There are a number of effective channels for communicating information. The best channel is your chapter’s email list. Additionally, you might maintain a website, a regional Berkeley Haas alumni LinkedIn group, and/or a regional Facebook group. While each channel may have a different voice, style or word count, their respective messages should all be concise and consistent. For logos, fonts, and templates, please visit the Berkeley Haas style guide. View examples of effective communications from other BHAN chapters.

For chapters outside the Bay Area, the Alumni Relations office has created and maintains chapter lists for alumni who live or work in your region. Your chapter’s list is regularly updated to reflect changes in alumni data.

Who can join an email list and how do they join?
Anyone can join your list through the BHAN website—whether they live or work in your region, and whether they are Berkeley Haas alumni or not. To get to this page, visit or click Subscribe to Alumni Chapters, Regions and Groups page. You (chapter leaders) can also use this page to add the email addresses of others to your list.

Who can send and reply to the lists?
Only designated “senders” can send emails to the chapter lists. Currently, all chapter presidents are designated senders. To add other board members as senders, simply email your request to [email protected].

Can Anyone Opt Out?
While all alumni for whom we have an email address are initially added to a chapter’s email list, it is easy for recipients to opt out. An opt-out link is at the bottom of every email sent to the lists, and it takes only two clicks to remove yourself from the email list.

Some Tips for Email Senders

To reduce the likelihood that recipients of your emails will opt out, electing not to receive information about your chapter:

  • Create evocative, compelling but short subject lines, and then write concise text that immediately captures the reader’s attention.
  • Position key information (e.g. date, time, location, registration link) at the beginning of the email.
  • Use bullet points often so recipients can read much faster and read through your email rather than save it until later when they (never really) have time to read it.
  • Be a minimalist. Each email should cover a single topic or event. The reader should have no more than one action item.
  • To gather RSVPs, include a link to your registration site. Do not ask the reader to hit ‘reply.’
  • HTML—If you can create your email in Outlook or a Gmail-type account, the list will send it. However, don’t forget the difficulty of viewing attachments and graphics from a hand-held device.
  • Create hyperlinks in the email client/browser as you would in a standard email.
  • A [prefix] will appear automatically before your subject line. For example, a subject line will appear as: “[Haas-London] Register Now to Join Event with Dean Lyons”