ORGANISING PROFILE-RAISING EVENTS

Transcription

1 ORGANISING PROFILE-RAISING EVENTS This document and its resources have been prepared to help CIEH members organise: Profile-raising events to demonstrate the importance of the work of environmental health practitioners to key influencers Events organised by Centres and Branches for the membership such as training activities and symposia These resources cannot be exhaustive, and we encourage you to provide your comments on how we might improve them to the benefit of colleagues. CONTENTS Clicking on the hyperlinks will take you directly to each section: 1. Aims 2. Key Stages 3. Key Considerations 4. Continuing Professional Development 5. Planning Resources 6. Reference Materials 7. CIEH Contacts Membership Support - CIEH Communications & Membership Services August 2004

2 1. Aims The aim of this document and its resources is to help CIEH members organise events. The contents have been developed from projects CIEH members, Centre and Branch teams and CIEH staff have successfully managed and implemented. 2. Key Stages As with any project, organising a successful event is about effective planning and implementation by an individual or a team of committed people. There are many steps that need to be thought about when planning an event, and the number of steps will vary from event to event. However, these are some of the typical stages to consider when planning events: Gaining early stakeholder support and seed funding. Building a motivated team that has sufficient available time and will make the event happen. Defining the purpose and objectives of the event and the target audiences. Defining the theme the target audience is interested in, the agenda that will attract them, producing an event title and draft proposal to agree with stakeholders. Selecting a convenient and appropriate location and timings that do not conflict with other events. Developing a finance plan, including delegate fee and budget management. Identifying potential speakers / contributors. Promoting and organising an effective, budgeted event that will attract significant numbers of target delegates. Seeking sponsorship or other forms of financial support. The event itself, with presentations by entertaining, quality speakers. For profile-raising events, presentations may include providing details of case studies and projects that illustrate: The context of the problems to be solved The response to the problem The actions implemented by EHPs The outcomes of the actions The relevance of the outcomes to the target audience Hospitality. Evaluation of the event by attendees for input to future planning. Post-event communication and promotion.

3 3. Key Considerations As you develop your event plan, you may wish to consider these aspects to support your thinking and discussions with colleagues: Approach what is the best way to achieve your objectives? Communication how is the team kept informed of project progress? Content how long should presentations last to keep audience attention and provide sufficient depth, how can death by PowerPoint be avoided, how can speakers keep to timings, how can the quality of presentations be kept high? Duration how much time can people give up for the event? Hospitality would a social function encourage greater attendance as well as networking and communication with the target audience? Location is the location easily accessible for the target audience? Logistics arrangements for room layout, staging and lighting, promotional stands, audio-visual, catering and accommodation, event breakdown. Outcomes just what are you trying to achieve with whom? Partners are there other groups we should be working with to help meet our communication and financial objectives? Pricing what price is affordable and attractive for delegates, can an all-inclusive package be offered for the event as well as entertainment and accommodation, if appropriate? Process what processes are needed at each step of the event and who has responsibility or them, from responding to enquiries, making bookings, event organisation, delegate registration, event literature, delegate packs - through to the closing remarks and departure? Post-event activity thank you letters, follow-up communication materials, de-brief and learning points. Profit are we trying to make a profit or break-even, and what does this mean for the cost and revenue assumptions made and sources of sponsorship / support? Promotion what activity is necessary to promote the event to the target audience and encourage them to attend? What are the key messages that will make people book a place? Speakers who are the specialists and respected speakers that are related to the theme or issue and are likely to draw the target audience? Will they accept a briefing for the event to address specific issues? Will they support our key messages? Team is it a well-balanced team organising the event that will be able to provide the necessary resources and influence to meet the aims and objectives? Theme what themes or issues will have the greatest chance of attracting the target audience? Is it better to focus on one issue or a range of themes? Are there specific regional or local issues that are hot topics? Timing how long should the event last and when should it commence and finish to allow people adequate travelling time? Venue what does it offer in terms of flexibility, comfort, facilities, audio-visual, catering, hospitality, support, disabled access, health and safety?

4 4. Continuing Professional Development Some events will contribute to delegates continuous professional development (CPD), and this can be confirmed through the creation and distribution of CPD certificates. Details of the requirements for Continuing Professional Development can be found through the Careers and Professional Development section at What is a CPD certificate? This is a certificate produced and presented by the person organising the CPD training to all those persons attending the course, workshop, seminar, etc which provides proof of attendance at the training. What should it contain? Each certificate should contain the following information: 1. Name of the attendee 2. Date of course / workshop / seminar 3. Name of the training provider 4. Venue 5. Title of course / workshop / seminar 6. Brief synopsis of course content 7. Number CPD hours achieved* 8. Signature of course presenter / organiser / speaker *This should be split, if necessary into Core and Supplementary (core equivalent) hours. Is there a standard certificate? No. As long as the above information is provided, your own style or design is acceptable. However, a template is included in this event planning kit. What should be done with certificates? The attendee should retain them and use them to attach to their CPD record form if required by CIEH. Where can we go if we need further advice? The Education Unit at the CIEH on: education@cieh.org

5 5. Planning Resources Hyperlinks at the beginning of each paragraph take you to these planning resources: Project Summary & Milestone Plan this Microsoft Excel file contains a planning tool for each step of an event. An example of an event plan is provided, as well as a blank master sheet that can be copied and then used for planning you events. By typing a date into the first box of the week ending calendar, all the other dates will change, so the event planner can be used no matter what date a week ends on. Sheets within this file also provide for listing details of project team members and for keeping track of the project budget. Planning Considerations for a Conference or Seminar a list of steps to consider when planning and managing a conference or seminar. Meeting Agenda Template to help with the management of effective project team meetings. Meeting Minutes Template to help with tracking progress of the planning stages for an event and organising team activities. Event Location Evaluation Form this form can be used for evaluating potential venues for your events. Public Relations Support events often require public relations and other types of promotion. This file provides some considerations for when you plan your promotional activity. Also included is a draft press release. Your press releases will require adapting for your specific needs, but this is an example of how you might wish to create a press release to promote your event. Mail Merge Guidance event management can be made much easier using spreadsheets developed in Microsoft Excel. The spreadsheet can be used to maintain records of people registered to attend an event, as a mailing list for promotional activities and for personalising letters, CPD certificates, etc. You can create your on letters and drop in personalised information from the spreadsheet. To help with typical communications activities for events, the following resources are provided through these links: Mail Merge- guidance for creating a mail merge for personalised mailings and documents using Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. This guidance is has been developed using the latest versions of Excel and Word as at July Earlier versions may have slightly different, but similar, processes. Spreadsheet a spreadsheet that can provide a basic template for recording details of event delegates and for supporting the letters and personalised mailings. Similar spreadsheets can be created for media contacts, etc. Speaker Information Form to obtain information from speakers that can be used to promote the event. Event Receipt to confirm payment of event fees by delegates. CPD Certificate to confirm parts of an event that contribute to delegates continuous personal development. Delegate Event Evaluation Questionnaire for learning how delegates evaluate your events.

6 6. Reference Materials These reference materials may be helpful as part of your event planning. Clicking on the hyperlinks will take you to the documents. Environmental health making the difference in Northern Ireland a printed document prepared following a regional influencer event in Belfast in November Communicating your aims an article published in the April 2003 issue of Environmental Health Journal. The article, written by Gary McFarlane, CIEH Director for Northern Ireland, provides background details to the organisation of the Environmental health making the difference in Northern Ireland conference. Briefing document the brief developed prior to the writing of the Communicating your aims article. This template can also be copied and used for briefing suppliers of services when organising an event. Press release for the Environmental health making the difference in Northern Ireland conference. This is the press release that was created to support media communications for this conference. Guidelines to communicating with the media a guide published by the CIEH for the membership, it provides members with considerations for when communicating with the media. 7. CIEH Contacts The Communication and Membership Services team welcomes the opportunity to support the organising of profile raising events. Our contact details are: Michael Dunmore Director of Communication & Membership Services m.dunmore@cieh.org For general contact regarding the marketing, communications and promotional support the CIEH may be able to provide to Centre and Branch events and activities. Andrew Hamadanian PR Officer a.hamadanian@cieh.org For public relations support the CIEH may be able to provide. Reuben Runghasawmi Membership Database Supervisor r.runghasawmi@cieh.org For support the CIEH can provide to Centre and Branches including printing labels of Centre and Branch members for mailings. Reuben can also assist with questions about using an Excel spreadsheet to create personalised letters.