5 Virtual & Hybrid Alumni Engagement Events For 2026

Pandemic or not, nothing stops advancement teams from coming up with the best ideas to engage alumni virtually and support them.

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So, with the current state of things prompting schools and universities to digitally engage their constituents, one trend that’s picking up is virtual events. 

Having observed over a hundred schools and universities host successful virtual alumni events in the past three months, here’s the list of the top 10 trending ones being adopted by advancement teams in the US.

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1. Virtual Alumni Reunions

While nothing replaces the feeling of reuniting with old friends at a class reunion, strict social distancing measures are leading to an increasing number of institutions adopting the virtual format to host their reunions. 

Translating these large constituent gatherings into an online celebration is a great way to drive more attendance as constituents from all over the world, irrespective of their geographical location can join, granted they have a good internet connection. Whether it’s a short social mixer or a longer event spread over the weekend, effective planning is the key to hosting a successful virtual alumni event.  

In lieu of social distancing measures, Brenau’s Office of constituents and Constituent Engagement hosted its Constituents Reunion Weekend online, bringing its community together to connect and catch up during these challenging times.

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2. Virtual Commencement

Commencement is a milestone in every student’s life and deserves to be celebrated with grandeur. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis has led to many ceremonies being called off leaving students around the world in a state of despair. 

If you’re concerned about your Class of 2020, use this opportunity to reach out to leaders in your alumni community and urge them to reach out to your young graduates. As an alma mater, this is the time for you to boost their morale and foster leadership skills needed to navigate the new world. 

In a grand gesture, high school students, educators, and world leaders came forward for a television special Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 on May 16th, 2020, to honor those high school graduates whose graduation ceremonies and proms were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show included a variety of commencement addresses, celebrity performances and inspirational speeches.

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Another great virtual commencement ceremony that deserves a shoutout is by the University of Pittsburgh. The first-of-its-kind in the history of the university, degrees were awarded to nearly 8,000 undergraduate, master’s, professional and doctoral candidates. Students were emailed a “virtual” diploma immediately after the ceremony.

3. Virtual Race

With everyone confined to their houses, forced to work from home, schools closed, and limitations on social interactions, physical fitness and well-being is getting deprioritized for a lot of people. Virtual runs/walkathon events are a great approach to bringing your alumni community together, driving more conversations and most important of all - creating an avenue for them to make time for their well being.

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4. Virtual Happy Hour

Virtual happy hours are the perfect approach to helping your alumni relieve stress and overcome the fear of isolation as they open up to their friends over drinks. Create a dedicated event page for collecting RSVPs and lay down all the details on this page. Ask your alumni to grab a beverage of their choice, join the meeting link, and drink away the night!

St. Thomas University School of Law created a dedicated event page for its first-ever Young constituents Virtual Happy Hour and promoted the event via social media.

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5. Virtual Dance Party

It’s going to be a while before your alumni can go out to their favorite club or invite their friends over for a crazy dance party but don’t let that stop you from bringing the experience home to them. Host a virtual dance party to bring out those crazy moves.

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Antioch College roped in their alumni DJs from across generations and got 400+ registrations to its Virtual Div Dance Party event in just 11 days! The college set up a dedicated event page on its alumni network, laying down all the details needed for alumni to be able to participate and extensively promoted the event via Facebook.

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6. Virtual Fundraising Events

While many institutions are still in a dilemma of whether or not to make a fundraising ask during an ongoing global crisis, the recent #GivingTuesdayNow saw some super creative virtual giving campaigns. 

As schools and universities face a desperate need to maintain their revenue streams especially in the face of a looming economic crisis, many institutions are opting for student emergency campaigns and online auctions. 

The French American International School anticipated a need for an increase in financial aid for next year as it provides support to its students in the form of tuition, books, lunches, and to every family that needs help during these tough times.

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7. Seminars and webinars to help your alumni navigate the crisis 

Support your alumni community with vital resources required to deal with the coronavirus via a virtual webinar or a seminar. As the world deals with uncertainty, fear, and anxiety amidst this crisis, bring health experts, career coaches, and your university leadership to come together and disseminate helpful information.

In response to COVID-19, University of Washington’s Department of Global Health initiated a weekly virtual lecture series featuring UW researchers who are coronavirus and pandemic preparedness experts, covering topics from testing and response measures to vaccine development and social & economic impacts.‍

Read more about UW Department of Global Health’s “Exploring and understanding the COVID-19 pandemic” seminar series here. 

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8. Virtual Book Clubs

With the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, your alumni now have the time to catch up on that old classic that they never got to complete and even reconnect with their long-lost reading groups. 

Create virtual book clubs and target interested audiences with invitations to join these exclusive communities where they can connect with like-minded peers and have fruitful conversations that stir every book lover’s soul. Share a reading schedule allowing members time to read the book, participate in the discussion, and allow them to choose if they want to participate in the next reading session.

William Peace University, a liberal arts college in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, launched a Virtual Book Club focused on professional development and career advancement for the university students and alumni. The group acts as a community that collectively sets and realizes career-related goals.

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9. Virtual Gaming Night

A virtual gaming night can be a great way to de-stress and relax with friends. Bring your alumni community together for a fun night of online poker, charades, or pictionary to inspire a healthy sense of competition amongst your alumni. You could even get some of your favorite staff members to make a special appearance to spruce up the night. 

Here’s how Samueli Academy brought its alumni community together during COVID-19 with Social Distancing Gaming Night over Zoom.

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10. Virtual Yoga Session

With the rising stress and anxiety levels owing to COVID-19, now’s the best time for your school or university to start a virtual exercise or yoga program for your alumni. Organizing virtual exercise or yoga sessions for your alumni community during these tough times can help them deal with stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and motivate them to work towards their overall physical and mental well-being. 

Get certified Yoga practitioners/trainers from your community to lead these sessions to help their peers become fitter and better. 

William Peace University roped in its former Alumni Board President, Alli Leggett '01 to organize a virtual yoga session for alumni to join from the comfort of their home.

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It’s that special time of the year again - Homecoming! For schools, colleges, and universities across the country, the Homecoming weekend is a grand, festive celebration where students, alumni, and faculty come together to show their school pride. For alumni, homecoming is a truly memorable experience as they look forward to meeting their old friends, teachers, mentors, current students and making new memories. The nostalgia associated with homecoming also encourages alumni to give back to their alma mater and learn more about the philanthropic possibilities. 

While the pandemic has definitely made it difficult to host a traditional Homecoming this year, it is incredible to see how institutions are coping up to deliver the best experience to their communities via a virtual or a hybrid format. As raising funds become all the more crucial amidst a pandemic, schools, and universities are leveraging creative opportunities to maximize fundraising profit potential at their Virtual Homecoming this fall. 

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Here are the top 5 fundraising ideas to boost alumni donations at your Homecoming this year. 

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Virtual Talent Show Fundraiser

A virtual talent show is a great, fun-filled way to encourage your alumni to showcase their talents and are perfect for making small fundraising appeals. Inspire alumni to flaunt their artistic side, be it singing, dancing, music, or even magic. Set a theme that your alumni would be excited to perform to and collect registrations well in advance. You could also use an event management tool to create a branded event page with details about the theme, attendees, timings, and urge alumni to make a donation on the page. 

Make the event more interesting by conducting a live poll amongst your alumni to decide the winner. You can also live stream the event on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram to boost engagement during the event and appeal to those engaged online to make a gift. In addition to making fundraising appeals a part of your event registration process and promotions during the online event, you can also add a payment link to your communications (emails and social media) after the event. 

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Online Retail Store

As the pandemic has forced everyone to stay confined to their homes for a majority of the year, health, and wellbeing has become a priority across the globe. So, this homecoming is a wonderful opportunity to help your alumni take actionable steps towards their health and well-being with a virtual race/walk-a-thon/marathon. ‍

Post inspiring posts on your event page, garner support from alumni volunteers, and create awareness via social media. Also, remind your alumni that your institution too needs the support of their loyal donors to be able to power through this economic crisis. You can charge just a nominal fee per ticket for participants and also encourage alumni during the course of the event to support your cause.

See how Manchester University in Indiana hosted a 30-day Virtual 5K race at their Homecoming 2020, encouraging alumni to embrace the community spirit by joining the event along with their family and friends. 

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Watch Party Fundraiser

Since the onset of the pandemic, people have missed going out to movies with their friends. Bring the movie watching experience home to your alumni this homecoming by organizing a watch party. Take a poll to select the movie and set a designated time for the watch party. Connect your alumni over a Zoom call, so they can watch the movie together while being able to chat with each other real-time. You can also have all your alumni assemble on the call and then assign breakout rooms for different class years to have their own watch parties while they get to talk to their friends. 

You can create a ticketed virtual event and encourage alumni to make a contribution to support your cause. Choosing a compelling theme and making a personalized appeal for donations can go a long way in boosting your fundraising this Homecoming. 

Check out how Antioch College hosted an Adventure Watch Party 2020 to celebrate the entering class of 2024 and to raise funds for their needs. 

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Drive-through Dinner Fundraiser

Good food and conversations are a usual part of homecoming, but this year calls for a different approach. As your alumni cannot come together for a dinner party, you could organize a drive-through dinner to comply with the social distancing guidelines in your state. 

Set up your registration page early and inform your alumni about what they should be expecting. From tacos to hot dogs, take your pick and promote the drive-through via social media, emails, and your alumni website. To spice it up, you can even create a themed-dinner and your volunteers can go live on Facebook or YouTube right before the event starts to boost engagement. It is also integral to let your alumni know how you plan on using the proceeds from their purchases. 

For universities and other higher education institutions across the country, alumni engagement is essential to maintain a steady stream of support for driving programs. Historically, alumni engagement relied heavily on in-person events, but your alumni programs in 2021 probably don’t feature the same in-person happy hours, mixers, and fundraising events that they once did.

COVID-19 has curtailed in-person gatherings, but it’s still possible to engage with your school’s alumni in an effective and meaningful way. Zoom has emerged as the most popular virtual conferencing software option and has played a significant role in continued alumni engagement during the pandemic.

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While it’s not quite the same as meeting in person, Zoom can still provide a venue for your alumni to build relationships, network, and learn. Using the knowledge and experience we’ve picked up from these industries, we’ve compiled a list of tips for using Zoom to engage with your alumni virtually.

1. Host virtual events

When planning virtual events for your alumni on Zoom, there are two broad categories to choose from: meetings and webinars.

Zoom meetings allow for more significant interaction among attendees. Attendees can see each other on screen, write messages to one another in a group chat, share their screens, and ask questions. Alternatively, webinars are well-suited to facilitating virtual presentations where audience interaction isn’t necessary. In a Zoom webinar, attendees don’t see each other on the platform—they’ll only see the presentation that the host is sharing on their screen. This is a perfect space for conducting webinars with multiple panelists, addressing relevant topics such as managing time while working from home, career coaching, etc. - here's a recent webinar on combatting Zoom Fatigue.

There are all sorts of engaging ideas schools have used in the past year when it comes to Zoom meetings. Perhaps the most popular has been the virtual happy hour, where alumni gather in a Zoom room to have a drink after work, network and listen to a speaker. A few other ideas are conducting virtual yoga classes, game nights, or organizing virtual book clubs for your alumni.

The overall purpose for all virtual Zoom events is to engage your alumni and maintain a sense of community despite the distance we have to keep due to the pandemic. A mix of fun, social meetings, and educational webinars can accomplish those goals and provide additional value to your alumni.

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2. Prepare detailed plans

Before you have your Zoom meeting or webinar, make sure you prepare ahead of time. First, set a goal for your virtual Zoom event: What is the purpose? What do you hope the meeting will accomplish? Next, make a plan for how the event will go. How long will it last? What will happen during the event? Who will be invited?

Let’s say you’re planning a happy hour. You’ll want to make a schedule ahead of time to help the event run smoothly. The schedule might include:

- Alumni introductions: 15min

- Group screenshot: 5min

- Speaker: 10min

- Q&A: 20min

Once you have a schedule in place, gather the necessary staff members involved in the event and do a run-through of the event activities beforehand. Test your internet connection and familiarize yourself with all of Zoom’s features to avoid technical issues during the actual event. Using a Zoom ai note taker can also help automatically capture meeting notes and ensure nothing important is missed during discussions. Some additional tips to prepare well for your event are:

Promote the event

An essential aspect of Zoom event preparation is promoting the event to your school’s alumni network. Using your alumni CRM, segment your potential supporters and send emails informing alumni about the event. Use your segments to reach your alumni with personalized messages that will most intrigue your audience. For instance, you may provide additional information about your speaker’s newest book in invitations to your supporters who studied English.

Include the agenda for the event in these promotional emails so that the attendees know what to expect from the opportunity.

Ensure security

You may have heard of “Zoom bombers”—people who join Zoom meetings to which they were not invited in order to disrupt the event. To avoid having your event bombarded with Zoom bombers, there are a few security measures you can take, like:

- Require a password to enter the event.

- Use the waiting room function.

- Lock the event room after ten minutes.

- Do not allow attendees to screen share.

Taking these steps will help to keep Zoom bombers out of your event so the focus can remain on your alumni.

3. Tailor events to specific audiences

While general alumni events like happy hours are fun and engaging, consider hosting events specific to certain topics or audiences to provide real value to your alumni. One example is hosting life skills workshops for fresh graduates on topics like financial literacy and home buying. According to DonorSearch’s guide to alumni giving, building relationships with recent graduates is an effective strategy to increase the likelihood of future giving.

Other events might be geared toward different segments within your alumni network.

For example, The College of William & Mary has a virtual alumni event titled “Women’s Health Series: Improving Maternal Health” and a webinar about diversity in the workplace. Providing high-value content to specific segments of your alumni in addition to the camaraderie naturally involved in these events will strengthen alumnae’s ties to their alma mater. Plus, they’ll be appreciative of the genuinely helpful programming and services your events provide—and odds are, they’ll remember that when you reach out to them for your next fundraising campaign.

If you’re unsure which events or webinars would be desirable to your alumni, consider asking some of your alumni leaders for ideas and/or sending out a questionnaire to your alumni as a whole to gauge interest in specific topics. A fitting event for the current era might be geared toward the class of 2020 and helping them navigate the COVID-affected job market.

4. Empower alumni to lead their own Zoom events

It’s challenging to engage a nation of alumni with Zoom meetings—they can easily become large and overwhelming, not conducive to networking and connecting with other alumni. Smaller, location or interest-based virtual events may be just the thing your alumni need to connect with one another. Empower engaged alumni with the ability to run their own Zoom events. These leaders may be presidents of their local alumni associations or just particularly involved former students. Consider reaching out to alumni who previously ran in-person events and gauge their interest in launching Zoom events during the COVID era.

Once you have a list of interested and qualified alumni leaders, ask them to pitch event ideas, design agendas, and receive approval before moving forward with the events. Develop detailed training materials to distribute to these alumni about running successful Zoom events in order to ensure all alumni engagement opportunities run smoothly.

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Zoom is an easy-to-use platform that can do wonders for your engagement strategy if used the right way. Organizing webinars, group calls, and virtual events are great ways to with your alumni - no matter where they are. Incorporate these four tips to create a meaningful presence within your alumni community during the Zoom era.

2020 was a unique and challenging year for educational institutions as traditional alumni engagement events such as reunions, homecoming, chapter meet-ups stood either cancelled or postponed. As the pandemic made it nearly impossible to hold any in-person alumni events, advancement teams realized the need to look for creative ways beyond traditional events to stay connected to their alumni and offer support to their communities. 

Schools, colleges, and universities across the globe opted for the next best option - virtual events and at times, a combination of both in-person and virtual events. This past year gave us an opportunity to witness some of the most creative virtual events focused on driving higher participation from alumni. 

As we wrap up the year, let's take stock of the five most popular alumni virtual events in 2020. 

1. Virtual Races

At a time when health has become a top priority, a few institutions have shifted their focus on ensuring the health and well-being of their alumni. The past year saw a number of advancement teams host virtual races - walk-a-thons and marathons, and motivate alumni to take actionable steps towards their health. 

With everyone confined to their homes, forced to work from home, limitations on social interactions, it wasn't just physical fitness that took a back seat. The pandemic has also wreaked havoc on the United States’ mental-health system as the country witnesses a historic wave of mental health problems approaching. More than anything, in 2020, these virtual races helped relieve the stress and loneliness that alumni were reeling with.

Check out how The College of Idaho introduced a month-long virtual run/walkathon for their alumni during COVID-19. Alumni could participate from any location and any time during the month of April. The virtual event created an opportunity for alumni to virtually engage with one another while being socially distant and take actionable steps towards their health and well-being. The College of Idaho's Virtual Race witnessed huge success as the college captured 100+ RSVP's in 20 days. 

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2. Virtual Happy Hours

Another big hit amongst advancement teams in 2020 was Virtual Happy Hours. Before the pandemic, Friday night happy hours were a common practice for advancement teams to drive alumni engagement. However, social distancing regulations put an end to this crowd favourite event. 

Resultantly, a few institutions decided to transition to Happy Hours over video conferencing software such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom and many more followed suit. Virtual Happy Hours turned out to be a great avenue for boosting social interactions amongst alumni in times of social isolation and anxiety. 

When Florida International University thought of hosting a happy hour event, they went the extra mile. After a two-hour Zoom session, they planned an after-party to entertain their alumni. The alumni were treated to an exclusive DJ set that they could enjoy with their family members from the comfort of their homes. Read more about Florida International University's Virtual Happy Hour here.

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3. Virtual Flagship Events - Homecoming, Reunions, and Commencement

While a majority of institutions were hosting smaller-scale events virtually at the onset of the pandemic, many were apprehensive about hosting larger flagship events such as Annual Reunion, Homecoming, and Commencement in this new format.

However, the latter part of the year saw advancement teams take the plunge towards moving online for some of their biggest events. 2020 witnessed traditional events such as homecoming, annual reunions, and even commencement ceremonies being successfully hosted virtually. Institutions leveraged event management tools and experimented with virtual events that were spread across days and had multiple sub-events. 

Despite not being able to get alumni together on campus to celebrate these grand occasions, alumni associations found creative ways to drive engagement. 

Cornell University hosted a two-day homecoming event aptly named StayHomeComing. The digital version of the event included exclusive downloads and interactive sessions. To keep the Big Red spirit alive, the school also hosted a fun evening where the Cornell Athletics Hall of Famers and student-athletes competed in various activities. Read more about the virtual event here.

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4. Virtual Book Clubs

While binge-watching shows on Netflix was a popular pastime during the lockdown, 2020 also saw some people go back to old hobbies and creature comforts. Reading, in particular, was a great way to productively spend time at home whilst also keeping COVID-induced stress at bay. A few universities picked up on this and thought of a unique way to engage alumni - virtual book clubs.

To boost alumni participation, the University of Maryland partnered with PBC Guru and started two virtual book clubs - Fiction and Literature, and Management and Leadership. Alumni read one book every two months and then share their views on a platform specially designed by the institute. Read more about this wonderful initiative here.

Thanks to this event, the institution successfully rekindled alumni's love for reading and facilitated social interactions.

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5. Virtual Dance Parties

It's been a while since any of us have grooved to our favourite tunes and spent our nights dancing away at our favourite club. But that didn't stop advancement teams in 2020 from bringing the experience home to their beloved alumni. To combat the accompanying stress and anxiety around the pandemic and provide avenues for alumni to socialize with their peers, some institutions hosted virtual dance parties with the help of virtual event management solutions.

The Washington State University Alumni Association (WSUAA) hosted a 2-hour long virtual dance party over Zoom and also brought in a special DJ to play alumni's favourite songs on request. Read more about the event here.

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Wrapping Up...

While 2020 was full of hurdles that alumni professionals could not have anticipated, it also brought along new opportunities. Institutions across the country went above and beyond to devise creative ways to keep their alumni engaged virtually and overcome challenges amid this new normal.

As a remote working professional with years of experience in alumni relations & fundraising, Nita June, Director of Alumni Relations at The Association of Waldorf Schools (AWSNA) finds that working remotely offers flexibility and freedom that is refreshing and gratifying. She also feels that this same freedom can be challenging to manage successfully and that everyone has their own methods that work for them. Check out our Advancement from Home eBook to read what Nita and other advancement professionals are saying.

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With schools and universities closed for a long time now, advancement staff members are gradually adapting to the new norm of working from home while effectively engaging alumni and donors via virtual events. 

Backed by data from 200+ schools and universities who have hosted successful virtual events over the last two months, here’s a virtual event checklist for advancement teams.

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Step 1: Identify the need your virtual event is going to solve

With tons of creative virtual event ideas floating around the internet, the best way to figure out what’s best for you is to ask yourself these questions:

- How can you offer support to your audience during these testing times? 

- How can you solve a particular pain point of your constituents with your event?

Based on what your audience will resonate with the most, get started with building your virtual event. 

The French American International School anticipated a need for an increase in financial aid for next year as it provides support to its students in the form of tuition, books, lunches, and to every family that needs help during these tough times. 

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Step 2: Decide where to set up your virtual event & finalize the agenda

Once you’ve decided your virtual event theme, put together your event agenda and figure out what tools you need to execute your event. 

You can set up a dedicated event page on your alumni website or create a Facebook event page to capture registrations. If you need additional software such as Zoom for video conversations with attendees, Trello for organizing your event, or Almabase or Blackbaud to send emails to your attendees, this is the right time to talk to the experts on each team.

Take a cue from Antioch College’s incredible success with its first Virtual Div Dance Party. The Alumni Association set up an event page on its alumni website and Facebook to capture registrations. In addition to this, Antioch College needed funds to be able to host the 6-hours long virtual event which had 400+ registrations. So, the college set up a virtual fundraiser and urged attendees to contribute. Read how Antioch College got 400+ attendees to its Virtual Div Dance Party in 11 days amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Step 3: Promote the virtual event to maximize reach

Your virtual event’s success is largely dependent on your marketing strategy. O, how do you build a solid marketing strategy? The answer is by following the basics - emails and social media.

Use past data including event attendance, Facebook engagement, donation history and email engagement to identify highly engaged constituents and retarget them with personalized emails for your virtual event. 

Social media is a powerful tool when it comes to maximizing the reach of your virtual event. Create a hashtag, a series of posts, get your followers to join in and encourage them to share these posts with their network. 

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Step 4: Track event success and have a post-event feedback strategy in place

You’re done with the planning, you got people to register for your virtual event, and with that awesome tool you signed-up for, your event is going great. Now what?

Having a good measure of engagement is critical to report on the success of your virtual event while working remotely. Measure your event based on metrics like registrations, check-ins, email open and click rates, and social media impressions and reactions. 

Another key metric that helps determine the success of your virtual events is post-event feedback. This is crucial in improving the quality of future events and boosting participation. It reveals what attendees, sponsors, and stakeholders loved about your event and what you can do to make it even better next time. There are various ways to collect high-quality feedback from your event attendees.

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