Hi Brad, Would you help me to understand why, again, the question having to do with if a person is planning to attend the "reunion" or in our case "Birthday Bash" event is on the form when a person first signs up on the website (when they first create their profile)? If they answer "yes" it shows immediately on the legend next to their name as "attending the reunion" but they haven't yet gone to register for the event or even seen any of the details via the reunion planner yet. It just announces their "intention" to go to the event before they've even seen any of the details of that event. Folks who have been on the site for a long time before the reunion planner for this event was activated have to register for the reunion before the "attending" icon shows next to their name but can do so at any time -- why can't first-time registrants? I don't understand the logic here, I guess.

If a person new to the website has to declare their intention upfront upon registration and they don't actually sign up for the reunion via the reunion planner page, then I'm reduced to running reports and parsing out those who actually signed up via the reunion planner vs. those who just declared their intention when they first registered but never actually register for it -- and then I have to send the latter group an email to remind them to do so before our deadline if they haven't done so. More potential work for me!! Why again, do you have to have that question out there when someone first creates their profile instead of keeping it strictly within the registration part of reunion planner?

Thanks, Elaine

It's because the Reunion Planner has to accommodate the needs of everybody. I'll answer your question in generic terms in a minute, but first let me address your specific scenario.

You do NOT have to ask the "Attending Reunion" question at all if you don't want to. Just click Profile Generator and deactivate it. That will solve your entire scenario in about 5 seconds. When you deactivate the question, then the only way for Classmates to get the "attending reunion" icon is to actually officially register. This is what you want, so that's what you should do. You don't have to ask this or any other default question on Profiles. Profiles are 100% customizable, you can deactivate any default questions and you can add any custom question you want.

Why do we have that question on by default? Because the majority of time it works better that way. For instance, let's say you launch a web site and you're planning a reunion 1 year out. You want to get as much buzz and excitement going about the reunion as possible in advance. People expressing their intent to attending the reunion causes more people to decide to attend the reunion. Works like a charm. This is one of the reasons you'll see here people reporting the biggest reunion turnout they've ever had. The buzz before the reunion is the key.

So -- what happens when you start planning a year out and people don't want to register or actually pay anywhere near that early? Which is typically the case. If you have the "attending reunion" icon tied only to registration and payment, what you get is the opposite. Let's call it "anti-buzz". Classmates are likely joining the site regularly and they have no idea who's planning on coming. The last thing you need early on is anti-buzz. Letting people express their intent to attend early on is the key to getting more and more participation as your reunion draws near. When lots of people are jumping in the water, then those on the edge are more likely to jump in the water.

What are the drawbacks? Just like you said, you might have a scenario where you have to hound people who said they planned to attend to actually register and pay. There's always likely to be a few "hounding needed" folks on the list. It's usually a small price to pay in order to obtain a good turnout.

All right, there ya go. Just remember that you have options. In fact we've seen many people use the "Attending Reunion" question to generate the early buzz, and as the reunion got closer they've turned the question of, forcing later attendees to officially register in order to get the "attending reunion" icon next to their name.

In the next round of enhancements to the Reunion Planner we'll be adding some additional options as well, namely the ability to manually show the "attending reunion" icon only for those who have officially registered vs. those who have simply expressed their intent to attend, and we'll also be adding the option of requiring Classmates purchase 1 or more of any given item in order to proceed with registration. This will solve scenarios where somebody registers but forgets to buy something mandatory, such as their reunion tickets. So stay tuned, the Reunion Planner is always a work in progress based on the needs you gals and guys express here.

OK, got it -- it's definitely a good selling point to advertise "intent". I think I will keep the question in the Profile Generator for now and instead, start a campaign for those already on the site to start signing up for the "bash!" Would love to see those options you are planning on, though, sometime in the future. Thanks for your quick response, Brad.

Hi Brad,
I'm fairly new with our Class Creator website & our Reunion is this July. This is the first time I have posted a question regarding a problem I am experiencing. I read the info here about the Reunion Planner, Reunion Attendees etc., but I'm still having trouble getting mine correct. Have double checked it several times & I must be missing something! Would appreciate any help you can give me!
THANKS!!

Sorry, what exactly is it you're trying to correct?

I apologize for not explaining my problem...

I have activated the Reunion Planner & checked "YES, allow Classmates to sign up for the Reunion online". I have also added 3 questions regarding attendance at those 3 events. Items are not being offered for sale. We are only accepting reservation payments in the form of a check to be mailed to a member of our class & I have filled out that information.

On the Classmate profile section, it shows "Attending Who Is Attending"? 3 people attending. If I click on that, it brings up those 3 people & their names. If I click any one of those 3 names, it brings up their profile, but nothing about the Reunion Info that I created in the Reunion Planner.

The link "Who Is Attending" on the side-bar menu: When I click on that, it brings up the info in the Reunion Planner including the 3 questions I added, but it only brings up my personal information regarding the information.

I think I've covered everything...Some where along the line, I have done something wrong. I have gone back thru & checked everything, but I must be missing something. (LOL, the problem usually has to do with the user, not the computer or the computer program!! LOL!!)

Thanks for your help!

When you click on the Classmate Profile, it is only supposed to show you the PROFILE QUESTIONS. Only an admin can see the Reunion Survey questions/answers.

The Reunion Survey questions will be seen by all classmates when they click on the "Who is Attending" link, they can fill out the Reunion Survey Profile questions, but these answers will not be shown when another classmate views their Classmate Profile.

To see the answers for the "Who is Attending" survey, you need to go to the Reunion Planner, then click the Show Attendees link. There you will see all of the classmates who have filled out your Reunion Survey, "Who is Attending" link. If you click on the classmate's name, you will see how they filled out their reunion survey.

If you want a report with all the totals for each Reunion Survey, you would go to Reunion Planner, then click on the REPORTS link.

THANK YOU!! It appears that I have done it correctly! Just deceiving because I am the administrator so I see more than what a classmate sees! I'll have a fellow classmate "test" it to be sure though!
Thanks Again!!

You could also add a "Guest" classmate for yourself so you could test it yourself. Just add another classmate and then on the DETAILS page, there is an option "Show on class list", choose the "Show as Guest" option. Then you can just delete the guest after your testing is complete. Or you can make it a NON-DISPLAYING guest, so it will never show up in any list.

I need to add people to the list of attending reunion who have sent in payment but not through the reunion planner. I swtiched to a yes or no option in the profile generator, but the yes's didn't get picked up on the attending list. What can I do to make sure an accurate running total list is maintained for people to see on the site?

1) Click Reunion Planner
2) Click the Show Attendees link
3) Click the Add Attendee button
4) Add any necessary items to the cart of the Classmate's behalf
5) Check out using the "Check' payment option

Upon submitting the registration the Classmate will be added to the official list of Reunion Attendees, be included in Reunion Reports, etc.

Thanks, I'm able to do that alright, but the new attended doesn't show up in the list generated when you open Classmate Profiles and doesn't add the attending reunion logo to her profile. I just changed the answer to the attending reunion question in the profile to yes no and made sure her answer was yes, but it didn't seem to add her on to the list. Thanks.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that you'll also need to edit the Classmate's Profile to turn on the "attending reunion" flag. You did it exactly right.

Brad, the person I'm trying to add still doesn't show up on the attending reunion list or have the icon next to her name on the profiles list. What else do I need to do to get her on the list? Thanks.

You edited this person's Profile and answered the "Attending Reunion" question with a Yes answer, correct? If so and the icon is still not appearing let me know the Classmate's name and I'll check it out.

Thanks, it's Denise Le Beuf (Volz)

Oops, I see the problem. You deactivated the included "Attending Reunion" question. Actually you didn't deactivate it, it was still active but you blanked out the question for some reason. And then you made your own copy of the exact same question. You can't do that though, our system would have no clue what your custom questions mean or how they should interact with the system. I deactivated your custom question and reactivated the included default question. Any Classmates who answered the former custom reunion question will have to reanswer and save their Profiles if they want their "attending reunion" icon to turn on.

Thanks, can I just re-answer for them?

Sure ya can.