Alumni Leader Resources

• Regional clubs should collaborate with affinity groups such as the Chicago Booth Women’s Network or the Chicago Booth Black Alumni Association.
• Your organization board can help current students who end up in your region organize treks and mixers with alumni who might connect them to top employers.
• Research centers might be visiting your city and they can make helpful introductions and collaborate on relevant events, where possible. 
• Share your successes and best practices with other Chicago Booth alumni leaders around the globe.

Resources

• Annual Alumni Club Assessment Checklist
• Alumni Geo Map

• Each club should have a board consisting of at least two members.
• We recommend a two-year term limit for leaders.
• We recommend four board meetings per year.

Resources

• Common Leader Mistakes
• Board Meeting PowerPoint Template
• Google Shared Drive for Board Planning Template
• Alumni Leader Retreat Outline

• Clubs should host at least two events per year. (Programming should be scaled to market size.)
• Events can be community based or social, or provide intellectual content.
• Your club board will choose the type of event, speakers, and a venue.

Resources

• Club Event First Steps
• Event Intake Form
• Speaker Outreach Template

• Your club will have its own website hosted by Booth with some customizable content.
• Your events will be promoted on our alumni events page and in a regular newsletter to regional alumni.
• Custom emails and surveys may be requested but used sparingly.
• Your club owns and operates your own social media groups. 

Resources

• Call for All Volunteers Interest Form Template
• Google Groups Email Address Set-Up Instructions
• Volunteer Recruitment Template
• Best Practices for Social Media

• Reimbursement Policy
• Data Confidentiality Form

• Typically, we charge a nominal registration fee to cover costs of food and beverage and any other associated costs. This fee varies depending on the event.
• Chicago Booth alumni do not need to be dues-paying members of the alumni association to attend events, so the registration fees help subsidize the alumni gatherings.

• You should expect turnout to be between 1 and 10 percent of the total number of alumni in your market.
• Even an event with five to 10 people can be successful with the right curation. (You set capacity.)
• Alumni Relations does not consider the number of alumni to be a success factor in alumni events.

• Cafés, bars, and restaurants work well for mixers and social events.
• For speaker events and panel discussions, try to find corporate hosts (typically the speaker’s employer) through alumni connections or coworking spaces.

• Brainstorm ideas on relevant and timely topics with your board.
• Evaluate your alumni base to identify top employers and possible thought leadership.
• Develop a detailed, precise, and considerate plan for written outreach.
• Create a long list of potential speakers.

• The best moderators know the speaker they are interviewing. Try to choose a moderator who is a colleague, friend, or classmate of the speaker.
• If the moderator is not acquainted with the speaker, provide a list of questions and topics for the moderator to cover. Suggest that the moderator and speaker set up a pre-event phone call to practice and discuss details.