Family reunions
Find the weekend the whole family can make
A reunion needs a date that works around travel and time off, so it has to be settled months ahead, not weeks.
Dana is pulling together a family reunion for eighteen relatives. The weekend needs to work around travel and time off, so it has to be settled months ahead rather than a few weeks out. Here's how that goes with a poll.
You pick the weekends
Get your link
Add a stretch of Saturdays two or three months out, so there's time for people to plan around travel.
You share the link
whenworksforyou.com/e/reunion-weekendCopied ✓whenworksforyou.com/e/
Send it to the family, however each branch already talks: a text, an email, the family page. One link for everyone.
You pick the weekend
- Sat Jul 1110 yes · 3 maybe
- Sat Jul 1814 yes · 1 maybe — leading
- Sat Aug 87 yes · 5 maybe
Pick the date ✓
Watch the votes land, and lock in the weekend with the most. Then book the venue.
- Pick the weekends
- Share the link
- ✓Pick the weekend
Why the date comes before everything else
Nobody can book time off, a flight, or the pavilion until the weekend is set. Everything about a reunion waits on the date, so the date is the first thing to settle, and the one to settle earliest.
Which weekends to offer
- Offer Saturdays across two or three months. A Saturday stands for its whole weekend. Say in the description whether people should plan on one night or two.
- Go far enough out. Relatives who fly need months, not weeks. Six months ahead isn't too early for a reunion.
- Long weekends cut both ways. Some families are free, others already have plans. Offer one and let the tally tell you.
Relatives who aren't in the group chat
A reunion reaches people who don't share a chat, an app, or a generation. One link works anywhere you can paste it: a text, an email, a message on the family page. Whoever opens it types their name and taps the weekends that work. Nobody signs up for anything.
On Autopilot, we email each relative their own invitation, and they can reply to it in their own words, "the 18th works, we're away the 11th". We read the reply and record their votes. We also send up to two reminders to whoever hasn't answered, then stop. See what Autopilot does.
What the family sees
The event name, the weekends on offer, and Works, Maybe or Can't for each, with a comment box for "we'd need to leave Sunday morning". Anyone with the link can see who has answered and how, which for a family is the point: the cousins can see that the 18th is the weekend that works.
Locking in the weekend
When a weekend has the family, lock it in. The link shows the decided date to anyone who opens it. Then book the venue, and let the relatives who fly start looking at fares. On Autopilot, every relative gets the confirmation by email.
Big families
An event holds up to 75 guests, which covers most reunions with room for the cousins' partners. If the family is bigger than that, run one poll per branch and compare the tallies.
Where Autopilot helps
On Autopilot, relatives who aren't in the family group chat can answer an ordinary email. We read replies written in plain English and send up to two reminders to whoever hasn't voted yet.
Part of Autopilot — see pricing.
- From
- When Works For You
- To
- robert@…
- Subj
- Dana is finding a date for Reunion weekend
Hi Robert — Dana is finding a date for Reunion weekend. Which of these work for you?
Vote on the dates
Or just reply to this email with the days that work.
Find the weekend the whole family can make.
A free poll takes a minute to set up. Your guests never need an account.