Participants

• Lauren Shaham, Vice President of Communications, AAHSA

• Tom Akins, Vice President, Brewster Place

• Bill Sitton, Public Relations Account Supervisor, GlynnDevins Advertising and Marketing

• Ken Curnes, Vice President-Director Planning and Development, GlynnDevins Advertising and Marketing

What Is Homecoming Week?

• A national celebration of local Homecoming Week is about social accountability and visibility

• Who Decides? You Decide – Step Out of Your Comfort Zone• Opportunity for positioning and thought leadership• Get noticed for your expertise

Value of/Reason to Participate

• What we did last year• What our event accomplished for us• What we learned that you should know• How we are shaping our advocacy this year

Creating and Executing

a Quality Event

Find YOUR Theme

• What does “Who Decides” mean to your organization• Find a theme that makes you successful• Shape the event to shape the discussion

Narrow the Focus of Your Event to one “Who Decides” topic

• Who decides what your retirement lifestyle will be like?• Who decides when you slow down?• Who decides where future long-term care will come from and be paid

for?• Who decides what resources our community will need for aging

adults?

Have a Goal for Your Forum

Who needs to be involved and educated?

• Seniors• Civic, community and opinion leaders• Valued partners• Referral sources

We have a media strategy

• Get the event broadcasted• Get media talking senior issues• Promote the event to drive attendance• Get reporters to the event that day• Aftercare for the media

Have a Goal for Your Forum

Who attends and how do they know to get there?

• Media outreach to drive attendance

• Get on calendars and have PSAs

• Direct mail invites/letters

• Use existing networkso Professional groupso Senior groupso Churches

• Use digital networkso Twittero Facebooko Email and e-newsletters

Have a Goal for Your Forum

Visualize Your Event Experience

• Walk yourself through the event from other people’s eyeso What is the attendee experienceo What do I need to know as a speakero How is our community showcased• Write out an event flow detailing set up, execution• Identify an energetic emcee/moderator

Visualize Your Event Experience

• Set speaking format and facilitate audience questions• Have a checklist for successo What items need to happen the farthest out• Speakers, invites, media happen early• Set completion dateso Who is responsible to make things happen

Securing Speakers Who Sell The Event

• Who do you have an “in” with• Call politician’s offices personally• Clarify your event’s importance• Set an expectation for participation• Answer “why should I do this?”o Audience of voterso Media attentiono Displaying leadership in the local community

• Get an intriguing mix for an interesting panelo Which residents best represent your communityo Which media members have written about aging topicso Which former media members are seniors themselveso What prominent family has aging issueso Are local universities studying aging• Sociology professionals• Medical researchers• Economic experts

Securing Speakers Who Sell The Event

Giving Advocacy A Media Appeal

• Talk to the media in advance with coverage ideaso TV stations/radio stations book interviews weeks in advanceo Newspapers plan out their opinion page topicso Public access channels or other stations schedule broadcasts

• Talk to the media, don’t just email them a release

• Put your best guest forwardo Get people talking before the evento Popular local leaderso Local expertso Residents with a story

Giving Advocacy A Media Appeal

• Share your best stories with the mediao Journalists like people stories not eventso You already talk to and with people living these aging issueso Write op/op pieces focused on issueso Is your release ready to print• Interesting lead• Tells someone’s story• Include statistics• Who, What, When, Where, Whyo Media aftercare• Recap• Photos

Giving Advocacy A Media Appeal

Go Beyond A Forum(Additional Event and PR Ideas)

Regardless Of If A Forum Is For You

• Generate media attention• Capture public attention• Highlight community contributions of seniors

Fun, Interesting, Informative Is The Goal

• “When I Was 17” – an event series or day where seniors who are in their 60s, 70s, 80 and above talk to high school students about what it was like when they were 17, and what they think younger people need to know about aging

Fun, Interesting, Informative Is The Goal

• “Grandparents Give Back” – event(s) organized where grandparents in the community give back to children’s charities, with the goal of reaching a certain number of volunteer hours in a day or week

• “Senior Snapshot” – demonstrate the number of seniors in the city/county with a visible display of one canned good or one penny for each person over 65 in the city, displayed in a prominent location or interesting way. Get senior communities to partner with local schools to help out. Donate all proceeds to a local senior aid charity. Demographic information is available at the U.S. Census web site.

Fun, Interesting, Informative Is The Goal

• “The Senior Exchange Program” – partner with a local school for an “exchange” program where a group of seniors goes to high school for a day and a group of high school seniors spend the day at the senior living community.

Fun, Interesting, Informative Is The Goal

• “What We’ve Learned About Marriage” – host an event where couples from the community who have been married a long time host a dinner for younger married couples to discuss what they have learned in 30-plus years of marriage.

Fun, Interesting, Informative Is The Goal

How To Tell You Succeeded

• You told your story• You got people talking• The media mentioned you• People are coming to your door• You changed an opinion of your community

Defining Success

Questions and Answers