Best Practices for Alumni Clubs | Alumni Association of the University of Michigan

UMAlumni.com
Home

Membership
Info

Online
Services

Events,
Programs & Clubs

Career
Services

Publications
& News

Volunteering
& Giving

Travel &
Michigania

Leadership Succession

Scholarship and Student Support

Public Relations and Promotion

Financial Basics

Name of the event or idea	SoCal Ski Trip (Big Bear Mountain, Big Bear Lake, Calif.)
When it was held (specific date or time of year)	January 18-19, 2002
Cost to participants	The club reserved the Bavarian Lodge Resort for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The lodge was within walking distance of the ski slopes, lake, village shops and many restaurants. Rates for these rooms ranged from $30 to $45 per bed per night and were reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Cabins were also available, starting at $75 per night. Big Bear Mountain lift tickets were $44/adult and $18/child with children under 5 free. Equipment rental for skis, boots, poles or snowboards and boots was $25/adult and $15/child. During the ski weekend, there was group buffet lunch on Saturday (Jan. 19) and a luau (cost = $25/person) at the Vintage that evening followed by a party at the lodge. Several alumni also went to Mozart's Bistro, a nightclub, to socialize. These costs were covered by the participants on an a la carte basis.
Where the event was held. How this location was determined.	Big Bear Mountain Resort is located in the San Bernardino Mountains approximately two hours or less from most areas of Southern California. Big Bear Mountain is roughly 120 miles northeast of San Diego, 100 miles east of Los Angeles and 65 miles northeast of Orange County. It was also the closest ski resort to the three clubs that participated in the event.
Total expenses incurred by the club	All costs were passed on to the participants. The Los Angeles and Orange County clubs agreed to use their AAUM-sponsored mailer for this event, thereby eliminating the clubs' postage and handling expense.
How the event was publicized	The event was publicized through the AAUM-sponsored mailer, the clubs' Web pages and three email notices to the active email lists of each club (spread out over a six week period).
How many people attended	41
Approximate time involved in preparation	20 hours
How registrations were handled. On-site and/or in advance	The mailer included a reservation form that participants returned to the Orange County PO box. Money for the lift tickets, ski rentals and lodging was collected in advance.
Other comments (What worked well? What were the challenges?)	Reserving the lodge (all 11 rooms) in advance worked well in that it provided a central meeting place for socializing in between ski runs. The event also attracted people from all demographics, including young alumni. The clubs did take a financial risk reserving the lodge but were able to reserve all of the rooms in advance. The event also took a lot of coordination to keep the group together in-between the skiing (e.g. the buffet lunch, luau and happy hours). The event coordinators lost some of their free time/skiing time taking on these additional responsibilities.
Contact name and number of someone in the club who could provide more information for other clubs who may have questions	Ellen MacDonald, president, UMAOC 714.557.5115, o_shea_el@hotmail.com