Carl Sandburg Class of 1986 Reunion Site

Situation

At Distant Horizon we’re accustomed to our clients’ uncompromising desire to be the best. When the Carl Sandburg Class of 1986 Reunion Committee came to Distant Horizon with his vision for a class reunion web site, we saw right away that this would probably be the best reunion site ever built.

Challenge

Our client wanted to move beyond the standard “advertising focused” approach that many sites on the internet use to create a revenue channel. They wanted to make the site a truly free gathering place for Carl Sandburg 1986 classmates, with functionality built-in to let them register to attend reunion events, post to message boards, upload photos and tell their story. Another challenge was to build a communication system into the web site that enabled classmates to send each other messages without giving out e-mail addresses publicly.

Solution

The committee provided all year book photos for the Class of 1986 which set the tone for a fun site. A database was created that allowed classmates to contrast who they were and what they looked like in high school with who they had become as adults with families, careers and for many, great geographical distance that made the web site a wonderful, inexpensive way to get back in touch. By allowing classmates to create a login, each member was able to edit their own profile, answer fun “then and now” questions and send messages to other registered users that would appear next time the recipient logged into the site.

Results

The goal was to get as high a rate of participation as possible and in the end, the compelling site attracted 49% of the graduating class…20 years later! The reunion was a big success and Distant Horizon has been receiving inquiries from around the country requesting that we create a product version of this application that other schools can purchase for their own reunions.

Please visit the www.cshs86.com site and let us know what you think!