We Struck A Connection

In the Alumni Relations Department, our objective is always to find ways to get our alumni re-engaged with the University. We meet up with alumni at regional and national conferences. We send out our various communications. All of it with the ultimate goal of raising funds for our students and University. In putting together the Chicago College of Pharmacy Alumni Council's Strike-A-Connection Bowling Night, our ambitions were no different, but the outcome was a surprise to all.

Our bowling night took place at the posh Lucky Strike Lanes in Lombard on Thursday, February 12. Our goal was to have 30 people in attendance with the attraction of networking in a casual atmosphere. We had 67 alums, students, faculty and staff join us for the evening! We were also hoping to reach more recent alums from the past two graduating classes. We had 13 join us that night (though we believe the discounted price for this contingent may have helped). We do know they organized themselves to have their own mini reunion that evening.

In putting together the sponsorship opportunities, we thought that sponsoring current student leaders to come to the event might be a great way to introduce students to alums and build interest in serving on the Alumni Council in the years to come. More than six contingencies, including Wal-mart, stepped forward to sponsor students. Though there was interest in sponsoring more students, we had to cap that at 28 students in the interest of making sure we had more alums than students at the event!

In promoting the event, we certainly did our traditional mailing of invitations to all CCP alumni. However, this time we also enlisted the use of two online social networks: LinkedIn and Facebook. These turned out to be key in gaining interest and enthusiasm for our night as several attendees rsvp'd through Facebook, and roughly 37 alums said "maybe" they will come to the event.

CVS generously sponsored our never-ending stream of unique hot and cold hors d'oeuvres for the evening. And the following companies each sponsored one of our four bowling lanes: TeamStaff Rx, Supervalu/Osco, United Pharmacy Staffing, and Comprehensive Pharmacy Services. Each was given the opportunity to send a representative to meet our alums and students and provide information on their companies.

Given the casual nature of the event, we decided to put together kits with our sponsors' information, as well as other information about upcoming events and networking tips. The twist is that we also put our attendees' names on eye-catching pre-printed labels, to avoid brochures flying everywhere and potentially being ignored. The envelopes also served as a place to collect business cards from fellow alums. Not one kit was left behind in the aftermath.

All in all, we were packed with people eager to have fun and meet up with former classmates. Rinku Patel, President Elect of the CCP Alumni Council greeted attendees with a few welcoming remarks. Dr. Nancy Fjortoft, Dean of the CCP, also said a few words, as did Karen Johnson. We had 29 alumni (with a few spouses), 7 leading faculty members, and 8 staff members who worked hard to be sure that check-in went quickly and smoothly so attendees could join the fun as soon as possible.

One coincidental scheduling conflict prevented more student leaders from being able to join the night's festivities. On the same evening (and at the same time!), the PS-III students put on their annual Mr. Midwestern fundraising event on campus. As we were developing our bowling night, we hadn't anticipated the high level of interest in sponsoring student leaders. And the PS-III students certainly had no way of knowing that our event was in the works, much less have any idea they would be invited to join us. As such, we were able to get 20 student leaders from all four classes to join us that night, eager to meet alumni and begin building their networks for their bright futures.

As for fundraising, the event wasn't a clear winner (though with a few tweaks for next year, it certainly could be). But the investment in building alumni and student enthusiasm, as well as networking far exceeded our expectations.