Submitted by Robert Jackson in February 2004.
Putting together a community health fair for seniors can promote community cohesion and pride, develop knowledge and skills among the local population, and bring together resources so that a community can reach its own established goals.
Planning and Communication
Approximately three months prior to the event, begin the planning process (see Health Fair Planner). Create a timeline.
- 3 months before the health fair
- Form a planning committee
- Determine your audience and a theme
- Set the date, time, and location
- Determine how many exhibits your location can reasonably hold
- Decide what exhibitors are most important to you
- Develop a letter to send to exhibitors
- Develop a letter to send to sponsors
- Begin a checklist of things to get done and materials needed
- 1–2 months before the health fair
- Contact the exhibitors
- Contact fair sponsors and door prize sponsors
- Send out a press release to newspapers (be aware of deadlines)
- Begin finding volunteers
- Design flyers and posters
- Design an evaluation
- 2 weeks before the health fair
- Send out reminder/confirmation letters (include parking information)
- Post flyers advertising the fair
- 1 week before the health fair
- Develop a system for giving away door prizes
- Procure the necessary supplies (cups, napkins, plates, coffee, etc.)
- Prepare a floor plan of the fair based on the number of exhibitors
- Day of the health fair
- Pick up refreshments
- Post signs, entrance information, and table numbers
- Set up tables, chairs, registration table, door prizes, and refreshments
- Give out evaluations
- Thank everyone involved
Form a planning committee, and pick a theme, date, time, and location.
Invite staff and volunteers to form a planning committee. At the first meeting, committee members should identify the target audience of the fair, select a theme (if any), and set the date and location of the fair. The group should outline the main elements of the event; specifically, consider what will entice the target audience to attend (this might include refreshments, entertainment, door prizes, and/or useful types of exhibits).
Estimate how many additional staff members or volunteers will be needed for the planning or on event day. Committee members should divide up responsibility for the different aspects of the fair, such as exhibitors, sponsors, publicity, logistics, and evaluation.
To make decisions about the time, location, and content of the fair, the committee must identify a target audience. Determining the audience and the message go hand in hand. Is the fair just for residents of the local senior facility? Will you invite seniors living in private homes? Will you limit your reach to just the immediate neighborhood or allow anyone from the whole city? The committee also decides if the fair will have a specific theme (e.g., nutrition) or if it will feature a broader range of health information.
When selecting the date, time, and location of the fair, consider the target audience carefully. What would be most convenient for them? For example, don't schedule the fair at the same time as another big event since that might reduce attendance. Some places are not easily accessible for people of all ages and for those with physical disabilities. The room or facility needs to be large enough to accommodate all of the displays. Plan space for more people than you expect to attend. Generally, a one-day event for 500 people requires an area of at least 2,500 square feet.
Be sure your space has the proper amenities. Each exhibitor will need table space and adequate lighting; some will need electrical outlets and, depending on how long the event is, they may need chairs. Ensure there is enough parking at the location to accommodate exhibitors and guests. As with the space, plan for more parking than you expect to need.
Program
Exhibits
1. Identify potential exhibitors. Determine who can set up a display about their organization or can answer health and safety related questions. Consider potential exhibitors carefully, making sure they are compatible with the overall objectives of the fair. Think about your target audience, theme, or message (if any), and the amount of space available. For example, if you plan a "heart health" fair, you would invite the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Try to include balance and variety when choosing exhibitors even if you have a specific theme.
Approach local resources to find exhibitors:
- Health professionals
- Local and state health departments
- Community associations and organizations
- Libraries
- Police and fire departments
- Health clubs
Also contact national health organizations, as they may have materials they can provide. They might also have a local chapter in your area that would be interested in participating in the fair as an exhibitor.
2. Invite potential exhibitors. Make contact with potential exhibitors as early as possible with a letter, an e-mail, a fax, or a phone call. If you start with a letter, e-mail, or fax, make a follow-up phone call. If you start with a phone call, be sure to send details in writing. In your document, be sure to inform the potential exhibitors of the date, time, location, target audience, and theme or focus of the fair; indicate clearly where they should park, where they can set up their displays, and how much display space they will have. (Either tell exhibitors how much space they will have or ask that they tell you how much space they will need.)
Request information about any special needs that exhibitors may have, such as an electrical outlet, extra chairs, or a privacy screen. Create a document where you can record each time you contact a potential exhibitor and their response; include columns where you can record complete contact information for each confirmed exhibitor and where you can mark when you have sent them a thank-you card.
3. Remind confirmed exhibitors. Don't assume exhibitors will remember your fair, even if you called and sent a detailed letter. Send another reminder letter to exhibitors 1–2 weeks prior to the event. Include information about when to arrive, where to park, and where to set up displays. Ask again for any special needs exhibitors may have.
Door Prizes
Have attendees register with their name and phone number at the registration table when they enter the fair. Depending on the number of door prizes and the fair schedule, draw a name (or two) every 15 minutes with the person having to be present to win. A microphone will likely be necessary for everyone to hear the name being called and what they won.
Refreshments
Try to provide a variety of refreshments. Seniors usually like coffee, juice, and water; cookies are a popular snack. A creative but more costly idea is to have nutritious refreshments such as a vegetable tray.
Fundraising and Budget
Identify potential sponsors who can provide financial support, materials, equipment, or services. Ways to involve businesses and organizations in the event include:
- Grocery or health food stores can provide refreshments.
- Stores can donate bags to hold materials collected by guests.
- Printing companies can donate paper and/or printing for fliers, posters, and signs.
- Businesses and organizations can publicize the fair to customers, clients, or members.
- Businesses and organizations can donate door prizes (e.g., a coupon, gift certificate, or product).
Be creative when looking for financial support; consider labor groups, neighborhood leaders, and anyone else who has connections within the community.
- Approach potential sponsors. Make contact with a letter, an e-mail, a fax, or a phone call. If you start with a letter, e-mail, or fax, make a follow-up phone call. If you start with a phone call, be sure to send details in writing. In your letter, include a brief description of your organization and its goals, a summary of the event and its target audience, and what kind of support the potential sponsor could provide. Be sure to stress the benefits of sponsoring this event, such as publicity to a hard-to-reach segment of the community. Include your contact information and thank them for taking the time to read your letter.
- Keep track of all contact with potential sponsors. Create a document in which you record each contact a sponsor and their response. Include columns to record complete contact information for each confirmed sponsor and to indicate when you have sent them a thank-you card.
Volunteers and Staff
To recruit volunteers, start with the following:
Schools and student groups
- Community service organizations
- Church groups
- Senior citizen centers
- Advocacy groups
Volunteers are needed to help set up and take down the health fair. They can also help keep the registration table running, greet exhibitors, and refill refreshments as needed. The number of volunteers needed depends on the size of the health fair — a small health fair will only need a few volunteers, provided it is well organized.
Publicity
Although publicity is just one aspect of planning for a health fair, it is arguably the most important. Even the best planned fair will not be successful if no one knows about it. Some ways to generate publicity include the following:
Media outlets. Prepare press releases for local newspapers and public service announcements for local radio stations. Most community newspapers have event calendars, so check for deadlines. Keep in mind that community newspapers are rarely issued daily, so deadlines may be more than a month before your event.
Business and organization outreach. Contact the public relations or communications offices of local businesses and organizations to learn how they can help publicize the event to their employees. Many companies have internal newsletters or bulletin boards they use to communicate with their employees.
Flyers and posters. Design flyers and posters that not only inform people about the fair but also motivate them to come. Include date, time, location, theme, full or sample list of exhibitors, full list of sponsors, and incentives for attending, such as refreshments and door prizes. Ask art students to help with designs. Hang flyers in stores, libraries, banks, restaurants, clinics, hospitals, physician offices, and churches; put them anywhere your target audience might see them. Remember to list sponsors on all publicity pieces.
Logistics
Layout. Plan for the amount of space each exhibitor will need and map out a floor plan on paper. Consider the following:
- Design the floor plan to allow easy traffic flow and prevent backups or long lines.
- Be sure to provide ample distance between competing exhibitors.
- Keep doors, alarms, and fire exits visible and free of obstacles.
- Place wires and electrical cords out of walkways or cover them with tape.
- Allow for easy access to restrooms and be sure they are accessible to wheelchairs or people with mobility limitations.
- Make sure the temperature and lighting are comfortable and appropriate.
- Establish a logically placed registration table where attendees can sign in and get all of the information they need to fully enjoy the event. Design the registration table, process, and materials (and train staff) to minimize the likelihood of long lines when they arrive.
- Place entertainment away from exhibits such that it doesn't interfere with conversation or detract from the information provided by exhibitors.
Materials. Before the day of the fair, prepare all of the printed materials and collect all of the items you will need. These might include:
- Checklist. To avoid forgetting last-minute essential, take some time to make a list of everything you will need at the fair (e.g., electrical equipment, tables, chairs, easels, VCRs, audio-visual equipment, pencils, paper, tape, microphone, paper, and scissors)
- Signs. Create signs for the following:
- Registration table/door prize sign-up
- Exhibit numbers and exhibitor names for each table
- Direction signs (e.g., parking, registration, exhibits, restrooms, seating areas, and any portions of event not in the main room)
- Sponsor recognition
- List of door prizes
Registration table. Items you may want to prepare for the registration table include:
- Numbered sign-in sheet to keep track of how many people attend the fair
- Map of exhibits (remember to include sponsor list)
- Nametags
- List of any activities or entertainment (include sponsor list if not on other materials)
- Bags to hold the items attendees collect
- Fair evaluation survey
Set-up and take down. Depending on the size of the fair, allow enough time for the exhibitors to set up their exhibits. Allow 30 minutes of set-up time for a 10-booth fair. A larger fair will need more time. Find out beforehand if exhibits need to be taken apart by a certain time and who will be responsible for cleaning up the site.
Wrap Up
- Evaluation. Evaluation is an important tool for planning future health fairs. During the fair, you can provide a feedback form for attendees to comment on what they liked and disliked about the fair. Keep the form very brief and include open-ended questions as well as questions that allow people to rate aspects of the fair on a number scale. If you do not want everyone to fill out the feedback form or don't think many people will want to, you could approach every tenth person as they are leaving to get verbal feedback or have them fill out an evaluation. After the fair, talk to the planning committee, exhibitors, and others involved with the fair about their perceptions. Write a short report to summarize the event and what you learn from the evaluation.
- Express appreciation. Send thank-you notes to people who helped out and were key to the success of the fair including staff, volunteers, sponsors, exhibitors, event site contact and staff (e.g. custodians), people who helped with publicity, and entertainers who performed for a reduced rate.
