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Knox College is a small liberal arts college located in Galesburg, Illinois. It has an international alumni body of approximately 14,000.
Knox held their first CybeReunion in 1996, their second in 1997, and their third in 1998.
Set in September, about two weeks before homecoming, Knox's CybeReunions give its alumni a chance to make plans for get-togethers during homecoming, and to encourage one another to return.
But for some alumni -- from Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, Malaysia, Slovakia, Great Britain, and Australia-- the CybeReunion is homecoming. Some stay only a short while, some stay for hours, many return again and again. In 1997, one alum checked in from his hotel in Atlanta, the airport in Chicago, and his home in the suburbs--all within a few hours!
The event is advertised in the homecoming mailer, and a CybeREUNION website is set up specifically for Knox -- linked from Knox's own site. E-mail invitations are sent to all alumni in the College's database. Additional addresses are researched, and almost all respondents are able to share additional addresses as well. All communication with alumni after the initial Homecoming mailer is via e-mail. The college's base of e-mail addresses has grown dramatically -- from around two hundred in 1996 to over nineteen hundred in 1998.
Working with Knox's Office of Alumni Affairs to prepare for a CybeReunion, a schedule of events is drawn up. Faculty and staff are all encouraged to participate. The CybeREUNION Center is arranged and decorated specifically for Knox, with "rooms" built for specific events, and fashioned after college landmarks--Alumni Hall, Faculty Lounge, and The Gizmo (the college's coffee house).
Preregistration is requested but not required. There are no meals to cater, no seats to set up and so no need for a head count prior to the event. The CybeReunion center can hold 30,000--more than twice the college's body of active alums. But registration allows CybeREUNION to gather profile information for the college, and technical information for itself.
Banner ads are offered as a modest fundraiser. Banners can be business, fun or commemorative.
The day of the event, the doors to Knox College's CybeReunion open to waiting alums. People attend from home and office. There are computer newbies and seasoned programmers, from the class of '48 and the class of '96, all communicating together, sharing one single, heartfelt common bond -- their allegiance to the college. It's not easy to capture the spirit found at a CybeReunion into a single sentence or paragraph, but one thing is sure.
Knox College's CybeReunions are a success for all who attend!
Each Knox College CybeReunion promises to be a greater success than the previous as program enhancements at CybeREUNION continue to promise better access for all, and the alumni body continues to become more and more computer savvy.
While Knox's alumni body continues to grow, and to be more and more diverse; CybeREUNION offers an opportunity for the College to continue being a living presence in their lives. For the alum, a CybeReunion is a free ticket home!
The sky's the limit for what can be done. Got an idea? Try us. We at CybeREUNION(tm) are ready to make your CybeReunion(tm) the best ever!
Last updated 1 January 1999
©1997, 1998,1999 CybeREUNION(tm) All rights reserved.
CybeREUNION is a trademark of Bradley R. Milton