Alumni meet and reunion: registration, payment and the day itself

1. Decide the shape of the day

• Date, venue and a rough schedule: campus tour, lunch, felicitation, an evening get-together.
• Who can come: alumni only, or with spouse and children.
• The cost per person: venue, food, mementos, sound. Divide fixed costs by the number you realistically expect, not the size of the WhatsApp group.

2. Don’t pay the venue before people commit

Reunions have a well-known gap between “interested” and “paid”. On Yano, turn on “Only go ahead if enough people join” and enter the number that makes the reunion work. Batchmates reserve their place for ₹0. When the number is reached, everyone who reserved gets a link to pay. If it isn’t reached, nobody has paid and there is nothing to refund — you change the plan calmly. The page also shows how many have joined so far, which nudges the ones still thinking.

3. Passes that fit families

• Separate pass types with their own prices: “Alumnus”, “Alumnus + spouse”, “Child (5–12)”.
• If some batchmates want to give more toward the reunion, add a “Supporter pass” at a higher price, and say in the description what the extra pays for.
• Ask the questions you need: batch year, department, food preference, T-shirt size for the memento, and whether they need parking.
• Set the most passes one person can book, so one family doesn’t take the whole hall.

4. Where the money goes

Into the alumni association’s own UPI ID or its own Razorpay or Cashfree account — not a coordinator’s personal account. Batchmates can see whom they paid, the treasurer can tally it with the association’s books, and every person can download a statement of what they paid. Yano never holds the money.

5. Spread the word

• Batch and department WhatsApp groups, and the alumni association’s social pages.
• Ask each class representative to forward it personally; a friend’s message brings more people than an announcement.
• Share the organiser page link, so later events — a regional meet, a guest lecture by an alumnus — are in the same place.

6. On the day

• Send the scanner link to two volunteers at the registration desk. No app or login, any phone.
• Each person’s pass works once. If someone arrives without it, find them by mobile number.
• Someone who never registered turns up with a smile? Sell a walk-in pass for cash or UPI right from the scanner.
• Keep the list handy for mementos and name tags: it already has names, batches and departments.

7. Make it a tradition

Download the list afterwards — it is the most up-to-date contact list your batch will have. Next year, open this reunion and tap “Repeat this event” to copy the passes, questions and settings, and change only the date.