April 2003
Communicating your aims

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EHJ April 2003, pages 112-115

Late last year, a conference was held in Belfast that was so successful in terms of achieving its stated aims, it has been held up as a model for others planning a similar event. Gary McFarlane outlines the key considerations

A core theme that crops up continuously for environmental health practitioners (EHPs) working across all levels and sectors is "profile". There is little doubt that a large number of EHPs wish to see the CIEH work actively and aggressively in this area and, indeed, this is a fair and reasonable request given the mission statement: "to maintain, enhance and promote improvements in public and environmental health."

But the key word in this context is "promote". Directly delivering the work that will ultimately make a difference to people's lives cannot be done by CIEH staff themselves. Rather, they can only attempt to create and influence the framework within which individual EHPs operate. Part of this requires a better understanding outside of the profession of the work that EHPs do and how that impacts on quality of life. As a profession, environmental health is not widely understood, and historically the profession has not been good at helping its stakeholders, ie government, businesses and the public, to understand it more fully. In addition, many EHPs, particularly those working within local government, are not arguably being utilised to maximum effect or properly valued for the work that they undertake.

MAKING THE DIFFERENCE

The key purpose of the "Making the difference" conference held in Belfast was to begin to redress this particular issue. Not primarily designed for a target audience of EHPs, the event was aimed at a specific stakeholder group relevant to the local government service, ie elected members. The objective was to illustrate the significant contribution that the local government environmental heath service makes to improving the quality of life. Using relevant case studies and projects involving EHPs working within district councils in Northern Ireland, crucial links were made with the audience's agenda.

Many of you will recognise and appreciate the pressures on the local authority sector - best value, performance management, and the fixation on "number crunching" by external government agencies - all of which have led to increasing pressures on departments. Often the victims are the soft "non-statutory" or "non target-driven" - but arguably more innovative and, dare it be said, more effective - environmental health solutions and interventions. This, coupled with the recruitment crisis facing environmental health, means that scarce resources are being consumed in the pursuit of dictated goals laid down by those that are perhaps "out of touch" with the priority issues affecting the health, wellbeing and quality of life of local communities.

KEY STAGES IN BUILDING THE CONTENT

  • Define what the target audience is interested in;
  • What is the agenda?;
  • Construct a theme (or themes) around this;
  • Identify potential speakers/contributors; and
  • Produce a draft programme to agree with partners.

RAISING THE PROFILE

The Belfast event was born out of a series of "visioning exercises" that involved the entire profession in the province, and was organised ostensibly to develop strategic direction and an action plan for the future. The crucial first step, however, was to define the need for such an event in the first place.

In this instance, the need to raise the understanding of the work carried out by environmental health departments in Northern Ireland was recognised, ultimately to heighten awareness and build support for that work in the increasingly competitive local authority environment. Moreover, the various stakeholder groups had been clearly identified, so there was already a degree of support and consensus around the project.

PROJECT SCOPE

Such projects need to be scoped in terms of "what" and "why". The "what" will typically include an outline of the idea, ie what methodology will be used to achieve the aim?, which depends to an extent on the target stakeholder group. Several vehicles can be combined, for example, an event can be followed up with a report, thus recycling the messages in a different format and achieving maximum impact from the work. The "why" means defining the aims of the project to include the desired outcome, purpose and the primary target audience. These two issues must be established and agreed prior to the commencement of the project, as they provide focus and direction for the rest of the planning process.

STAKEHOLDER SUPPORT

Early support from internal stakeholders is critical and will essentially take the form of promotion and marketing in order to attract delegates. While the programme, timing, format and venue are all critical to a successful event - "champions" willing to promote the event are vital. Although it is possible to run a promotional event with no seed funding and charge an appropriate delegate fee to recoup costs, the project team will inevitably have much greater latitude in fulfilling the overall aims if some core funding is available.

In the case of the Northern Ireland event, the desired outcome was "an improved understanding of the strategic role of environmental health practitioners in the wider public health agenda and increased awareness of how environmental health actions and interventions impact positively on the wellbeing of local communities". Its primary purpose was to improve the working relationship between environmental health practitioners and elected members within the local authority environment.

PLANNING THE PROGRAMME

Once the aims, target audience, commitment and support from internal stakeholders has been established and clarified, the programme for the event can be planned in more detail. The content of the programme is the core product with any event, and while there may be a temptation to leap straight to that, there are some other aspects, which need to be agreed first.

  • Duration and timing:
    think carefully about where the target audience is travelling from and whether a single day or multi-day event is more appropriate.

  • Location:
    Consider geography - particularly in relation to travel accessibility - and the quality of the venue in terms of comfort, facilities and catering.

  • Price:
    An all-inclusive package is generally more attractive and commands more buying power and scope for savings on venue costs. However, this will depend on the venue and the availability of accommodation if the event includes an overnight. The event should be priced at the upper limit of what you estimate your target market will pay. Remember, the aim is to get people there. The price will also be influenced by the total cost of the event and whether it is subsidised, or whether it needs to break even. If the event is focused on building profile then "profit" should be measured in those terms and not sought in financial ones, unless circumstances permit, for example, through sponsorship etc.

  • Content and theme:
    This is crucial - unless the core product is right it will not achieve its purpose in attracting the target audience and getting your key message across.

  • Marketing:
    Once duration, timing, location, pricing and content have been finalised and agreed, the next issue to consider is the marketing of the event. The methods chosen will depend on several factors, including target audience and budget. Again, this is where a clear vision of who the target audience will be and what the event is aiming to achieve will be invaluable.

PLANNING STAGES

The project team chose to run the event over two days. In order to allow adequate time to get to the venue on the first day, the conference was timed to commence at 11.00. The main reason for opting for an overnight stay was to allow time and space for a social function, so that EHPs could network with the target audience. A carefully chosen and respected dinner speaker was briefed beforehand to reinforce some of the messages, which had been delivered during the first day, although in a different style.

With regard to the timing of the programme, short and concise presentations were chosen reflecting a wide range of issues developed in "themes", as discussed in the next section. There were two main reasons for this:

  • to maximise the exposure...ie present a large number of examples rather than focus on a few projects in too much detail; and
  • to maintain audience interest by offering "something for everyone", as well as ensuring a good geographical spread.

The analogy here would be having contributions from across England rather than focusing on the Greater London area. Judging from the feedback received, this appears to have been one of the factors, which made the event so successful.

The hotel was chosen primarily for its location, offering ease of travel to the venue. Comfort was also a consideration, given the overnight.

The event was priced as an all-inclusive package. Bearing in mind the above points, the event was priced at the maximum it was felt would be acceptable to the target audience for a two-day event. In effect this meant that the price covered all hotel costs. As a result, the conference budget was used for other costs associated with the event, ie delegate packs, folders, staging etc. The event had no invitations. No one attended without paying, including the organisers and all CEHOs.

 

OTHER LOGISTICS

There are a number of other practical matters which require co-ordination, and in some cases financial resources, for the success of any event, including:

  • contractual and logistical arrangements with the venue on room layout; staging and lighting (including graphics); audio visual arrangements; catering; and overnight accommodation (if necessary);
  • administration of the event; ie handling booking forms, invoices, confirmations, and financial arrangements for transactions;
  • preparation of conference packs, including conference papers, timetables etc; and
  • IT issues, specifically arrangements for collation of power point presentations.

While many of these logistical tasks can be shared among team members, it is essential that the communication lines and responsibilities of each member are clear. In particular, it is vital that a single point of contact be established between the venue and the organisers in order to avoid confusion. When planning the event, each member of the team took specific responsibilities on board. The key responsibility of each of the five regional representatives was twofold: gathering the "raw material" by way of contributions to the draft programme; and marketing the event within their own local area. These two tasks were absolutely fundamental to the event's success.

With any event of this nature, objective feedback is crucial in order to build upon the event and develop follow on work and future events. The feedback received from this project has been extremely positive. It did not take the form of a "happy list" but rather attempted to be more qualitative in terms of gauging delegates' views on the content of the programme and any suggestions for a follow on.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

The title for the event was chosen for two reasons:

  • it was appropriate for its aim; and
  • the CIEH had banner graphics that could be used for the event - this was part of the ethos in their production in the first place.

It is important to present as professional an event as is possible. The cost of producing graphics for use in stage dressing etc for an event like this is around £1,000. By using existing resources, the organisers were able to make a saving on this cost.

The session themes were developed by considering point 1 (see above), ie what is the overlap between our own agenda and that of the target audience, which will attract them to the event and deliver the project's aim.

Critically, the potential content was drawn together through the environmental health network represented within the project team. Environmental health departments throughout Northern Ireland were asked to submit case studies or examples of good practice that they were involved in and which they felt would meet the aims of the project. They were also asked to identify a speaker or presenter. The information was collected via each member of the project team who sought this material from their own geographical area.

The potential contributions were gathered before the themes were defined. In hindsight it might have been better to do this first, although there are pros and cons in doing this. Having the contributions compiled on a list allowed the project team to draw up appropriate themes, based on material the organisers knew could be used. In the end, more material was gathered than was needed which allowed the organisers to make a more critical selection.

 

One of the key things that was requested was further information and detail, along with contact details on the range of initiatives and projects discussed over the two days. To that end, a follow on publication has been produced which is now available on the CIEH website. This report will be circulated to all those who attended the event. But importantly, it provides a medium through which the event can effectively be recycled to reach a new audience.

It is hoped that this, coupled with the enthusiasm generated among the target audience, will serve to further deliver the original aim of the project: "An improved understanding of the strategic role of environmental health practitioners in the wider public health agenda and increased awareness of how environmental health actions and interventions impacts positively on the wellbeing of local communities".

KEY FACTORS FOR SUCCESS

The success of the event was due to a few key factors. Given the target audience, the promotion of the event was done primarily through the environmental health/local authority network because this was seen as being the most effective route. For that reason, the key vehicle for building awareness and promoting the event was the chief officers who raised the issue at their respective councils.

Financial resources were not committed to producing a publication; rather this was done in-house and printed in the same way. It was felt that the product would stand or fall on the content, timing, cost etc, and the recommendations from within the environmental health network where it interfaced with our target audience. In addition, the collection and use of project material from across the entire region gave a sense of ownership and inclusion. Given that the conference attracted some 86 delegates from 26 local authorities this would seem to have been a reasonable assumption.

Perhaps the best measure of how successful this event has been is represented by the comments received from many of the elected representatives after the event. Three months on, many are still talking about it and enthusing about how useful they found it, and asking when the next one will be!

Why is this understanding by external stakeholders so important? Quite simply because the service needs to work much more closely with these key decision makers to ensure that the skills, knowledge and expertise of EHPs are effectively targeted, through strategic planning and adequate resourcing, to deliver environmental health solutions that make maximum impact in terms of improving our society.

A further report on the event is available from the CIEH website.

Gary McFarlane is director of CIEH Northern Ireland. He can be contacted at: g.mcfarlane@cieh.org or tel: 028 9024 3884