Our Alumni Clubs are led by alumni volunteers with the support of the Alumni Relations Department. Club leaders serve as key players in bringing classmates and fellow alumni together, creating opportunities to share experiences and strengthen the Law School’s brand and alumni network. Leaders are expected to:
Hold at least two leadership meetings per year
Plan at least two club events each year
Promote club events and initiatives through outreach
Serve as an ambassador of the Law School and your Alumni Club
Abide by the University of Pennsylvania Policies
Virtual Events
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Alumni Club events will be virtual until further notice. While we eagerly await the day we can gather together again in person, going virtual presents new opportunities for engagement and opens up participation. Anyone can join an event from anywhere within a matter of seconds, reducing friction and making it easier to attend an Alumni Club event.
Brainstorm potential event ideas
Decide the event purpose and agenda
Confirm the event with the Law School
Select a date and time for the event
Confirm a platform for the event
Coordinate with the Law School to send out invitations and reminders
Do personal outreach and promotion
Coordinate with the Law School to track registrations
Serve as a point of contact on the day of the event
Follow up with the Law School after the event
Virtual Event Ideas
Speaker: a fellow alumni, professor, or special guest Panel: industry or topic focused Networking Event: happy hour after work, coffee hour before work
Food centered: tasting (cheese, chocolate, coffee, etc.), cooking demo Family friendly: viewing party, virtual tour of the Penn museum, etc. Entertainment: music performance Games: trivia, online games
Wellness: exercise class, mindfulness session, etc. Sharing best practices: working from home, stress management, etc. Future planning: estate planning, aging, etc.
Virtual Engagement Tips
Decide what kind of event you would like to plan. Do you want to host a social event that helps alumni get to know each other or an opportunity to hear a talk by an interesting speaker or panelists? Are you focusing on a specific demographic (ex: recent graduates, families with young children, entrepreneurs, people looking to change industries, people with interests in food, sports, or another specific area, etc.)?
If your event is centered around a speaker or panel, make sure to carefully choose your speaker or topic. There will be no venue or food to enhance the presentation, so it is important to develop engaging content and choose interesting and strong speakers.
There is considerable drop-off after 45 minutes to one hour, so we recommend keeping your program to one hour and using interactive components to keep attendees more engaged.
Utilize virtual tools such as polls, breakout rooms, and live Q&A to make the session more interactive. For example, you can utilize the breakout rooms during a happy hour event to separate people into smaller groups of 2-4 and shuffle the groups to give attendees a chance to have more intimate conversations and meet a great number of people.
Pay attention to technical details like lighting and sound.
Consider using pre-recorded clips in conjunction with live programing.
Resources
Creation of a page on MyPenn, the University’s alumni community
Creation of a LinkedIn Page
Invitation templates
Email communication
RSVP management
Event promotion on the Law School website and social media platforms
Hosting an event on a virtual meeting platform (e.g. zoom)
Financial support pending approval by the Law School