Class Reunion Coordinator Job Description (What the Committee Chair Actually Does)

⚠️ Trying to do everyone's job

The chair who can't help drafting the email, redoing the seating chart, and chasing the missing-classmate list. Burns out by month 5 and starts resenting the committee. The committee, in turn, becomes passive — why bother when the chair will redo it anyway?

⚠️ Avoiding hard conversations

A committee member is consistently late, going dark for weeks, or making unilateral decisions outside their lane. The chair waits, hoping it'll resolve. It doesn't. By month 8, the person has quietly checked out and the chair scrambles to backfill in the final stretch.

⚠️ Letting the bank account go unwatched

The chair assumes the treasurer is handling it. The treasurer is — but a key vendor invoice got paid twice, or a deposit went out without a signed contract, and nobody notices until the reconciliation in week 28.

⚠️ Skipping the post-event handoff

Reunion ends, committee disbands, chair takes a well-deserved breath. The updated roster and lessons-learned doc never get written. Next committee starts from scratch in three years. This is the single most-skipped task of every reunion cycle.

How long does the chair role actually take?

Average 2 hours per week year-round, with two clear spikes: 5–6 hours per week in the final 8 weeks and 14–16 hours on reunion day itself. Total annual time investment is roughly 130–160 hours across 14 months (including the 4-week post-event wind-down). It's a real commitment — closer to a part-time volunteer board role than to a casual side project. Anyone who tells you 'it's not that bad' has either never been chair or had a great committee that hid the work from them.

What happens if the chair quits mid-year?

It's the single highest-risk failure mode of the year. The chair owns accountability, public communications, and final decisions. Without one, the committee drifts and decisions stall. The treasurer, event coordinator, or comms lead are the most common backfill candidates because they already have committee context. Plan for it: by Month 6, every committee member should know who they'd nominate as backup chair. Document every decision in shared docs so a backfill has the institutional knowledge to ramp in two days.

Should the chair be from the reunion city?

It helps but it isn't required. What's required is that the event coordinator lives in or near the reunion city for site visits and vendor walkthroughs. The chair can be remote if the event coordinator is local and reliable. Many great chairs are remote — they're often the most-organized and most-detached classmates because they aren't getting pulled into the in-person social drama.

Does the chair get a free ticket?

No — and the chair should be the first to insist. Comping committee tickets is a slippery slope that quietly raises the per-head cost for every other attendee. The thank-you is a printed gift or a comped drink ticket at the event, not a free seat. The chair pays full price like everyone else.

Is this role the same as the 'reunion coordinator' job title?

Yes — 'reunion coordinator,' 'committee chair,' 'reunion chair,' and 'reunion lead' are interchangeable terms. Some schools' alumni offices use 'class agent' for the alumni-office-facing role; that's typically a smaller scope (fundraising and database upkeep, no event execution). The role described here is the full reunion execution lead.

What's the chair's relationship to the alumni office?

Mostly transactional. The alumni office holds the official roster, sometimes provides venue connections or insurance coverage, and may help with email distribution. They typically do not plan the event. Some schools have an alumni director who is more hands-on; in that case, the chair coordinates with them like any other vendor — set expectations early about who owns what.

How does the chair handle disagreements on the committee?

First round: let the relevant lane owner decide. Treasurer on money, comms lead on messaging, event coordinator on vendors. If a disagreement crosses lanes or stalls, the chair makes the final call. Avoid putting committee decisions to a vote — voting produces safe, mediocre choices and quiet resentment. Chair has final say; that's the role.

What does the chair do on the day of the reunion?

Arrive 4 hours before doors. Brief vendors as they show up. Run the committee dinner 30 minutes before doors. Welcome guests at the door for the first 30 minutes. Deliver the welcome remarks (under 4 minutes). Quietly check that each program segment is on time. Settle the venue final bill at the end with the treasurer. Stay through cleanup. Do not — this is the most important rule — do not get drunk. The chair's job on the day is to be the calm, sober point of contact for every vendor problem, classmate question, and venue issue. Drink after the cleanup, not during.