Choose a date. Actually, think of several potential dates and contact the Alumni Office with these dates and your idea of what type of event you want to plan. Plan at least 16 weeks in advance so that the Alumni Office can work around the schedules of staff, faculty, and campus departments such as Graphic Design and Printing and the Post Office.

Decide what type of event you want to plan. Keep in mind the diversity of ages and interests of the alumni in your area. Three sporting events in a year do not appeal to everyone. We ask that you work to produce one Greenville-centered event each year. A Greenville-centered event features current or former Greenville faculty or staff as the major draw for your event. While a Greenville basketball game certainly is a "Greenville" event, it does not have the same broad appeal that a faculty member or President Mannoia has as the focus of an event. Greenville Parents are also included on the mailing list for events that spotlight a faculty or staff speaker.

The Alumni Office is committed to bring Greenville faculty to Chapter events and will work with the Office of the Vice President to coordinate travel schedules. You are encouraged to be as creative as you would like in your planning. For instance, host a summer barbecue with the President, tour an art gallery with art faculty or see a Shakespearian play with English faculty. A Greenville centered event is your best bet for a successful event. The following are some other suggestions for Chapter events:

Greenville-centered events:

• Current faculty
• Retired faculty
• President or other staff speaker
• Prominent alum speaker/entertainer

Other types of events:

• Greenville athletic event in your area
• Choir tour/reception
• Seasonal activity (Christmas music, summer BBQ)
• Theater production
• Professional athletic event (i.e. baseball game with tailgate party)

Decide on location for your event. For some events, the location is obvious. Greenville athletic or choir events will already be planned at a school or church; a theater production will be at its respective theater location, etc. An event hosted in a home is popular and inviting. Use the lists provided of alumni and parents in your area to seek out potential hosts. You may also use the Alumni Office as a resource for identifying potential hosts for your event.

Location suggestions:

• Home of an alum or friend
• Local church
• Local college campus
• Conference center

Delegate responsibility. Closer to your planned event, you will need your Chapter committee to help you in several areas:

Follow-up phone calls really make a difference getting people to attend an event. They provide a personal connection between the mailed invitation and the event itself.

Food is important to your event. Make arrangements with your Chapter committee (or others) to bring food and drinks to divide up the labor and expense. You may be reimbursed up to $300 (total) for food and drinks. Finger foods, desserts or hors d'oeuvres and coffee, punch, soda or water are served at most events. If your event is in another person's home (host home), be sure to work out details with your host. If a local restaurant, business or bakery donates food for your event, be sure to recognize their contribution at the event.

There may be a few miscellaneous details to delegate. Signs to direct people to a location, flowers or balloons to perk up your event, or planning a mixer or Greenville trivia game are responsibilities you can delegate.

Factor in your cost. Although you can be reimbursed up to $300 for food and other expenses, some events may cost more while others may not need to cost anything. We do not expect Chapter Leaders to cover the cost of event expenses. If you plan a barbecue or baseball game with tailgate party or dinner event, you will need to figure a price for each person and charge accordingly. The Alumni Office will print that information on the invitation for your event.

We respectfully request that you do not exceed the $300 per event limit. The College does not have a large budget for Chapter events and spends a significant amount of money on printing, postage, and additional travel expenses related to sending faculty to your event.

Host your event. You will need to act as a host in several ways at your Chapter event. You may handle these yourself or choose to delegate them to one of our committee members or a friend:

• Greet guests as they arrive.
• Open the event with a "welcome."
• Pray to open or close the event or to bless a meal.
• Introduce your guest speaker, host and hostess, members of your planning committee, Greenville Trustees who may be at your event.
• Vocalize your thank yous to the guest speaker, committee that helped with the event, and the host and hostess who may have opened their home or secured a facility for you.
• Announce upcoming Chapter events and Greenville alumni events (i.e. Homecoming, Summer Reunion, etc.).
• Close the event - don't leave your guests hanging! Again, you can do that with a prayer, a "thank you for coming" or another appropriate closing.

Write your Thank Yous! The Alumni Office would be happy to provide Greenville thank you notes so you can write to participating faculty, the alum or parent who hosted the event, and committee members who made phone calls, brought food or helped in some way. Thank you notes not only let those people know how much you appreciate them but also reflect well on the College.

As your committee begins to organize an alumni gathering, you may want to contact a faculty or staff member to feature at a chapter event.