Who We Are; What We Do

Who We Are

The “Yale Boom Group” is an ad hoc group of class leaders of the Yale Classes of 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973.

Each class organizes events, but here, “on the back nine” of life, we recognize that our numbers are dwindling, sometimes below the threshold for a successful event.  The issue is already visible for specialized subjects, but events with broader audiences will eventually succumb, too.

Further, friendships often span class-year boundaries: It’s common to be friends with people a year or two ahead or behind your own class.  The generational glue that binds all of us who came of age in “the Sixties” makes sharing our events even more sensible.  So, “Yale Boom” is born, a group defined as Yalies who came of age during the counter-culture, civil rights, women’s rights and anti-war movements … and the reactions to them; during psychedelia and the Nixon prohibition; during The Beatles and other great music of our time; during racial unrest, anti-war fervor and Kent State; at the dawn of Women’s Liberation and the first years of co-education at Yale; and so on.  Our generation of Yalies was different from the all-male, Brooks-Brothers-buttoned-down group that preceded us and the “proto-professionals” who came afterward.

Boominars

Owing to the COVID pandemic, we all got used to holding some class events over Zoom.  Several classes organized “webinars” (aka “zoominars”) for presentations to the Class and/or by classmates.  The Class of ’70 even held it’s 50th reunion over Zoom.  (See Zoom Reunions: Lessons from the Yale Class of 1970 Reunion May 2020, by Ben Slotznick ’70.)  The Classes of ’67 and ’69 hold lecture series over Zoom.  The WYBC Alumni held several events of interest to Boomers.

If an event organized by any Yale Boom class (’67-’73) is of interest to other Yale Boom classes, then the class hosting the event can invite the other classes to their event, thereby making its webinar/zoominar into a Boominar.

How To Create and Hold a Boominar

  1. Governance
    • This “Yale Boom Group” is composed of all Class officers from the Classes of ’67 to ’73, including informal leaders approved by the Secretary or Treasurer of any such class.
    • Independence.  The Yale Boom Group doesn’t replace or modify the independence or autonomy of any Class.  We extend it.  We are not a centralized group; we are a confederation of Classes that augments its programming with offerings from neighboring Classes.  Wayne is the “Coordinator”–not the “President”–of the Yale Boom Group.
  2. Tools
    • Yale Boom Coordinator: Wayne Willis ’69 
    • YAA Support:  Janene  Castaldi
      1. Janene offers YAA support, primarily in sending out emails to classes that don’t operate their own email services.
    • Group Email Account: YaleBoom@willisdomain.com
      1. Forwards emails to the leaders from each of the Classes (’67-’73).  [Not yet live. Due 6/30.]
      2. This group email is closed; it can only be used by the class leaders who are members of the group and/or anyone from YAA.
      3. Wayne (with input and guidance from Class Officers) maintains the group email account.
    • Website: YaleBoom.org
      1. The main “job to be done” by the site is listing coming Boominars and recordings of past events.
      2. It’s a public website (no login required) but .. search engine spiders are discouraged/prohibited (using “robots.txt”).
    • Email Services:  Mailchimp (Class based; YAA based)
      1. Invitations to Boominars are emailed to classmates from Classes who “opt in” to have the members of their Class invited.
  3. Checklist for Creating and Conducting a Boominar
    • Define Boominar. A Boominar is defined at https://yaleboom.org/who-what/#boominar.
    • Define Host. Any Class can develop a webinar for themselves; they are the “Host” for that event.
    • Develop and Offer Boominar. Optionally the Host can offer their webinar as a Boominar by inviting the other classes in the Yale Boom group. The Host does this by forwarding information about the event to Wayne.
    • Post to YaleBoom.org. Wayne posts the Boominar to YaleBoom.org in “Yale Boominar format” — defined as having:
      • Title – A catchy title designed to pique interest
      • Featured Image – A visual which communicates subject matter [and perhaps speaker(s)]
      • Host – the Class that is hosting
      • Blurb – 50 words (more or less) with date and time, “teaser” text about the talk and registration link
      • Registration Link – a button or link to a Zoom signup page
        (Wayne can coach or assist the Host with setting up the Zoom “meeting” on a paid Zoom account that can accommodate the expected numbers of attendees.)
      • Body – the 300-500 word explanation of the relevance and content of the talk, designed to get readers to sign up to attend the Boominar
      • Optional elements – e.g., about the speaker(s); links to other materials, etc.
    • Convert to Email Format. Once the invitation to the Boominar is posted on YaleBoom.org, Wayne or Janene converts it into an email format.
    • Offer To Each Class. Wayne forwards that email to the class leaders in the Yale Boom Group with a prepended note asking if they want their class to be invited to the Boominar.
      • Each Class can opt in (or not)
      • For those who opt in, the Class chooses whether to use its own email service provider or to ask YAA to send the email to their classmates.
    • Send Email Invitations. The emails are sent to classmates from Classes that opt in.
    • Register attendees. Yalies who are interested register for, and then attend, the Boominar.
    • Present the Boominar. The Host runs the Boominar.
    • Record the Boominar (optional). The Host is encouraged to use Zoom’s “record to cloud” feature, but doing so is not required.
    • Post the Recording. If the recording is available, Wayne posts it to YaleBoom.org