HFA Teleconference - Outreach Ideas
The Living With Grief teleconference provides a great outreach and networking opportunity. See the ideas below for ways that other organizations have utilized the broadcast.
PR/Marketing | Potential Audience for the Program | Community Involvement | On-Site Ideas
A local community college placed an ad in a quarterly schedule of classes.
The hospital put announcements in their weekly and daily news bulletins.
CEU availability helps alot; we include the book in a teleconference fee.
We personally call people who are accessing bereavement services.
We had two presentations [of the teleconference], one live and one about a month later from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m..
A local celebrity donated his time to record our Public Service Announcement. Local radio stations were then more likely to run it.
One of the best ways to attract an audience is to offer lunch!
The local University Public Relations class developed and carried out a Marketing/Media Plan for the teleconference as a class project.
A flyer about the teleconference was included in all University and Medical Center mailings and paychecks.
We placed notices about the teleconference in local church bulletins.
The local radio station devoted a one-hour talk show to the topic of end-of-life issues. Members of our staff talked about the program and answered call-in questions.
Our volunteers take posters about the teleconference to local doctors' offices, churches, and community centers.
Potential Audience for the Program
We use brochures mailed to target audiences. This year we will mail to HR Departments of industries, the School Board, and area churches.
A bereavement support group comes to the teleconference in place of their aftemoon meeting. The local community college offers a Death and Dying class and incorporates the teleconference the curriculum.
Some of our local colleges offer extra-credit for attendance and reporting of the teleconference.
The teleconference has become an annual mandatory paid in-service for our staff.
We have established on-going monthly seminars open to the public, co-sponsored by funeral homes and a medical center.
The editor of our local weekly newspaper spent an hour and a half at our office and is excited about doing a series of articles.
One week after the teleconference we held a follow-up panel forum discussion. This was very effective in bringing clergy and professionals together to discuss local support and afforded the opportunity for more interaction.
Our local cable station rebroadcast the program from 6:30--9:00 p.m. for those who work.
The local paper then ran a letter from hospice thanking the cable company for its support.
Local businesses donated money to cover the cost of books and box lunches. This allowed over 100 people to come to the program for free, and the businesses loved the free publicity. A local business donates satellite time and equipment to us for the teleconference.
A handout is distributed listing all known local grief support groups and contact phone numbers.
In our community, the program is at lunch time. We have a registration/ lunch before the program begins; it's a great time for networking.
We give away door prizes donated by community businesses.
We had local displays of resources and a contact person from each organization available throughout the teleconference.
We invited former bereavement group participants to tell their stories as part of our panel discussion.
In addition to "experts," we have had hospice volunteers on our panel. They add a very special perspective to the topic.
On our panel, we always aim for diversity in gender, culture, and spirituality, in addition to expertise on the subject matter.
We circulated a list of attendees to all participants as a networking resource. We hand out a list of local resource groups at the end of the program.
We conduct three one-hour morning sessions, so that we hold an all-day conference (with lunch provided).
We encourage participating organizations to bring literature to place on our "Participant's Table." We also provide a "Hospice Information Table," let our local hospice director talk about the program and talk to people about becoming hospice volunteers.
