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Family Reunion Planning is Critical,
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Family Reunion Planning can strike fear and terror into the most competent person. At first, it seems simple... but then the volume of details descend like nasty little ninjas.
Pretty soon, planning your family reunion begins to make the Normandy Invasion look like a walk on the beach. But there's no need to panic. Many of the pitfalls as well as solution ideas will be presented.
The Family Reunion Planning Timeframe
Give yourself enough time for family reunion planning. (No matter how good you are, 2 months is not long enough to do it.) The ballpark rule of thumb is to allow yourself from 12 to 18 months for adequate family reunion planning.Of course, these are ballpark estimates and depend on several variables, such as:
- How much time you are willing to devote
- How much help you can count on from others
- The size of the total family
- How easy it is to reach an agreement on anything
Don't get me wrong... the major decisions won't necessarily be that difficult. However, as that wise old project manager so aptly says: "the devil is in the details." And details take time.
If you want to be sure that you leave no stone unturned, check out these books...
- Family Reunion Handbook-2nd edition - Tom Ninkovich
- The Family Reunion Sourcebook - Edith Wagner
- Family Reunion - Jennifer Crichton
- Get the Facts on Anyone - Dennis King
You can search for the books by copying the book title and pasting it into the following search box...
Delegation for Family Reunion Planning
Don't try to do everything yourself! Remember, you want to be alive to enjoy the family reunion you're planning. Enlist help from others. Just follow good project management tips:- Attempt to get more resources than you'll need, because whatever happens, you'll wind up with less than you want.
- Identify all the major tasks required for family reunion planning, and assign them based on your volunteers' strengths and weaknesses.
- Don't micro-manage. Once you have your team, and they each know what is expected, let them do it without looking over their shoulder.
- Monitor status. Hold people accountable and let them know you will be checking the status for all assignments.
- Don't be surprised by surprises. They will happen. Just handle them the best you can.
- Have fun doing it. After all, if family reunion planning starts looking like work, then somebody should pay you for doing it.
Communications for Family Reunion Planning
Whatever happens, make sure everyone is kept in the loop. Few things will aggravate people more than feeling ignored. Communication is the glue that holds family reunion planning together. Here's a list of communication ideas to start with:
The first mailing for the "Let's have a Family Reunion" proposal should be done 12-18 months out. (Consider making it an "e-mailing" to keep costs down.)It should be very upbeat, solicit participation, and provide a finite number of suggested dates and places.
From this, you can begin to gauge reaction and quickly narrow down the dates and places to 2 or 3.
- The first major Follow-Up e-mailing for your family reunion planning should be sent 6 to 12 months prior to the reunion date. By this time, major decisions such as date, duration, location, and budget should be reached.
- The second major Follow-up e-mailing should be sent 4 to 8 months prior to your reunion. You can include such items as: lodging information, travel resources, registration form (including fees), cancellation policy, suggestions on what to bring, keepsake ideas, and all miscellaneous tasks/decisions needing to still be addressed.
- As you begin to communicate with family members you have not seen too often, photos will become more and more important.
Luckily, digital photos are easy to email and include in your family communications. And if you have to review how to take those terrific baby and children photos, refer to babies and children.
- Throughout the entire family reunion planning process, there should be a central repository for communication and the handling of all issues.
Since "Planning" is the name of the game, there are advantages to having an idea of potential family reunion keepsakes to aim for. Here are a few ideas:
- Be prepared for those priceless family photos with THE eBook on taking group photos... The No-Sweat Approach to Taking Great Group Photos.
- Grab up a FREE copy of Google's Picasa software (plus numerous others, all for free). Picasa performs photo editing, organizing, special effects, create on-line photo albums, and collages.
- If you're looking for the ultimate in photo collages, this collage software is for you.
Block #3: Family Reunion Vacation -->
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