Often, the more you engage in community work, the more you want to invite others to join you in your work or create new opportunities for collaboration. Engaging others in the work you are doing can be a powerful way to deepen your impact. And, it is a bigger commitment with more consideration than engaging on your own. Take everything you have learned about engaging ethically and effectively, and add on the responsibility of make sure the other people you recruit do the same. 

Engaging others takes some necessary organization and planning to ensure the experience is a success for all involved.

🔑 Essential Activity: Accessibility Questions for Service Events

When planning for community engagement activities in particular, there are some common accessibility considerations to keep in mind. Take a moment and think of a service event you'd like to hold and think through the following questions, or use an example of an event you've been to in the past and consider how the event planners might have answered these questions:

• Transportation: When planning a service event out in the community, how will folks get there? Will you provide transportation from campus? Is the event location easily accessible by public transit? How long would it take via bus or MAX from campus? Will transit passes be provided, or mileage reimbursed?

• Individual Physical Requirements: What type of service will participants engage in? What are the physical requirements of the service? Does someone need to be able to stand, bend, or lift? Are there alternate assignments for someone who may need to remain seated? 

• Accessibility of the Space: Is the initial meeting space wheelchair accessible? How about the bathroom? How about the other areas where volunteers may need to go to complete their assignments? Is there an elevator on the premises for those who may not be able to navigate stairs? How far away is parking for someone planning to drive to the event? If the event requires moving from one location to another (e.g. trash pick-up), will the route include curb-cuts navigable by a wheelchair or stroller?

• Age limits & Childcare: What is the minimum age for participants? If a caregiver would like to bring a child along, are they able to do so? Will there be service activities that the kids can participate in? Are there youth liability waivers that need to be signed? Will childcare be available, if children are not able to participate?

Importantly, as you begin to promote your event, make sure you communicate clearly about what the event requires (e.g. necessary physical requirements) and what it offers (e.g. transportation, wheelchair accessibility, open to children) so that folks aren't left to wonder. Adding a statement about who to contact regarding accommodations is also helpful to include.  

Want additional ideas? Check out: Make All Volunteering as Accessible as Possible: Advantages for your program & How to do it by Jayne Cravens.

You can plan the most amazing event -- but if no one knows about it and no one comes, your hard work may end up in disappointment. This is why it is important to think about how you will advertise and recruit for your event from the very beginning. Leave this step till last, and you'll be scrambling!

You want to begin thinking about marketing your event in 3 stages: Messaging > Design > Outreach. By having your messaging drafted and thought through early on, this will help guide your design and outreach process. 

1. Messaging: The first step in marketing an event is to put together a short blurb that is catchy and exciting to spark interest for potential attendees. It’s important to create the blurb early on as it is the language you will work with when creating flyers, sending out emails, creating a registration page, etc. As you create your messaging, focus on using action verbs and you-focused language ("Get crafty with the kids at Alder Elementary") instead of nouns ("craft volunteers needed"). The more dynamic your blurb and the more someone can see themselves in it, the more likely you'll see folks signing up to participate!

2. Design: The design phase is when you create your visually-engaging outreach materials. Whether designing for a virtual posting on social media or creating a flyer to print and post up around campus, you'll want to use sharp, clean graphics, clear messaging, and a combination of colors that catches the eye but does not make anything difficult to read. Remember to keep "white space" in your flyer, so that it isn't too "busy." And don't forget to include how to sign up! Bit.ly links and QR codes can be simple ways to guide folks to online registration sites. 

3. Outreach: Having great messaging and graphics is only the start -- people now need to see them! Take time early on to brainstorm individuals, groups, social media accounts, and physical locations that would be good places to send your messaging and graphics. Where possible, personalize your outreach -- friends asking friends will go farther than a generic email or post! Part of your outreach plan should be identifying others who can help invite those in their own communities. 

The guide linked in the sidebar on the right has some example messages and email templates you can refer to when planning your own messaging, design, and outreach. 

It's the day before your event and you've been planning for weeks. How do you make sure things go well on the day of? Obviously many things will depends on the type of event you are planning, but there are a few key considerations.

In the week leading up to the event, it's important to make sure you have a clear sense of what you need to prepare in advance, so you are not scrambling on the day-of. This often includes an agenda for the day, an understanding of the space you'll be in, a plan for any set-up and clean-up, a plan for welcoming & orienting folks who arrive, a list of needed supplies, and a clear understanding of what to include in a reminder to send to participants. Sending a reminder email or text can be the difference between having 40% versus 80% of registrants actually show up on the day of! 

On the day of the event itself, it's important to make sure you and any other facilitators arrive far enough in advance of the actual event start time that you have time to set-up and are ready for the first inevitable early birds who show up! It should be clear where participants check-in and what they can expect as the event gets underway; will they be oriented as they arrive, or in a group after everyone gets there? Is there a spot to leave their stuff? Are there any waivers to sign? Are there safety considerations to cover during orientation?

As the project gets underway, leadership and facilitation will look different based on the kind of event you are leading, but checking in with folks along the way, providing adequate breaks, and leaving time at the end for a wrap-up, thank-you, and closing reflection are all best practices for most community-based events. 

The guide linked on the sidebar includes some helpful checklists specific to supporting service projects with community partners, but can be adapted to fit other types projects as needed.

How do you know if your event made a positive impact? How do you know if your goals were met? How will you pass along to the next person (or your future self) recommendations for what to keep and what to change, if the event is repeated?

So often, in our event planning frenzy, we make it to the day of the event itself and forget to think beyond that final "thank you for coming" to ask your planning team -- not to mention your participants and community partners -- how things went!

There are many ways to gather feedback about participants' experience, whether it be a simple sheet of questions provided and gathered at the event itself (which can provide a better response rate but less in-depth thoughts) or a post-event survey sent after the event is finished (which fewer people will fill out, but you may get more thought-out feedback). Whatever you do, choose a method in advance, ask questions based on the goals of your event, and make a plan for dissemination so you don't forget as the event comes to a close! 

A post-event phone call or email to community partners you worked with can be a great way to invite their feedback and input about what went well and what could have been better. 

And of course, make sure to sit down with members of your planning team to run through the highs and lows and what you would improve upon for next time! It can be helpful to use a template for these sorts of post-event conversations, so you make sure to focus on both what went well and what could have gone better... otherwise sometimes you forget to celebrate your wins! 

Assessment tools like a +/Delta brainstorm (see sidebar for example) or a SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) Analysis can help provide a framework to guide these "how did it go?" conversations and leave a paper trail for future organizers to learn from your successes and challenges.