Planning Tools
50+ pre-reunion planning questions organized by category, plus 20+ post-reunion feedback questions. How to distribute surveys, get responses from elderly relatives, and use results to make decisions.
Send this survey 9–12 months before the reunion to inform your major decisions (location, date, venue type, budget). Don't ask all of these at once — pick the most relevant 10–15 questions for your situation.
Tool recommendation: Google Forms (free). Create your survey, share the link via email and group text. Responses auto-collect in a Google Sheet.
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Send within 48 hours of the reunion while memories are fresh. Keep it to 10–15 questions — people are tired after a full event.
Subject line that gets responses: "2 minutes: Tell us what you thought of the reunion"
Share the link in both email and group text simultaneously. Each additional channel increases completion by 15–25%.
For the post-event feedback survey, bring printed copies to the reunion and collect them before guests leave. In-person completion rates are much higher than email follow-up for elderly relatives.
Call elderly family members directly and walk through the questions verbally. Record their answers yourself. This is the only reliable way to get their input.
Offer a small incentive: 'Everyone who completes the planning survey by March 1 will be entered to win [small prize].' Raffle entries work well.
A survey without a deadline gets procrastinated. 'Please complete by March 1' is much more effective than 'Please complete soon.'
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A family reunion planning survey should cover: preferred dates (multiple choice), preferred location (general area or specific city), expected number of family members attending from their household, willingness to travel (and how far), food preferences and dietary restrictions, activity preferences, budget tolerance (how much they'd pay per person), lodging preferences, and RSVP commitment. Keep the survey to 10–15 questions to maximize completion rates. Every additional question reduces the likelihood of completion.
Google Forms is the easiest tool for most families — free, works on any device, responses automatically collected in a spreadsheet. SurveyMonkey has more advanced features (skip logic, custom branding) for a small fee. For elderly relatives, a follow-up phone call to walk through the questions gets much better data than hoping they'll complete a form independently. Send surveys through email, text, and a family group chat simultaneously to maximize reach.
A good post-reunion feedback survey asks: overall satisfaction rating, favorite part of the reunion, what should be done differently next time, food and venue satisfaction, whether the cost was fair and reasonable, activity ratings, communication quality before and during the event, and whether they plan to attend next time. Keep it to 10 questions maximum — people are less likely to complete surveys right after a tiring event. Send within 48 hours while memories are fresh.
After collecting survey responses, look for clear majorities on critical decisions like location and dates — anything 60%+ is a strong signal. For split results, let the committee decide using survey data as one input. Share key findings with the family before finalizing decisions: 'The survey showed 72% of respondents prefer a local reunion this year rather than a destination event, so we're planning for Nashville.' Transparency builds buy-in. Never ask for opinions if you're not actually willing to consider them.
Reunly's built-in RSVP and registration tools let you collect dietary needs, headcount, and preferences all in one place.