HEALTH FAIR PLANNING GUIDE
 

OBTAINING AUTHORIZATION, BACKING AND SUPPORT

The most important factor in the success or failure of your health fair is the obtaining of authorization, and enthusiastic support from your supervisor and all the way up the chain of command to the CEO. If you have this it will be difficult to not have a successful health fair. If you do not, the job of "pulling off" a successful event can be a nightmare.

 

TIME AND DATE  

When selecting a date for the health fair, it is important to consider the impact it will have on your employees. We recommend having it during working hours although this could be centered around break or lunchtime activities as well. We find that health fairs mid-week are usually more successful.  Fairs held immediately before or after holidays may also have an impact on attendance.

We recommend that the health fair run at least 2 1/2 hours for smaller companies, up to 4 or 6 hours for larger corporations to ensure that all employees have a chance to visit each booth. The most popular times are between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Shifts should be considered.
 

Other factors you may wish to consider can include, but are certainly not limited to the following:

  • Will it conflict with other important meetings, conferences or tradeshows?

  • Will you need to consider vacation schedules?

  • Will it interfere with any special work projects being conducted, or deadlines that need to be met?

  • What time frame will be most convenient for the majority of your employees? Especially if your company has multiple shifts.

  • How will it affect people in carpools, or picking up children from day care, etc.?

  • What is the best available facility that is open that particular day and time. (Training center, etc.) Double check the Facility Scheduling Book.

 

LOCATION

Selecting a central, easily accessible location on-site for the health fair will attract many more employees than one held off-site. A large room with movable tables with good traffic flow is preferable.

Heart Screen can help you a great deal in developing the optimum floor plan. We understand and make the best of the physical space requirements, vendor placement, ingress, egress, employee traffic flow, lighting and electrical outlet considerations, as well as the table and chair requirements and placement, and more, to make the event the kind of success that employees will be talking about for months.

 

ORGANIZING

The only activity of any consequence left to do is promote the event internally to the company to ensure maximum employee attendance. If you want to orchestrate the Health Fair yourself, give us a call. One hour on the phone with us will save you 10 to 20 hours and headaches.

A health fair is like planning a big party. The more people you get involved, the easier, more fun, and more successful it will be. One person can do it all, but we do not recommend it. For example, if you can elicit the help of one person from each department, to get everyone in their area "pumped up" about the upcoming Health Fair, pulling off a successful event will be a breeze.

 

PROMOTION

Good promotion is critical to the success of any Health Fair. If you would like samples of promotional materials please contact us, we have lots of excellent examples of internal promotion.

As mentioned above it is best to obtain employees from various departments within the organization for a broad representation of interests and needs to assist with promotion. Each member of the team should be responsible for organizing and/or implementing at least one component of the promotion campaign. For example:

  • Obtaining an endorsement from the first in command. A personal letter or e-mail from the head of the company is an excellent way to publicize the event and establishes the fact that, from the top down, the company is concerned about the health and well-being of its employees.

  • Writing memos and articles for the newsletter. If a newsletter is distributed monthly, an announcement the month before and the month of the health fair is recommended. A memo or e-mail is also an easy way to let employees know about the health fair and to remind them to mark their calendar.

  • Designing and developing posters, flyers, Health Fair Passports and other creative pieces, etc. (We do have some samples available.)

  • Reproducing and distributing promotional materials. A month before the health fair, place posters and flyers in the most visible locations. Examples: Cafeteria, bulletin boards, copy machines, on doors, employee lounges, vending machines, at the entrance to the parking lot, and restrooms.

  • Promoting the event within an assigned area or department through personal contact. If possible, attend weekly staff meetings to promote the health fair to employees. Encourage department managers and administrators to personally support and promote the program as well.

In addition to the above, it is important for you to identify the most appropriate and effective way to deliver your promotional materials within your organization. Each company is different and will, therefore, have its own system of communicating with employees. There may also be limitations on what is permissible to use in certain areas. Find out ahead of time to eliminate unnecessary work.

You also need to know your resources. It is beneficial to identify those individuals within your organization who can help you in your promotion efforts. These can include department managers, personnel and Human Resource Development staff, facilities and publications, etc.

 

MATERIALS

Additional materials to enhance the success of your Health Fair are as follows:

  • Heart Screen’s Health Jackpot or Treasure Chest

  • Balloons, crepe paper, signs, posters from local health organizations.

  • Raffle prizes: lunch for two, health club memberships, movie passes, tickets to local attractions, hats, company logo t-shirts, and other donated articles.

  • Food & Snacks: We have a motto "if you feed them they will come." More employees will attend if you entice them this way. Some companies go so far as having food services put on a big barbecue. However, sandwiches, fruit, fruit juice, yogurt, health food, popcorn and so forth are very adequate.

  • Employee enticements: Some companies have gone so far as handing out the payroll checks at the event to get employees to come and see the event. This way while they are there, they might as well just visit some of the booths. We were amazed at how this worked to get employees who ordinarily would have not attended to participate. How about a lottery ticket for attending?

  • Additional enhancements: Music is always a nice touch and some companies have gone so far as to hire a band. Use your imagination, it will pay off in such a memorable event that employees will be talking about the Health fair for months.

 

If you need help with your company's Health Fair please feel free to give us a call. The bottom line is to make the event so fun and informative that everyone from the top of the ladder down to the mailroom will be talking about it for months.