Pre-Event Survey
Class Reunion Survey: Questions Worth Asking
A great pre-event survey does four jobs at once: it confirms the date works, it captures dietary restrictions, it feeds the slideshow with photos and memories, and it seeds the superlative awards. The survey below has been tested across hundreds of reunions. Copy-paste it, edit for your class, send it.
Two surveys, two purposes
Don't try to combine these into one mega-survey:
- Interest survey (8-10 months out). Sent to your whole found-classmate list. Goal: confirm the date, gauge attendance, surface what would make people attend. 4-5 questions, under 90 seconds.
- Logistics survey (at ticket purchase, 4 months out). Sent only to classmates buying a ticket. Goal: capture dietary needs, badge info, slideshow uploads, superlatives. 6-8 questions, under 3 minutes.
The interest survey — 5 questions
Copy-paste these. Edit lightly.
- 1. Are you likely to attend our [year]-year reunion? (Definitely yes / Probably yes / Probably not / Definitely not / Need more info)
- 2. Which weekend works best? Multi-select calendar of 3-4 candidate weekends. Lets you pick the one that maximizes attendance.
- 3. What format would draw you most? (Single Saturday-evening dinner / Casual weekend mixer / Full Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekend / Don't care, just glad to attend)
- 4. Anything we should know that would make you more likely to attend? (Open text, optional.) This question is where you learn about anxieties, conflicts, and asks you wouldn't have anticipated.
- 5. Anyone from our class you're especially hoping to see? (Open text, optional, anonymous answers ok.) This question doubles as a classmate-search lead generator — names that appear repeatedly are classmates you must prioritize finding.
Why 5 questions, not 15
The logistics survey — 8 questions at RSVP
Bundled into the ticket-purchase flow so completion is implicit:
- 1. Your name and your name in high school (if different — for badges).
- 2. Dietary restrictions or allergies (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, nut allergy, kosher, halal, none).
- 3. Are you bringing a plus-one? Their name?
- 4. Upload your favorite senior-year photo (for the slideshow) — optional, but with a clear button.
- 5. What city do you live in now? (For the where-do-you-live map and superlatives.)
- 6. Optional bio: what should we put under your name on your badge? "Ask me about ___" — 5-10 words. Best icebreaker prompt you can give your classmates.
- 7. Any accessibility needs? (Wheelchair access, hearing assistance, dietary, other.)
- 8. Want to nominate classmates for superlative awards? Most Changed / Longest Distance Traveled / Most Kids / etc. Multi-select with text field.
12 questions to skip (and why)
- "What's your annual income?" Invasive. Creates status anxiety. Will tank your response rate.
- "What's your job title?" Same. If you want this for the program, ask only in an optional bio field where the classmate chooses what to share.
- "Are you married?" Sensitive for many classmates. Use "Are you bringing a plus-one?" instead.
- "Do you have kids?" Sensitive. Optional bio field only.
- "What were your favorite high school memories?" Too open-ended. Responses are vague and unusable.
- "Who was your favorite teacher?" Fun bar-trivia question, not a survey question. Skip.
- "What's your political affiliation?" Never.
- "Religious affiliation?" Never.
- "What's your weight / fitness level?" Even framed as "t-shirt size" this can backfire. Don't order class swag that requires sizing without making sizing optional.
- "What was your senior superlative in the yearbook?" The yearbook tells you. Don't make classmates dig.
- "Would you like to be on the next reunion committee?" Ask this after the event, not before. Asking before sounds like a recruiting trap.
- "What would you change about high school looking back?" Too heavy. Save it for actual conversations at the reunion.
Turning survey data into reunion decisions
Date selection
Pick the weekend with the highest "definitely or probably yes" rate. Don't pick the weekend with the most respondents — pick the one with the most attendance commitments.
Format selection
If "single Saturday evening" gets 60%+, go with it. If responses split evenly across options, default to the simplest format (Saturday evening only) plus optional Friday/Sunday add-ons.
Classmate search prioritization
Names that appear repeatedly in "anyone you're hoping to see" are your priority finds. Search them first. Surfacing them often triggers a domino effect — if Sam is the linchpin of an old friend group, finding Sam often unlocks 5 more classmates who only come if Sam does.
Slideshow
Survey photo uploads become the slideshow material. Don't curate them too aggressively — every classmate who uploaded should have at least one photo in the slideshow. Inclusion drives engagement.
Superlatives
Tally the nominations from question 8. The most-nominated person in each category wins. Don't override with the committee's opinion — let the class's votes win.
With Reunly for Class Reunions
Run surveys, RSVPs, and slideshow uploads from one place
Reunly's built-in surveys feed directly into the badge designer, slideshow uploader, and superlative voting tools. Survey answers don't sit in a spreadsheet — they shape the event.
Start your reunion free →Frequently asked questions
When should we send the survey?
Two surveys, two purposes. Send an interest survey 8-10 months out to gauge attendance and date preference. Send a logistics survey at ticket-purchase time (4 months out) to capture dietary restrictions, badge details, and survey responses that fuel the slideshow and superlatives.
What's the ideal survey length?
Interest survey: 4-5 questions, under 90 seconds. Logistics survey at RSVP: 6-8 questions, under 3 minutes. Anything longer cuts completion rates dramatically. The survey is not the place to gather every interesting fact — it's the place to gather what you actually need.
Should we ask sensitive questions about income, jobs, or marital status?
Never on the survey. Status questions create anxiety that suppresses RSVPs. If you want a 'who's married, who has kids' kind of insight, gather it through optional bio fields where the classmate decides what to share — not through required questions.
What's the survey response rate we should expect?
Pre-RSVP interest survey: 25-40% of contacted classmates. RSVP-linked logistics survey: 95%+ (because completing it is part of the RSVP). The interest survey is the leading indicator — if response rates are below 20%, your contact list is stale and you need more search work.
How do we use survey data once we have it?
Four uses: (1) confirm the date and format choices, (2) populate the slideshow with photo and memory submissions, (3) seed the superlatives ('who's traveled farthest, who has the most kids, who's stayed in the hometown'), (4) flag any logistics needs (accessibility, dietary restrictions). Don't collect data you won't use.
Should the survey be anonymous?
Some answers, yes. Make the questions about anyone they're hoping to see, what they're nervous about, and what would make them most likely to attend anonymous — those answers help the committee plan. Make everything logistics-related (dietary, badge details, photo uploads) explicitly tied to their RSVP.
Can we send the survey via a Google Form?
Yes, that works fine. Or use a built-in reunion-planning tool like Reunly that auto-aggregates responses into the slideshow and superlative voting. The platform matters less than the question design — a great survey on Google Forms beats a bad survey on a paid tool.
Related class reunion guides
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