As I write this, spring reunions are barely in the rear view mirror. We are using the summer to reflect not only on the many elements that went into making Reunion Weekend so successful, but also on what we might do to make future events even more rewarding. Already reunions serve many purposes, reconnecting alumni to one another and to the ideas, programs, and people that make the School special.

As we delve further into our work around lifelong learning, we are viewing reunions as an opportune moment for substantive teaching and learning—and not just for alumni who return to campus.

For attendees, we have made two significant changes to the way we highlight our faculty’s thought leadership. First, we recognize that many of you appreciate a “quick-hit” approach, where you can be introduced to a new topic quickly and then decide for yourself if you wish to dig deeper at your own pace. We are doing this in our new, rapid-fire Pathbreakers session, in which six associate professors take 10 minutes each to discuss new thinking stemming from their cutting-edge research.

And then we flip this model on its head with our new Insights sessions, which explore large topics––such as entrepreneurship, ethics, finance, science, or happiness––each with two speakers offering back-to-back, full-length presentations. At the spring reunions, this deep-dive concept was well received, with many attendees staying in their seats for both sessions of a topic that satisfied their strong interest in that particular area.

The idea of bringing learning opportunities to you, wherever you are within your career or life, has helped drive further changes to our traditional reunion model. For alumni who were unable to come to campus for spring reunions, we offered live video feeds of five key sessions in Klarman Hall. Our Skydeck Live session too is a new spin on our reunion model, giving attendees a chance to learn from one of their own and share ideas and perspectives with each other, while we recorded the classroom session for broadcast as a podcast available to all alumni in the coming months.

Whether or not you attended your reunion, you can sample what took place in one more way. All alumni are welcome to visit the reunions homepage on our website and click the presentations heading to explore the range of sessions and presenters’ materials and videos that came out of the spring reunions. I will report back on how these options play out in the fall. In the meantime, we look forward to hosting you back for your next reunion so you can experience some of these changes firsthand.

Das Narayandas is Senior Associate Dean, External Relations and Harvard Business Publishing, and the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration.

(illustration by Scott Chambers)

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