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 Speaker Bureau is an important resource for both Muster Chairs and Muster speakers. For Muster Chairs this provides you with a tool to look for a speaker that suits your Muster and community best. You can search based on your zip code, to see speakers who are willing to travel to your area, or by key words, 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 of someone who would like to be a Muster speaker you can refer them here.
Speakers Bureau
Confirm Muster Location
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 that will attend. April 21 is the most popular date to hold Muster, but in 2018, Musters ranged from Tuesday, April 17, up until Sunday, April 29. 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 that you reach out far in advance to do so. This year it is especially important to choose the date of your Muster and its location well in advance because April 21 is on Easter Sunday and many locations might be closed.
Once you have decided on the date and location of your Muster, make sure you update your event details on AggieNetwork.com by clicking on "Edit Details".
Information Security Agreement
In order to utilize some of the services that The Association offers, we are required to have the Muster Chair fill out an Information Security Agreement. Please download the file below and sign it so we may share information with you as quickly as possible moving forward. Once it has been signed you can scan and email it to Muster@AggieNetwork.com or mail it to:
Club Programs
505 George Bush Drive
College Station, Texas 77840
Download Information Security Agreement
Invitations & Emails
Invitations
The Association provides the opportunity to print and mail professionally-designed Muster invitations for all A&M Clubs and Muster Groups. A&M Clubs can use their once-a-year free mailer or they can choose to pay for the postcard and save their free mailer for another time. Muster Groups will be billed for the cost of the postcards to be printed and mailed at our discounted rate.
Musters taking place outside of 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. You will find the link to the Muster invitation form below.
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.
Muster Invitation Form
If you are having trouble watching this video, click here.
Address Labels
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. Labels can be ordered throughout the year, but please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery to have them in time to use for your Muster. These are only for Clubs or Muster Groups that are NOT requesting mailed Muster invitations.
Address Label Request Form
Emails
Another effective way to let the people in your area know about your Muster event are emailed invitations. Each chair has the option to request two emails be sent out about their event: a save-the-date email invitation and a detailed email invitation.
Save-the-date email invitation: This invitation will look similar to the printed postcard information. All of the details that will be put on this email will come from your individual Muster page on AggieNetwork.com. Please make sure all of your information is up-to-date before requesting an email. NO additional information will be put in this email. Fill out the form below by Feb. 15 to request this email:
Save-the-Date Email Invitation Form
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:
Detailed Email Invitation Form
If you are having trouble watching this video, click here.
Confirm Muster Speaker
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.
Confirmed Muster Speaker Form
Depending on the speaker and the distance they will be traveling, some speakers ask that their airfare, lodging or meals be covered. In the event that 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.
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.
Download Letter
Press Release to Local Media
Notify your local media outlet about your upcoming event; this is a great way to let Aggies in your area know about your upcoming event through another medium.
Tips for a Successful Press Release
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 Media section. Names of those former students from your area, as well as any other special requests, should be called.
To pull your Muster Roll Call you can go to the link below and download your list. This list will be sortable by city, state, and Class year. The video below walks you through the steps of pulling your Roll Call.
Pull Muster Roll Call
**Video Coming Soon**
Submit Attendance Form
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 below, 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.
Download Attendance Form
This form will become available at a later date.
Post Muster Survey
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.
Muster Chair Survey
This survey will become available the week before April 21.
