Welcome to Your City 

Welcome to Your City is an event series that provides University-wide recent graduates (up to 10 years out) a targeted first opportunity to connect with their local Harvard alumni community. Hosted by local Harvard Clubs and Shared Interest Groups and championed by College activities chairs in cities with a critical mass of recent grads, these free events occur on a single day in the fall and have little to no formal programming, focusing instead on the formation of personal and professional bonds via casual conversations.

  

Welcome to Your City was held on Thursday, September 29, 2022, and allowed clubs the option to determine if their event will be virtual or in-person based on their local community guidelines and club preference.

  

Each participating Harvard Club is responsible for designating an event point person, who will be the main point of contact with the HAA for this event. This person is expected to be present at the event. If the event is virtual, this person is responsible for creating the event link (via Zoom or another meeting platform of their preference).

  

Though the Club is the manager of the event, Shared Interest Groups are invited to partner and co-host within locations where they are present. As in past years, Shared Interest Groups marketing will be included on all HAA-hosted Welcome to Your City registration sites if they filled out their Annual Report.

We strongly encourage Clubs and SIGs to co-host the event together and have a joint presence at the events.

  

Since one of the goals of this event series is to engage recent graduates, the HAA will also look to the College Class Committees and Activities Chair volunteers to help market these events to their classmates. The HAA will introduce these College volunteers to the hosting club in cities where they are present.

  
How to Participate

For a Harvard club to be eligible to participate in Welcome to Your City, there needs to be more than 2,000 alumni in their region. This also correlates to where the highest number of new graduates find themselves. Eligible clubs can sign up to host an event before the deadline of Friday, August 19th. SIGs interested in co-hosting a WTYC event can sign up to co-host an event before the deadline of Monday, August 22nd.

  

This summer, the HAA will send emails by location to the hosting Clubs and co-hosting SIGs to introduce the collaboration. If the College Class Committees and Activities Chair volunteers are interested in helping with the event, the HAA will help make that connection as well. All club, SIG and College volunteers who have signed up to help are expected to be present at the event, whether it’s virtual or in-person, so please be aware of the event's format before you commit.

  

Once all volunteers have been introduced, they should connect with each other and schedule two separate planning calls to discuss their event. Additional resources for planning are provided in the below section, “Resources for Hosting a Networking Event”.

  

Alumni will be invited to register this fall. The HAA will manage registration and outreach. However, we encourage all volunteers to also market to their communities using the Event Directory page. We will send communication to all hosts and co-hosts in early September regarding registration details.

  

Roles and Responsibilities

Club Responsibilities:

  • Host the event and manage event logistics.
  • Compliment HAA marketing via your own email and social media channels to encourage attendance.
  • Field and respond to any event questions that may come in directly to the Club. 
  • Review event resources provided by the HAA. 
  • Connect with your fellow co-hosting SIGs and Recent Graduate Class Committees/Activities Chairs to coordinate additional marketing efforts. 
  • Act as host by welcoming guests, facilitating connections, and supporting discussions.
  • Act as a club ambassador by sharing information with attendees about how they can further engage.
  • Follow up with attendees via email re: further engaging with the club.

Shared Interest Group Responsibilities:

  • Act as co-host at the event based on your conversation and planning with the club.
    • A SIG representative is required to be present at each event they sign-up for, for both in-person and virtual events.
  • Compliment HAA & Club marketing via your own email and social media channels to encourage attendance.
  • Connect with the hosting Club and any Recent Graduate Class Committees/Activities Chairs volunteers to coordinate event logistics.
  • Act as an ambassador for the SIG by sharing information with attendees about how they can further engage.
  • Follow up with attendees via email re: further engaging with the SIG.

Recent Graduate Class Committees and Activities Chairs Responsibilities:

  • Serve as an ambassador by spreading the word about the event to fellow recent grads and encouraging their participation via email and social media. 
  • If interested, connect with the hosting Club and co-hosting SIGs to coordinate event logistics.

  

Email Marketing Calendar

  • Wednesday, August 31, 2022 – Alumni registration goes live
  • Wednesday, September 7, 2022 – Reminder to Non-openers
  • Sunday, September 11, 2022 – Feature #1 in Harvard this Week
  • Friday, September 16, 2022 – Reminder to Clickers
  • Tuesday, September 20, 2022 – Reminder for events reaching capacity
  • Thursday, September 22, 2022 – Last Call for registration
  • Sunday, September 25, 2022 – Feature #2 in Harvard this Week
  • Tuesday, September 27, 2022 – Psych Up Message
  • Wednesday/Thursday September 28/29, 2022 – Day-of-Reminders/Participation Details
  • Thursday, September 29, 2022 – Welcome to Your City
  • Friday, September 30, 2022 – Post-event Follow Up

  
Clubs and SIGs should plan to send follow-up emails to attendees as well to continue to cultivate engagement. This event should be a starting point for building stronger relationships with recent alumni in your region.

  

Resources for Hosting a Virtual Networking Event:

  • Virtual Networking Toolkit – if you decide to host a virtual event, this document provides you with resources that will empower you to do so.

    • This includes a pre-event planning checklist and a draft agenda/run of show for your program.

  • Social Media Toolkit - Learn fun interactive ways on how your Club or SIG can engage with registrants on your social channels around Welcome to Your City! 

  • Information Sessions - Hosts and co-hosts can sign-up for one of two live Information Sessions in September to ask any questions as it pertains to Welcome to Your City and learn about the various dates and resources event contacts should be aware of. Please sign-up here for these information sessions. Dates and times of these two sessions are… 

    • Thursday, September 13 at 10:00-10:30 a.m. ET

    • Monday, September 19 at 3:00-3:30 p.m. ET

      • Please note, both sessions will have the same information, so volunteers only need to attend one session.  

  • WTYC 2022 Data Dashboard - View WTYC event locations and registration numbers in real time in a visual display.

  • Digital Assets – Download branded Welcome to Your City images to put in your marketing emails or to post on your webpage.

  

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding Welcome to Your City.