#Alumnidecade

What’s the Decade of Alumni Connection?

Since I was an undergrad over 20 years ago, we have experienced seismic changes in our world. First, there was the Internet. This is our gateway to information across the world. Next, was social media. This is the constant glowing screen, the opportunity (and pressure) to present our lives online.

What’s next? Do we continue to have the capacity to consume the amount of information, the keep-up-with-the-joneses- pace of the last decade?

I believe the next stage is a backlash. We are going to demand meaningful connection. We are going to re-engage with our communities. We are going to rediscover those things in life that we always loved (before social media consumed so much of our time).

This is a time for a connection revolution.

We can reconnect with ourselves. Our shared experiences and the people we care about the most.

2020 is the beginning of the Decade of Alumni Connection.

Alumni is not only our school or college of graduation. It can include education connections if this is meaningful or powerful to you. Think of all our shared experiences in life. This new decade is a time to take stock. Our time to consider what really matters. We can ask ourselves the question:

What will provide me with a community and connections that will enhance my life, and my community, for life?

Embrace your alumni self. Alumni in all those rich and exciting shared experiences that bring a smile to your face. Reconnect with these organisations, schools, colleges, universities, and people that can collectively enhance your personal and professional life. These alumni connections can also collectively be agents of change. We can collectively improve our local communities, open businesses, create new initiatives, transform other people’s lives. We can impact the Sustainable Development Goals during this final decade to 2030 to contribute to a global response for a better world.

Join the movement. It’s approaching 2020, so we will start small.

Follow and use the hashtag #alumnidecade

Follow me on Twitter @keepintouched and Instagram @keepintoucheducation

Reach out to me on LinkedIn and let’s schedule a chat to discuss.

Update your contact details with the shared experiences, those special alma maters that align with your values, that speak to you. Places that can make a difference to you and where you can make a difference in the lives of others. Reach out to former classmates, friends, colleagues reminding them of the experiences you have shared that formed part of who you are. These are the professional and personal relationships you might want to rekindle for mutual benefit.

Tell others about the importance of finding our alumni selves. Let’s design and demand the change we want to see to make our alumni connections more meaningful today than ever before. Remember: it’s not just high tech, it’s also high touch. We can balance this in our lives and in our organisations.

I would love to hear from you! maria@keepintoucheducation.com

Let’s start the alumni connection revolution!