Speakers Bureau
The Association maintains an online speaker list of former and current students who have volunteered their time to speak at a Muster ceremony. The Muster Speakers Bureau is an important resource for both Muster Chairs and Muster speakers. For Muster Chairs, it provides a way to look for a speaker who suits your Muster and community best. You can search based on your zip code, by speakers who are willing to travel to your area, or by keywords when you are looking for speakers with specific experiences or interests, such as Corps of Cadets, basketball or Midwest.
Not all Musters have speakers, and this is not a requirement; we are simply here to help provide you with a resource if this is something your Club or Muster Group would like to incorporate into your Muster.
As for Muster speakers, this is where they will add themselves to the list of people who could be contacted for Muster. If you know someone who would like to be a Muster speaker, you can refer them here.
Once you have decided on your Muster speaker, please fill out the form below with your speaker’s name and email address so that we can provide them with the speaker packet. Within this packet, there will be compiled information from around Texas A&M's campus and a template for Muster remarks. Depending on the speaker and the distance they will be traveling, some speakers ask that their airfare, lodging or meals be covered. If this is the case, the Club or Muster Group is under the obligation to provide this, not The Association of Former Students. The speaker will let you know beforehand if they can or cannot afford to speak at your Muster. If your Club or Muster Group would like to offer accommodations, such as a night at a hotel, someone to host them, or any other travel reimbursements, that is up to you.
Confirm Muster Event Details
A Muster is a Muster no matter where it is held or how many people attend. We encourage all Muster Chairs to pick a date and location that best suits them and the Aggies who will attend. April 21 is the most popular date to hold Muster, but a weekend might be more suitable for your A&M Club or Muster Group. Each Muster is special not because of the day on which it is held, but because of the spirit and camaraderie that are present at every event. You can hold your ceremony in a park, church, backyard, restaurant or event center; just make sure that if you need to reserve a space, you reach out far in advance to do so.
A&M Club Re-Charter Annual Paperwork
This annual re-charter, where each A&M Club is required to self-select with the type of A&M Club it will classify as during the next year (Gold, Maroon, or Muster) is due before The Association of Former Students can distribute any Muster Support Items, consisting of things like Save-The-Date Emails, Printed Muster Invitations, Address Labels, Detailed Invitation Emails, and more. Please complete as soon as possible! More information on the different support items and expectations of each tier of A&M Club can be found at tx.ag/ClubCharterAgreement.
Muster Collateral Material Request
Printed Invitations - Due Jan. 15 for Out-Of-State, Feb. 1 for Texas
The Association provides the opportunity to print and mail professionally-designed Muster invitations for all A&M Clubs and Muster Groups. Gold A&M Clubs can use their once-a-year free mailer for this, or they can choose to pay for the postcard and save their free mailer for another time. Maroon A&M Clubs can send these postcards for free, while Muster A&M Clubs and Muster Groups will be billed for the cost of the postcards to be printed and mailed at our discounted rate.
Musters taking place outside Texas will need to complete their invitation form by Jan. 15, so that their invitations can be processed and sent out first because of the extended time they need to mail. All invitation forms for Texas Musters are due by Feb. 1.
Gold A&M Clubs who are wanting to use their once-a-year free mailer as a two tri-fold (1-page max) or newsletter (8-page max) rather than the Muster Postcard will need to request this support item via email by Jan. 15 regardless of their location. Note: Gold A&M Clubs will request this item via email and NOT by using the standard request form.
Also, in order to keep our mailing list for your area as updated as possible, please encourage members of your Club or Muster Group to update their contact information at tx.ag/Profile. The Association needs your support, as the Muster Chair, to encourage former students to keep in touch with the Aggie Network, which will allow us to share the correct information with them regarding Muster.
Address Labels - Due March 1
If you would like a set of self-adhesive mailing labels, please complete the request form below. These will be the most current addresses we have in our database. Address labels are free of charge and provided for your convenience in sending out Club/Muster mass mailings.
Self-adhesive labels will be sent only if The Association receives this form. These are only for Clubs or Muster Groups that are NOT requesting mailed Muster invitations. Address Labels requested after March 1 will be sent via email as a pdf for you to print on your own, while requests received on time will be shipped physical peel-and-stick labels.
Invitation Emails - Due March 1
Another effective way to let the people in your area know about your Muster event is emailed invitations. Each chair has the option to request email to be sent out about their event: a save-the-date email invitation and a detailed email invitation.
Save-the-date email invitation: New for 2022! Rather than separately "requesting" a Save-The-Date Email this year, you will be able to "opt-in" to a more standardized Save-The-Date email when you Register Your Muster on AggieNetwork.com. These emails will be out every Friday starting Friday Feb. 4 and ending Friday, March 25.
Detailed email invitation: This email is a complete invitation. All the major details for your event should be settled by this time, so this email is to share those details with the Aggies in your area: what events will take place, where to park, any food you are asking them to bring, information about silent auctions or raffles on the program, a short speaker's biography, etc. Fill out the form below by March 1 to request this email, which will be sent on April 7.
Letters to the Families of the Deceased
Many families will contact the chair directly in order to make arrangements for their honoree. However, if you would like to contact the families personally, you can download the Word document below and send each family of the honorees on your Roll Call a letter inviting them to your Muster.
To find your A&M Club or Muster Group’s Roll Call, see Pull Muster Roll Call.
Pull Muster Roll Call
The Roll Call, the most important part of the ceremony, is representative of the true meaning of Aggie Muster. We suggest you read the poem Roll Call for the Absent prior to the Roll Call and read In Memoriam after. Both are provided in the Muster Videos, Songs, and Poems section. Names of the former students from your area, as well as any other special requests, should be called. Note: The final version of the 2022 Muster Roll Call will not be completed until April 15, 2022.
Follow these steps to pull your Muster Roll Call:
1. Go to tx.ag/RollCall. Directly below the "Special Notes" section you will see the name of the Muster event you created.
2. Click the button to the right of your event, labeled "Muster Roll Call," and a new page will open. Do NOT click the "Export Roll Call to Excel" button on this page.
3. If your event IS affiliated with a chartered A&M Club, go to Step 4. If your event is NOT affiliated with a chartered A&M Club, skip Step 4 and go to Step 5.
4. Select the option to "Only show my organization's Roll Call." This will ensure that our system only pulls names from your Club’s geocode.
5. Click "Export Roll Call to Excel" and save the file to your computer.
6. Find the file you just saved to you computer and open it. It will show you a warning; you can safely ignore it and click "Yes."
7. If your event is affiliated with a chartered Club, your list includes only names from your Club's geocode. If your event is NOT affiliated with a Club, your list includes all of this year's names (about 1,600). Either list can be sorted by ZIP code, city, county, state, or Class year to identify the names you wish to call at your Muster.
Submit Muster Attendance Form - Due May 21, 2022
All A&M Clubs are required to keep a record of those who attended their Muster and return it to The Association of Former Students in order to keep their active Club status. We recommend you use the attendance form linked here; however, any form of attendance is acceptable (Excel, Eventbrite, handwritten, etc.) and can be emailed to Muster@AggieNetwork.com. Failure to do this will result in the withdrawal of services for the remainder of the year.
This is not a requirement for Muster Groups, but please feel free to turn in an attendance form if you decide to take attendance at your event.
Post Muster Survey - Due May 21, 2022
Muster is our most sacred tradition as Aggies, and here at The Association of Former Students, we do our best to provide support for Musters around the world. Every year, we implement new ideas and operations with the hope that we are making the process easier for you. To continue improving our methods and support, we have created a post-Muster survey that is available below. We ask that you take a few minutes and complete the survey, being as candid as possible, to let us know what we did well, what needs to continue to improve, what was confusing, etc.
