Reunion jitters

MANILA, Philippines - Have you ever organized a reunion? Even if you haven’t organized a reunion — but have been in one — I am sure that you experienced the before, during and after pandemonium of emotions mixed with anxiety (Oh dear, I have to shed those pounds. What will I wear? Will my ex-heartthrob be there? Where will this reunion be? Who are coming? What’s the budget?) Many more considerations come into play.

Right now, I am in the thick of organizing our school’s centennial reunion for 2013. Thank God I was assigned the PR and marketing for the coverage and build-up to ensure that alumnae of the College of the Holy Spirit here and abroad catch the spirit and join the activities in store.

There has been a continuous flow of social media interaction, not to mention small pre-reunion reunions where organizers plan the logistics. For schoolmates, a reunion of this magnitude is overwhelming. We have classmates who have suddenly surfaced from hibernation; schoolmates who have made a name for themselves, like Lucille Tenazas who is now a professor at the Parsons School of Design in New York; Sheila Coronel who is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and now at Columbia University as a member of academe and is coming home to do a series of lectures as a part of the centennial celebration.

It is heartwarming to suddenly receive or read about people who figured in your life during those formative years of primary to high school years. That’s why a reunion is like no other occasion for re-bonding.

But how to organize a successful reunion?

It’s usually the organizers who become the center of aggravation. Ask 10 people for ideas and you get 10 different ideas. The secret to good, seamless and stress-less planning is to limit the number of decision makers to a few and usually these are the key players: the ones who will bankroll the activity if members of the family or group are financially challenged, the creative mind/s and the implementors (they are the most organized, results-oriented, physically and emotionally charged to carry out the logistical tasks at hand.)

One of the biggest challenges is drumming up attendance.

Several ploys come to mind: a sought-after venue (especially if the cost is no question), the promise of a unique experience (try a day of pampering!), or sometimes, a grand raffle prize of a paid trip to some exotic destination. Usually, the prospect of meeting up with long-lost relatives or friends is sufficient to spark interest.

On the day of the reunion, nothing should really go wrong if the right foundations were set and expectations delivered.

At one reunion I organized, my best friend from primary grades to college presented me with an album collection of all the silly notes, poems and photos I had shared with her through our school days. I was dazed with delight and surprise! Looking through old photos always does the trick. In a second, one is transported to that period of time that apparently played an important part of one’s life.

My group from the College of the Holy Spirit never runs out of reunion excuses. Recently, our esteemed gang mate Vicky Cuisia, who now resides in Washington, DC as wife of our Ambassador to the US, was guest of honor at a lunch hosted by Therese Coronel Santos on the occasion of her birthday. We checked out the new Stella restaurant at Bonifacio Hi Street where the mini reunion ran for four hours of laughter, reminiscing and cajoling.

That was another reunion to record in our growing number of memorable, notable ones.

So, when is your next reunion?