Hi Stephanie,
All of our year 12s are asked to provide their personal contact details in their tutor class in their final year. The tutor follows up on the ones who haven’t provided their details and we get a very good response. We also remind parents at graduation to ask their boys to make sure they have provided their details as part of the welcome to the alumni of the College. They are always keen to make sure their son is connected and we link it to networking and events for their future, which is a motivator.
We present to our Yr 11s as part of their career transition class. The all bring their laptop and we assist them with the creation of a LinkedIn account. We ensure they to connect to the College and the alumni association, so they have that link as long as they have the LinkedIn account.
When we send out reunion invites, the 2nd page always includes a list of alumni we have lost touch with. I get a good response from fellow alumni who either send me a missing email address or forward the email to them and they get in touch and update their details. I also share the full year group contact list with the reunion organisers and their main role as an organiser is to find the lost alumni. Some take the job seriously and work hard at it, others don’t.
We include a QR code in our magazine with a link to update details via a form. There is also a section on the fly sheet of the magazine that they can fill in and post back to update their details. Lots of older alumni use this. I also include the office phone number in the magazine so the older alumni can call to provide updated details as they prefer not to use technology. It is also a good excuse for a chat as they love to speak to a person. There is also a form in the alumni section of our website to update details.
I think the key is lots of options as different people gravitate to different ways to provide the information depending on their age.
Good luck!
