce them to each other so they can talk about these interests.
- Table Questions. Give each table a specific set of questions to talk about over dinner, and then report out to large group.
- Team Table Competitions. Host a trivia contest — each table could compete as a team for a small prize.
- Open Mic. Have an open mic and allow people to share their favorite Badger moments.
- Who’s Who Game. Participants have to figure out who the mystery guest is … I have a degree in _____. My interests are ____________. Over the years, I’ve worked as _________. Who am I?
- UW Timeline. Put up a UW timeline with important milestones (e.g., founding of the university, when it went coed, when it won the Rose Bowl, etc.). Then, have alumni go up and place themselves on that timeline.
- Sharing of Favorites. (pointed question for all to think about) … favorite Madison moment, favorite ice cream, etc.
