Using Communications to Elevate Your Next Community Engagement Event

If you’ve ever planned an event for your organization, chances are, you found yourself with a long list of tasks. You’re not alone! Organizing a community engagement event requires a big investment of resources. However, events are an exceptional engagement strategy in your communications toolbox.

Engagement events offer an opportunity for face-to-face connection with your audiences. When you add smart communications principles to the mix, they are also a great way to increase awareness for your cause, raise funds, mobilize supporters, celebrate organizational news and updates, and build strategic (and meaningful) relationships.

Try integrating these communications tips into your next event to take your impact to the next level.

1. Create a strategy-driven event plan – To ensure your event meets your organization’s goals, start with an event plan that details the purpose, goals, expectations, and key audiences.

2. Develop consistent branding – Be sure to think about your event as a unique product that your organization is producing. As such, you will want this product to have a clear and consistent brand (that aligns with your org’s master brand). If this becomes a recurring event, this will help previous attendees have the same mental and emotional connections to the event experience and want to come back for more.

3. Establish clear internal communication expectations – As you’re planning and implementing your event, it’s important to establish clear internal communications protocols. This could include regularly scheduled meetings, planning updates to staff and leadership, and consistent documentation of event details including budget, sponsors, promotional campaign plans, etc.

4. Develop key messages for each target audience aligned with the channels where you plan to reach them – It’s important to customize your message to ensure you receive the response and engagement you want for your cause from the intended audiences. Think about who your target audiences will be for this particular event, and consider what you need them to know and how they will best receive that information.

5. Engage your lived-experience advocates – There is nothing like hearing about the impact of your organization from someone who has firsthand experience. Persons with lived-experience are great advocates for your cause and can help to elevate the connections that others have with your organization. When planning your event, engage them early in the process to brainstorm ways that they can participate meaningfully. This could range anywhere between helping to design the event to being speakers or panelists. Their insights will be invaluable.

6. Build strong media, community, and influencer partnerships – Consider building relationships with media organizations/personalities, like-minded organizations, and celebrities who may already be speaking out on topics related to your cause. Building relationships with influencers is a great opportunity for leveraging their following to shed light on your organization’s work.

7. Create a social media toolkit – In today’s digital world, social media is no longer an added bonus to engagement events but a must. To amplify your reach, create a social media toolkit for your sponsors and promotional partners. It should include your clever (memorable) hashtag(s), sample graphics, sample post copy, and links to your organization’s social media channels.

8. Consider integrating video to promote the event – Video is a great tool for telling your organization’s story. With access to a smartphone, you can create quality DIY videos with no need for a full production budget. Your video could highlight stories from your cause, your influencers calling others to join them at the event, among other ideas. Get creative!

9. Capture contact information from participants – As you engage participants at your event, ask them if they would like to receive more information about your organization and updates. This gives you a built-in pipeline for newsletter subscribers, volunteers, and even future influencers and advocates.

10. Say thank you – To build on the momentum of your event, follow up with a thank you email to attendees. Encourage them to keep in touch by following your organization on social media, subscribing to your newsletter, or joining you at a future event if you have the “save the date” information. By giving them meaningful next steps, you’ll continue to build that relationship long after the event wraps.

Try it! When implementing these tips, remember to consider how your events fit within your broader strategic communications goals. When you think about it at the strategy level, you may come up with even more creative ways to engage your audiences.

p.s. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, be sure to check out this incredible community engagement example: During Mental Health Awareness Month, our friends at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health are hosting the second year of WE RISE, a 10-day pop-up immersive experience (May 18-27) that invites LA’s community to engage in empowering performances, programming, workshops, art galleries, and more to erase the stigma of mental illness.