Global Alumni Celebrations Event toolkit
Date: 11-17 November 2013 Global Alumni Celebrations
Country Correspondents are asked to arrange an event – however informal – for alumni in
their country during this week. This could be an informal social get-together (in a bar,
restaurant or your home), a business networking function or an educational event – the key
thing is that the event enables alumni in the country to get together and connect with one
another.
3.1 Planning a professional business networking event
Timeline for Global celebration event
September/October
Decide on date, let
Alumni office know
September/October
Research a venue,
alumni numbers,
etc
September/October
Book Venue
Run event! (Take
photos)
Receive materials
& merchandise
from Alumni office
Start Publicity
Report numbers
and feedback to
Alumni team
Post event photos
on alumni facebook
group!
Types of events
Below are some examples of events Alumni have put on the past.
Get together in bars where
alumni pay for their own
drinks
Sports events eg Dragon
Boat racing
Lunches and dinners
Visits and excursion to
intersting local sites
Talks/lectures that are Coorganised with other groups
eg British Council & other
Business Schools
Things to consider
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Is there another Country Correspondent in the same area? Could you coordinate an
event together? If your fellow Country Correspondent is in another city or state, it may be
better to hold two separate events. If you are not already in contact with other country
correspondents, let the Alumni Relations team know and they will make the introduction.
Find out how many Alumni there are in your area? Ask Hazel in the Alumni team to do
this for you. Email alumni-business@imperial.ac.uk
Work with the Alumni team to analyse the data – could
Prepare to be persistent with
you join with the main Imperial College Group or another
engaging alumni - emails hardly get
group if numbers are low? Could you theme an event if
responses, so try and fish for mobile
there is a majority of one programme?
phone numbers (get numbers from
Will the event be open to guests as well as alumni? Do
events) – Nonso, (Nigeria)
you want people to register in advance, or can they just
turn up on the night?
Apply for the grant if relevant (see below)
Let the Alumni Relations team know the address to send a box of merchandise and
literature to.
3.2 Marketing your alumni event
Please note: Due to data protection legislation we are unable to pass on the
contact details of individual alumni. The Alumni relations office will email
on your behalf if you provide us with a message.
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Ask an alumnus to bring another alumnus with them to the event. This may increase the
reach of your marketing.
Ask the Alumni Relations team in London to email all Alumni in your country on your
behalf.
In order to promote your event, the Alumni Relations office requires details of:
-Date,
-Venue,
-Timings,
-Method of payment (if applicable),
-Closing date for registration and a
-Brief blurb
We need this information so that it can be added to the website and included in the
October & November alumni e-bulletins. If you are not able to confirm all the information
straight away but are planning to hold an event, please let us know so that we can
include your event with details TBC (to be confirmed).
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For certain events, we may be able to handle payment and registration (payment needs
to be in Pounds Stirling).
Advertise the event on LinkedIn via the Imperial College Business School Alumni Group
and your own profile. Ask others to do the same. It maybe that alumni have moved to a
country and not let us know. LinkedIn means everyone will see the event.
If relevant, make posters for your workplace or to attach to emails (See Appendix 2 for a
template)
Send a personal email to all alumni in the area you are in contact with.
Post details on the main alumni Facebook page
Send reminder emails in the lead up to the event.
Send a confirmation email to those registered a few days before the event with a link to
the venue and a reminder of timings etc
Send out your event invitation in
advance (say 1 month ahead) to allow
time for gaining traction. Event on a
Thursday night will likely have high
attendance rate. Kelvin Kwok (Hong
Kong)
3.2 Merchandise
The Alumni Relations team will send you literature and merchandise if you are interested in
having some for your event. Please let us know the best address to send a small box to and
how many items you think you will need. These can include: pens, travel card holders, mints,
post it notes.
3.3 Costs
These events will need to be self-financed. We recommend that you let attendees and your
venue know ahead of time that guests will be billed for their own consumption. If you chose
to take payment ahead of time the Alumni Relations Office may be able to take payment via
our website but this has to be in pounds sterling.
3.4 Registration
If your event is free, the Eventbrite website will not charge you to register.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk
For a registration form for the day see Appendix 4.
3.5 Event on the day
 Set up a registration area to make sure you get everyone’s details as they come in.
Signpost and decorate with merchandise so alumni can spot you.
 If you want, you can ask attendees to write their names on sticky labels. This can help
with networking. We can send you labels with the merchandise if requested.
 Take some photos of the event (yes, you need to be in the photos!). Ask people to pose
if possible, group shots of people’s backs are easy to take, but won’t be effective to use
in marketing or in the newsletter.
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Try and get everyone who comes along to sign the registration sheet (Appendix 4) so
you can capture email addresses and make sure they are happy having their photo
taken and posted on social media sites and Business School marketing material.
Encourage alumni to complete the feedback postcard with the news.
3.6 Awards for Global Alumni Celebration events
We have two awards for country correspondents who arrange Global Alumni events.
-Most unusual event
-Best organised event
You can apply to win this, be nominated be fellow Country Correspondents, attendees or the
Alumni Relations office.
Just make sure your event is the best in the world! It will not depend on numbers who
attended but quality and organisation.
3.7 Alumni Event Grant
The Alumni Relations Office is now offering limited funding to Country Correspondents to
hold events in the countries that you represent.
Funding priorities
Priority will be given to community service projects, educational events, or events that clearly
build the strength of the network in the country or the visibility of the Business School’s
brand.
The grants may provide the total funding for an event, or partial funding to lower the costs to
alumni.
The amount granted to each networks will be at the discretion of the Alumni Grant
Committee.
3.7.1 Application process
To apply for a grant, please fill out the application form that you will find in Appendix 3.
The initial deadline for grant applications is one month before your event takes place and
a response will be given within five working days as to whether funding will be awarded, and
at which level.
Events have been after work drinks at
various centrally located bars in
Sydney. I recommend easy to get to
locations, at convenient times (e.g.
straight after work). Drinks are less
formal and probably more inviting
than dinners, especially for new
alumni – Anthony (Sydney, Australia)
As funding is limited, and not every grant application
will be approved, we encourage Country
Correspondents to make contact with other
Correspondents in the same country, if there are other
representatives, to make a joint bid for an event grant.
Receiving the funds
Funds cannot be moved directly into personal accounts. The process will involve
reimbursing spending. Organisers will be required to send us an expense claim form with
receipt for the full amount and we will reimburse you that way.
Eligibility
Official Imperial College Business School Country Correspondents may apply for event
funding.
Grant range
Normally, grants range from £200 - £1000. Other amounts may be considered for very
special projects at the discretion of the review committee.
Review committee
Applications will be reviewed by the Alumni Event Grant Committee, which will be made up
of Alumni Advisory Board members and Nicola Pogson, Head of Alumni Relations.
Recognition and reporting
Announcements of successful bids may be placed in alumni
publications or given other recognition as suitable.
In Singapore, we try not to hold
events on weekends as most
people like to spend quality time
with their families. Weekday
evenings tend to work for us. – Lee
Hing Yang (Singapore)
Recipient Country Correspondents will be required to submit an event report and
photographs no later than two weeks following your event.
See Appendix 3 for a grant application template.
Notify the event well in
advance. Avoid June, July,
August and Christmas time
(people are usually having
their holidays in those months)
Carlos (Spain)
Branding information
 Any use of the Imperial College Business School name or logo is to be approved in
writing by the Alumni Communications Executive. Logos are Trademarks of Imperial
College, and any use is under licence from Imperial College. Terms and conditions apply
for use
 Imperial College Business School reserves the right to remove any copy it deems
inappropriate from collateral or websites bearing the country network’s name
 Imperial College Business School will, where possible, provide template support for ecommunications or promote the event to other alumni through its Alumni e-bulletin or
targeted mailings.
 Please use the below logos if you need to, and do not attempt to alter them.
The logos:
Section 4: Useful Contacts
4.1 Who can help me at the Business School?
Main contact: Alumni Relations Executive (Global alumni celebrations, volunteering, events):
Hazel Morgan alumni-business@imperial.ac.uk
Rest of the team:
Alumni Communications (magazine, e-bulletin, website)Toby Emmerson
Alumni Relations Officer (Database access, volunteering roles, student requests, emailing
your local alumni) Kellianne Bartley
Alumni Relations Manager (Strategy, Alumni Advisory Board) Nicola Pogson
All the team can be contacted via: alumni-business@imperial.ac.uk
Website: www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/alumni
Telephone: +44(0)20 7594 6137
Imperial College central
Main Alumni office (other alumni groups in your region) alumni@imperial.ac.uk
Business School Programmes
Programme emails (Use these if you need to contact specific programmes for information or
pass to prospective students)
mba@imperial.ac.uk – Full time and Executive MBA
doctoral@imperial.ac.uk - Doctorate
execed-info@imperial.ac.uk Executive Education programme
mscactuarial@imperial.ac.uk – MSc Actuarial Finance
esb@imperial.ac.uk – Economics and Strategy for Business
mscfinance@imperial.ac.uk – MSc Finance
mscinnovation@imperial.ac.uk - MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management
health@imperial.ac.uk – International Health Management
mscmanagement@imperial.ac.uk – MSc Management
riskmanagement@imperial.ac.uk - MSc Risk Management
mscstrategicmarketing@imperial.ac.uk - MSc Strategic Marketing
Two new courses will begin in October 2014:
MSc Finance and Accounting and MSc Investment and Wealth Management.
www3.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/programmes/msc-finance-accounting
www3.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/programmes/msc-investment-wealth
4.2 Social Media
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2057&trk=anet_ug_hm
Twitter (not alumni specific) www.twitter.com/imperialbiz
Facebook www.facebook.com/ImperialCollegeBusinessSchoolAlumni
YouTube www.youtube.com/user/ICBusinessSchool?feature=csp-in-feed
Appendix 1
Event report template
Use this template at the end of each event you hold and return to the Alumni Office.
Event Title
Number of alumni who
registered for the event
Please enter your feedback below
Total number who
attended (if not all
alumni)
Format of the event eg
drinks, lunch, visit
Where was the event
held?
What went well?
What would you change
for next time?
Any other comments?
What else could the
Alumni Relations Office
have done to help you
support you with this
event?
Please return this to alumni-business@imperial.ac.uk
Title of Event
Add a photo below
DATE [Insert date here] 2013
LOCATION [Insert],
[We are delighted to offer a small number of
tickets to this annual event to students. The
Alumni Summer Reception is a great way to meet
alumni, learn more about this prestigious
community of past students and start to create
your own business and personal networks.
Tickets are just £24 per person and this includes
a guest speak from comedienne and business
woman Julia Streets, who will provide a
humorous view of the business world. This will be
followed by a drinks reception, a selection of light
summer bites accompanied by live music and the
chance to try your hand at the casino tables]
Book your place:
www.imperial.ac.uk/businessschool/alumni/events
Please note that places are limited and
registration is required.
In case of any queries, please contact the Alumni
Relations Office
E: alumni-business@imperial.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7594 6137
Appendix 3
Grant Application template
The purpose of the Alumni Event Grant is to help alumni country networks build a global
alumni community, and the Business School brand. Priority will be given to community
service projects, educational events, or events that clearly build the strength of the network
in the country or the visibility of the Business School’s brand
The initial deadline for applications is one month before your event and a response will be
given in five working days after you submit the application.
About you
Name:
Contact number:
Email address:
Programme and year of completion:
About your event
Country you are representing:
City the event will take place:
Proposed date and time of event:
Event title and topic:
Planning:
Describe your event plan – who will you invite, proposed numbers, promotional plans?
What is the amount of funds requested? (£250-£2000):
How would the funds be used? Please provide a basic overview of the event budget,
including costs and projected income:
Please return this form via email to alumni-business@imperial.ac.uk
Appendix 4
Registration list
Global Alumni Celebration event
Name
Programme and Year
Email address