World Hepatitis Day: July 28 2012 www.worldhepatitisday.info

This is hepatitis...

Toolkit 3: Organising Events

Creating an Awareness Campaign

This is hepatitis...Toolkit 3: Organising Events

This toolkit provides ideas, inspiration and practical tips to help you to organise events not only around World Hepatitis Day but for your awareness campaigns throughout the year.

It includes:

• SectionA- OrganisingEvents‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’

•SectionB- NEWGlobalevent:GuinnessWorldRecordattempt

•SectionC- Additionaleventideas

•SectionD- Checklist

Use it as a guide and, if you have any questions, contact: contact@worldhepatitisalliance.org

Don’t forget to share with us details of your awareness campaigns throughout the year, as well as plans, coverage and photos from World Hepatitis Day.

This is hepatitis...Section A - Organising ‘This is hepatitis… it’s closer than you think’ Events

You might want to organise an event around World Hepatitis Day or at other times throughout the year, to:

• Build support

• Secure media coverage

• Create awareness

• Engage politicians by offering them a platform to promote their own activity and policies

• Raise funds

AlwaysThinkAbouttheMedia

The media can play an important role in raising awareness of hepatitis and promoting your events. Ways in which you can encourage journalists to attend are:

Invitejournalists to participate in the event - target them as soon as the event is organised

• Ensure that journalists have photos to accompany their story – get photographers on board, set up a photo opportunity for journalists or upload your own event photos onto a site that journalists can access such as Flickr. Try to make your images as high quality as possible for publication and contact your target publications to find out what photo format they prefer

• Encourage local radioandTV stations to attend and cover events – local news programmes may be particularly interested if you have local celebrities on board and local medical professionals or case studies available for interviews

• Issue pressreleases announcing your event - let journalists know what will be happening and who is involved

• A good way of grabbing the media’s attention is by doing something newsworthy (either spectacular or shocking or both), announcing new information or by recruiting local celebrities to come along

For tips on how to approach journalists and achieve coverage, please see Toolkit2-WorkingwiththeMedia

RecordtheEvent

Filming the event, or key parts of it, is an effective way to reach people who could not attend. This can be uploaded onto your website, YouTube or other social media sites, to increase awareness. Footage can be edited and sent to supporters or future sponsors as an example of what you can do.

For more information on how to use social media please see Toolkit4-ReachingOnlineAudiences

This is hepatitis...Section B - Global event – Guinness World Record attempt

For the first time, the Alliance is planning to organise a shared global event on 28th July 2012. The event will aim to create a new Guinness World Record, and in order to be successful at least 10 venues must take part on the same day around the world.

The event will be judged at a global level, so each country will be responsible for accurately recording and reporting participation to the World Hepatitis Alliance secretariat, who will submit the record to Guinness World Records.

The details of the record are in development but will involve a group of people performing the same activity simultaneously, will be closely related to the ‘It’scloserthanyouthink’ theme and will be simple enough for anyone to get involved. More details and instructions for participation will be provided via an e-alert, at least three months before World Hepatitis Day 2012. At this stage, please register your interest by contacting contact@worldhepatitisalliance.org. The impact and success of the event will depend on lot of groups being involved, so come on board!

Whygetinvolved?

• To provide a newshook for local media

• To unite people locally to raise awareness and also unite globally with other groups around the world in the fight against hepatitis

• To make support for hepatitis visible in the community

• To create a fun and unique event

Whatwillitinvolve?

Whilst the details on the format of the event are being confirmed, there are some things you can think about right away. Below is a list of things you will need to consider:

• Findingavenue The record attempt will need to take place in a restricted area with entrances and exits clearly marked and controlled, so that the number of people taking part can be recorded. Indoor attempts must take place in a room designated for the attempts and outdoor attempts must be secured with fences or other physical barrier. You might want to think about asking venue owners to donate event space for free, see Toolkit 5 - Working with businesses to support your World Hepatitis Day activities. If using public space, you might need to make an application to local authorities, so consider this early

• Recruitingparticipants There must be a minimum of 25 people taking part at each venue. To secure support you will need to advertise your event early within your member networks and beyond. This could be via email alerts, posters, meetings etc.

• Findingsupervisors Independent supervisors will need to be identified to accurately record the record and count those involved. This could be someone from your organisation. There must be at least one supervisor for every 50 participants. Each supervisor must submit a statement indicating how many participants they observed and how many of those took part

We hope you will be inspired to take part in this exciting event and look forward to sharing more details as they become available!

This is hepatitis...Section C - Additional events Ideas

You can organise many different types of events, on as large or small a scale as you wish. To get you started, we have suggested below a range of event ideas for you to use or adapt for your country.

KeepitSimple

Events can be both simple to organise and informative:

• Recruit volunteers to hand out leaflets and raise money at train/bus stations, shopping centres or local places of interest

• Ask volunteers to cook or bake produce to sell on stalls or in local shops

• Hold a sale, auction or raffle with donated clothes, toys, furniture

• Organise a quiz night

You could utilise a number of these ideas to create a ‘World Hepatitis Day Fair’ in a local park or community hall, housing various stalls, speakers and games to increase awareness of viral hepatitis and World Hepatitis Day either in advance of, or on, 28 July.

Concerts

Concerts are a great way to reach the general public, especially if you can create media excitement, and can be as large or small as you like. They can also tie into other events; for example, in 2011, Hepatitis Hilfe Österreich (HHÖ) held a liver-health-check corner on a busy square in Vienna on July 28th. Hundreds of passersby had their blood tested for hepatitis and the Viennese Sick Fund social consultants provided professional advice. To raise awareness, various famous musicians performed on a stage nearby in an Open Air Concert.

• Use contacts with any well known musicians and invite them to ‘headline’ at a concert in aid of World Hepatitis Day 2011

• Invite local unsigned groups and singers to take part in smaller, local events

• Sell CDs, DVDs or music and video downloads after the event

• Acoustic events are often easier to organise, particularly if you have more than one act performing, as less time is needed for equipment changes

This is hepatitis...SpectacularEvent

Create a buzz to get your awareness-raising campaign and your organisation noticed.

You can use the ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ logo:

• Arrange for logos or key messages to be written somewhere visible. You could work with street artists to produce a hepatitis related chalk artwork in your local square. You will need to contact your local authorities to check permission requirements

• Project the logos on to buildings, just like SOS Hepatites Portugal did

• Get permission to paint a local landmark blue, change the floodlights to blue at night or fill a famous square with ‘This is hepatitis... it’s closer than you think’ people wearing t-shirts

ShockEvent

Create an event that provokes a public reaction and will be remembered for a long time. For example, in 2009 SOS Hepatites Portugal ‘unveiled’ coffins in the main squares to demonstrate the devastating impact of the viruses. In 2011, the Turk Karaciger Vakfi group in partnership with the Taxi Drivers Association organised a demonstration at 13.00 on July 28, when all taxi drivers hooted their horns for one minute.

UnusualEvent

Your event could be unusual, engaging with people in a fun way to maximise interest, and creating an opportunity to then deliver your messages. For example, in 2011 a number of voluntary sector organisations in Scotland organised a ‘Big High Tea’ event, which included a laughter workshop, showing how laughter can release feel-good endorphins.

SportingEvents

People love to play or watch sport. Get people together to take part in a game or support a team or individual. These events offer particularly effective ways to highlight the prevalence of hepatitis B and C (one-in-12), for example by marking out the 12th participant with distinctive kit:

• Football is popular and attracts the media. Organise a novelty 12-a-side football tournament in your city. Give each team a different ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ t-shirt to wear and brand the logos on footballs and on and around the pitch. Involve a local professional footballer to launch the tournament and give out the prizes

• A sponsored fun run around your city

• A sponsored bungee jump or abseil from a local landmark or building

This is hepatitis...• Arrange a fun sports day with 12 different events and ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ branding on the equipment for each

In Brazil in 2011, a campaign was organised in partnership with Santos Football Club and many other stakeholders in which a football game at the ‘Vila Belmiro’ stadium raised awareness of hepatitis C amongst the 20,000 spectators as well as the millions watching the game on television.

Television

In Bangladesh, Liver Foundation of Bangladesh participated in ‘Ke Hote Chay Kotipoti’, the Bangladeshi version of the renowned reality TV show ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’, where the message of World Hepatitis Day was conveyed to millions of viewers.

CookingEvent

Cookery TV shows and live demonstrations are very popular, and cooking is something that is relevant to everyone. In 2011, the UK Hepatitis C Trust held a celebrity dinner and encouraged people to hold similar meals with a healthy twist. You could organise a cooking event in a city centre, ideally with a celebrity chef to attract media interest, and could consider:

• Cooking dishes with ingredients that could be considered ‘liver friendly’

• Incorporating ‘This is hepatitis... it’s closer than you think’ branding into menus, crockery, napkins or around the stall

• Hand out food samples and recipes to passers-by

• Invite media to the stall and for an interview (this would be particularly suited to broadcast media)

ArtExhibitionorLiveEvent

An art exhibition brings a very visual element to your awareness-raising event which is appealing for broadcast and print media, and is good for encouraging participation. You could:

• Conduct an art competition among hepatitis patients to paint or draw how it feels to live with the condition

• Organise an art exhibition to display the entries and announce the winner

• Have ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ branding around the exhibition

This is hepatitis...• Invite media to the exhibition (this would be particularly suited to broadcast media)

• You could also consider doing a ‘live’ art event, where members of the public are asked to draw what they associate with hepatitis in 5 minutes

HepatitisConsultationorTestingday

A hepatitis consultation or testing day would make it easy for the general public, as well as individuals who think that they might be at risk, to receive advice and would help to raise general awareness among the public. This could include:

• Setting up a stall in a city centre to offer free advice, highlighting that people with hepatitis rarely present symptoms

• Having testing equipment and medical staff on the stand, ensuring that you provide support, educational literature and other resources for those who may test positive

• Encouraging politicians to get tested to provide a photo opportunity to attract media attention, as well as increasing political awareness, or invite journalists to have a consultation

• You could organise a live testing event on a popular TV programme, as Hepasist did in 2009, arranging for the house mates on Bulgarian Celebrity Big Brother to get tested

• Including ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ branding around the stall

In Ghana in 2011, a free hepatitis B screening event was organised at the Freedom and Justice Park in Accra - the initiative was led by famous rapper Okyeame Kwame and it reached over 800 people.

This is hepatitis...Section D - Checklist

• Partner with appropriate organisations to help to organise or sponsor the event - for example, get local sports stores, magazines and teams involved in a sporting event; or music stores, clubs, bars or shopping centres in an entertainment event

• Promote the event through media relations and promotional items such as posters and banners

• Encourage volunteers and performers to wear ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ t-shirts

• Handout‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’give-aways, such as t-shirts, leaflets, pens, badges and stickers – please see Toolkit1-WorldHepatitisDay2012 and Toolkit4-ReachingOnline Audiences for the Alliance campaign materials available to you, and how to adapt them for your country, using our online Campaign Materials Tool

• Decorate the venue with banners carrying the ‘Thisishepatitis...it’scloserthanyouthink’ logo

• Engage the audience with branded information points - even if it is just a table - filled with detailed information about hepatitis, your awareness campaign or World Hepatitis Day 2011, and have a well- informed representative from your organisation on hand to answer any questions

• Use any celebrity contacts to add ‘star quality’ to the event, as they can draw significant crowds and attract media attention

• Record the event if possible for use in your Social Media Campaigns