Call me crazy!! I've never organized a ward activity, let alone a three ward event. There was a HUGE learning curve on this one! I'm happy, for the most part, on how it turned out. Yes, there were huge bumps in the road, but I gave it my best shot. Just don't ask me if I'd do it again, because I'm still on the fence. Frankly, people just don't seem to care about this topic, as much as I try to get them excited and motivated about it. The biggest driver on attendance was the pre-ordered kits, which was a HUGE undertaking, to say the least.
Just in case I'm ever asked to do one of these again, here's a huge rundown of what we did, and how I think it went. Yes, it's a long post, I know, but I wanted a record for the future.
Preparedness
Expo 2013
Event: Tri-Ward Preparedness
Fair-“Spring into Action”
Committee: Emergency Preparedness specialists from each of the three wards
Date: April 20th, 2013
Time: 1-4pm (first two hours will be classes, 3rd
hour booths and outdoor demonstrations)
Invitees: Will keep to just the three wards this year. May open to
whole Stake next year-Is an adult activity, or for children who are able to sit
and attend to presentations. Will encourage everyone to invite non-member
friends. Will plan for 200. Actual
attendance around 80-100.
Classes: (4 will be offered the first hour and 4 the second hour)
Will each last approx. 50 min.
1-Water Storage and purification
2-Using your food storage-demonstration
class on using wheat, milk and beans
3-Storm Prep-before, during and
after the storm tips
4-Financial Preparedness (Primary
emphasis Budgeting)
5-72-hour kits – hands on class
where they will assemble pre-ordered kit supplies
6-Gardening – square foot,
container, organic
7-Canning – Pressure canning and
water bath canning (hands on)
8-Alternative heating and cooking
Booths: Will be set up in gym-available from 3pm-4pm (No one
will be allowed into gym until after classes so we can make sure tables are
staffed)
(If
we give the teachers 5 minutes to bring their classroom displays, etc, into the
gym, they can double as displays in both locations and make it real easy.
Booths will be used to give information to those that didn’t attend the
classes, and also give a chance for a more one-on-one interaction/questions)
1-Water storage and purification-show
various containers, had 55 gallon barrel and pump there to try, and give out
handouts from class
2-Using your food storage-handouts
on using wheat, milk and beans Sample: whole wheat bread
3-Storm Prep-handouts from class, short video slides from class, FEMA pamphlets
4-Identity Theft-Pamphlets Miamisburg ordered
5-72 hour kits –Show a variety of
72 hour kits and different supplies. If someone ordered supplies, but didn’t
attend the class, they can pick up here. Samples: MRES and Food Ration bar
Drawing: NOAA radio (in class)
6-Gardening- Handouts from class,
posters on garden topics Sample: plant your own veggie
7-Canning-show the different cookers/canners, cooking charts Sample:
canned chicken salad, cheese and crackers, goulash from class
8-Alternative Heating-display
kerosene heater, generator, electric heater, handouts from class Drawing:
quilts
9-Homemade cleaners-laundry soap,
regular cleaning agents, the “power” of baking soda and “vinegar”-
11-Food Storage 101-Discuss the 4
points of food storage found on Church Website-water, short term, finances,
long term
12-Rain Barrels-Will take orders for
kits and assemble there
13-Family
Home Evening-give out lessons on Emergency Preparedness and Family Home
Evening manuals-(geared towards non-member friends)
14-Dutch
Oven Cooking-Show different dutch ovens, how to use them and clean them.
Sample some beans and biscuits. Held on patio off Chapel.
15-Home
Storage Center-Display posters on “Who, what, when, where” of the Storage
Center, along with the canner, and mylar sealer
16-Add
Variety-Freeze Dried!-Handout discussing difference between FD and
Dehydrated, and gives places to purchase. Sample-mixed strawberries, bananas
and pineapple. Also FD Roast Beef mixed in BBQ sauce served warm in crockpot
17-Got
Milk? Milk Taste Test-Sampled 4 milks (Country Cream, Shelf
Reliance, LDS, Morning Moo’s), had rating score cards. Gave out small bagged
samples and sheet giving more info on Milks
Budget: $450
-Publicity-large posters, reminder
handouts
-Paper products-plates, forks, spoons,
napkins, drinking cups, small sample cups
-Décor-table clothes, balloons, etc
-Food samples for any classes/booths
-Supply lists/purchases were organized
and divided up according to each Ward budget
-Each Ward rep. was responsible for
collecting receipts from their teachers and submitting to their Ward for
reimbursement, along with all the supplies they were responsible for purchasing
Assignments:
-Each Ward Rep-Made announcements in their own wards. Were responsible for any
teachers or booth personnel from their ward.
Publicity: Interest sheet signups were passed around each ward about
three months prior to the event, to see if there was enough interest for the 8
classes we had chosen. It came back positive enough that we offered all eight.
Two large posters out in foyer during two week period for placing orders, and
three weeks before event. All Sacrament programs to have announcement in from
time of orders until event. Posters placed on all bulletin boards from time of
ordering till event. Non-member flyers were made available. Reminder handouts
passed out Sunday before.
Classes/Booths ideas we are not
doing this year:
Community CPR demonstration (Red Cross)
Gathering your papers for the final
journey (unless this is covered in the financial class)
Bee Keeping
Spiritual Preparedness
Estate Planning
Emergency Communication (would be an
easy one to have a booth)
Finding employment
Preparedness Assessment
Dehydrating
Community Emergency Response Management
PRE-ORDER INFORMATION
-Orders were taken from March 1st till March 15th.
We received a total of 48 orders amounting to just under $6,000.00.
-Water Barrels were purchased from www.ohiobarrel.com. Joe was the contact kupofme@woh.rr.com. Because I had
purchased a ton of barrels before, I received a discount. We purchased the
barrels for $7 each and charged $10 each to cover truck/gas expenses. I rented
a 17’ truck from U-haul for 24 hours to help haul barrels and 72 hour kits,
booth supplies, etc. to church. Truck expenses, including rental fees and gas,
came to around $120.
-Rain Barrels-We used the same water barrels from above. I
purchased individual pieces from Lowe’s to build the barrels.
-72 Hour Kits-Supplies were purchased from multiple
companies, depending on where I could get the best price.
-We offered a “basic 72 hour kit” which included a poncho,
emergency blanket, whistle, hard candies, food ration bar, tissues, 3 pair hand
warmers, light stick and 3 water bottles for $14.10 (actual cost $12.40) This
was a popular item with over 45 sets ordered! All items were also offered
individually, along with other misc. items. Two other kits were
offered-first-aid kit (I made my own kit purchasing bulk supplies) for $4, and
hygiene kit (soap, toothbrush, comb, hand sanitizer) for $2 (actual cost $1.00)
-We set up a display outside the Chapel of most of the items
available for purchase. I had purchased one of each item from EE that I didn’t
currently own. When it came time to place an order, I just subtracted one, for
each item I had ordered for the display, so that all display items would end up
being sold and paid for.
-We also set up a post on the Kettering Preparedness Blog
where all the Expo information was posted, along with pictures and detailed
product descriptions. The order form was also posted so it could be downloaded
and printed.
Emergency
Essentials-
·
Basic Whistle-$0.55 (52)
·
Poncho-$0.70 (84)
·
Food Ration Bar-$6.35 (60)
·
32 oz. Water bottle-$3.95 (4)
·
5 gallon water jug-$7.95 (7)
·
Siphon hose-$7.89 (12)
·
Tube Tent-$3.09 (15)
·
Tarp-$5.59 (13)
·
Crank flashlight-$16.95 (3)
·
100-hour candle-$4.95 (17)
·
5-in-1 survival whistle-$1.20 (52)
·
LED headlamp-$5.95 (13)
·
Multi-function knife-$2.99 (13)
·
Multi-function tool-$4.99 (13)
·
Leather Gloves-$4.22 (5)
·
Tri-fold shovel-$8.95 (8)
·
Barrel buddy-$6.95 (6)
·
Bung & Bucket opener-$4.95 (6)
·
Sanitation Kit-$12.99 (19)
·
Ready Bath-$1.49 (26)
·
Medium backpack-$7.95 (4)
·
Large backpack-$8.49 (19)
·
Extra-large backpack-$11.99 (16)
·
Misc. First-aid supplies
·
Small bars soap-$0.20
Emergency
Essentials gives discounts on bulk orders and free shipping. However, they need
an estimate on how many will be ordered, to give the discount price. That’s why
we did the “pay full price, receive a refund.” The prices above were our
discounted prices based on the quantity of each item we ordered.
Amazon.com
·
NOAA Radios-$27
·
Light sticks-$1 (boxes of 10)
·
Emergency Blankets (purchase from Emergency
Essentials next time-they are thicker than the ones from Amazon)
·
First-aid supplies-I couldn’t find a kit
reasonably priced that had everything I wanted in it. So I made my own and
purchased boxes of each item and assembled them. They got a great kit for the
$4 price-not sure if it’s worth the time and effort. Will think about that.
·
N95 Masks-box of 20 for $14.95
·
Waterproof matches ($0.60 each if purchase in
bulk)
Walmart
·
Water Purification Tablets $6.20
·
Flashlights-$1.50
Dollar Tree
·
Rope
·
Duct Tape
·
Hygiene Kit Supplies-hand sanitizer, comb,
toothbrush
·
First-aid supplies
LDS Church
·
Water Purification Bottle with extra filter
$23.50
Commissary
·
MRE type meals-$4.80 (Doesn’t work to have
people sign up for specific kinds as suppliers change and it’s a hit and miss
as to what they have. It would just have to be a “MRE” and put (various
flavors) and just give them what there is. Looked into purchasing from EE, but
they are $8.95 and you can’t pick flavors for their combo one.
EVALUATION FROM
COMMITTEE
1.
Date, Time, Location-Starting in April is
sports season. Might draw more crowd if we do it sooner, such as Feb. or early
March. Make sure calendar in each participating ward is clear that day, and
church is booked prior to start announcing it. The gym worked ok for the size
we had, but it won’t hold much more if booths are during a small, specified
time. If we want to go a lot bigger, might need to see if we can do at
alternate location such as a school gym. Several people came earlier in the
day, confused at the time and how the event was being run.
2.
Class Topics and Teachers-According to
comment cards, we had a good mix of topics and everyone loved the teachers and
such. The most frequent comment was that they wanted to attend more classes.
While most thought the event was the right length, some did request it go
longer. The 50 minute class length seemed to be appropriate. Will need to
consider offering the classes multiple times. I would REALLY LOVE to get all
the teacher’s presentations or notes to post online. I’d have a ton of people
request to download these. And I’d love to get them at least two days before
the event to give me time to reformat them if needed, and get them all
organized and posted. Definitely WOULDN’T announce that we’re doing this again
though, as I think some stay home as they know they can get the information
anyway.
3.
Booths-The booths went over well. We had
14 in the gym. If we put a “square” of tables in the center, we could fit 4 or
possibly 6 (rectangle) more, but that would be it. During the main booth time,
I think each booth needs to be manned by someone energetic and knowledgeable.
Just having volunteers to give out samples doesn’t work completely. They need
to be able to answer basic questions on the booth topic. For the gardening
booth, no one really wanted to plant seeds. I’d either scrap that or give out
small plants, depending on when event is held. I’d also cut down drastically on
number of handouts. Would only plan on making copies for 1/3 of a solid
estimate. I have tons of FEMA handouts left over, along with printed copies for
other booths. I think the only booth that looked underprepared was the “Water
Storage”, and that just comes with time. Dutch oven was a huge success and
worked great just on the small patio up front. I think it worked to have all
paper products and booth supplies separated and “boxed” for each booth,
beforehand. I had bins labeled for each “class” and each “booth” that required
supplies.
4.
Layout-See above for booth tables. It
didn’t work out to have the 72 hour kits on the stage. They weren’t accessible
and people didn’t know where to get them. It would be better to have them down
in the overflow area with a sign and someone handing them out the entire time.
Don’t have a class on the stage next time, if at all possible. The gym is loud
when still setting up and distracting to class.
5.
72 Hour kits-Definitely a learning curve
on how the money thing works. All members have to write checks to their own
ward, via tithing envelope, which in turns cuts one check per ward to the agent
money ward. If you work it that way, receipts only have to be turned into one
ward-agent money ward. Doing a refund doesn’t work! Too much work! Need to
secure discount prices before everyone pays. Otherwise charge full price. Most
people were really surprised when I handed them a refund. They thought the
prices were great as is. But I knew I could get better prices so I felt like I
needed to try. I need to use my backup
credit card to keep all charges separate from my personal charges and make sure
to only purchase “church” items on receipts so it’s easier to keep track of
reimbursements. Don’t try to use coupons or other discounts as it makes it too
confusing. For as much work as they were, I think the orders were what got
people to attend. No one assembled kits there, although they were given the
chance. So I wouldn’t offer that again. And it caused problems with people
doing the booths too early.
6.
Duties-First, I think starting it off,
there needs to be a committee chair, or lead. All opinions of the committee
will be taken into account, but one person needs to have a final say or be the
final decision maker. That wasn’t clear this time. In addition, I think duties
need to be divided differently. Once teachers and booths are determined, I
think one person needs to be the “teacher” contact, one the “booth” contact,
one the “order” contact, one over “publicity” etc. It was really hard working
between all three to get information on teachers, etc. I think what gets said
to the teachers needs to be in writing too. Make a one page email that says
“Thanks for your willingness to do this…here is the schedule…here is what we’d
like you to speak on…here are the deadlines for turning in handouts for us to
print and for posting online….deadline for telling us your budget if we give
them the option to choose….and deadline for requesting supplies etc. Then there
should be a follow-up three weeks before the event to confirm everything, and
then probably again two days before the event.
7.
Money-I think I’d probably suggest having
each Ward cut a check to the agent ward for “operational expenses” and having
each person who purchases turn in their own receipts to that ward. Or having
the “teacher contact” or “booth contact” turn in all receipts for their area.
I’d have no problem reimbursing my teachers beforehand and turning in all the
receipts under my name. I basically did that this time and it worked well or I
purchased all the supplies for the booths myself and delivered it a couple days
before the event (most was food).
8 Equipment-Renting the truck was the best
thing! I rented a 17’ truck to bring home 50 barrels. I offloaded 20 of the
barrels and filled most of the truck will all the 72 hour supplies, booth
items, etc. The truck was covered by charging $3 more for each water barrel. My
Bishop came and helped me unload the truck and he seemed very ok with having
the “operational expenses” cover a truck in the future if needed. We’d need
about $120 to cover it if we went that route. A trailer would work if we
weren’t getting barrels and you don’t have to cover “per mile” charges.
9 Rain Barrels-If we did this one again, I
think it would need to be a class. It didn’t really work at the booths. Most
people just wanted my hubby to build the barrel so they could look at the
booths.
1 Publicity-I’m thinking the “publicity”
person needs to go to each ward and announce it, so it’s announced correctly.
So many people were confused. Not sure how else to make sure it gets announced.
I’d have it announced in each Sacrament, and then in each auxiliary. Maybe by
using a “chart” approach on the handout, people would understand better the
flow. Many people thought they could show up any time-not knowing that classes
were at specified times and that booths were only available last hour. I liked
having the large signs for the foyer. Definitely need to make them to last
since multiple wards use them. I had them printed at Sam’s Club and then I
mounted them to foam board which seemed to work well. We kept them in the back
library room when not in use. I think having a Website is a must if we’re going
to open to public. That way they can get more information and if we were to do
orders again, have them place order directly on website.
1 Missionary side-I think it worked really
well to invite non-members and they all seemed to enjoy it immensely. I’d
definitely push that effort again. It’s a really laid back way to get them in
the doors of the church.
1 Supplies-I think it worked well to do the
tri-fold boards, or multiple easels. For dutch
oven, we had plenty left. Could have ½ the recipe I was given. I like
“drawings” and wish I could have pulled off more. I had wanted to do a drawing for a NOAA radio, and
a raised patio garden container.
1 Setup/Duties-It took a good four hours to
get stuff setup. I thought I had planned enough time, but I ran a little short.
I had four help me with chair setup so that went quickly, but for the booth
setup etc, it was basically my sister and I. I have learned my lesson that I
can’t do it all, and that I think we need to assign one person per booth
(NON-committee members). Committee members need to be free to walk around, fix
any issues, etc. If we assign people to set up booths, that will help cut down
on setup time. I’d also plan in an extra hour so everything is setup and good
to go an hour before the event. That will give everyone an hour to “decompress”
and not worry. (At least I need this!) Definitely need teachers to do a dry run
with any projectors and such an hour in advance if possible so kinks can be
worked out. Cleaning up took about an hour.
1
Budget-I believe we turned in receipts
for around $450, hoping to accommodate 200, which it would have done, if we had
had that many come.
1
COMMENT CARDS
30 Responses Collected
How would you rate the overall Expo? Exceeded Expectations (17), Met Expectations
(5), Did NOT meet Expectations (0), Did Not Answer (5)
What class did you attend first period? gardening
(6), canning (4), finances (4), storm prep (8)
How would you rate the content of the class?
Gardening-exceeded (5), met
expectations (1)
Canning-exceeded (4)
Finances-exceeded (3), met
expectations (1)
Storm Prep-exceeded (3), met
expectations (4), did not answer (1)
Did not attend first period classes (7)
What class did you attend second period? alt.
heating/cooking (7), 72 hour kits (8), water storage (4), using food storage
(8)
How would you rate the content of the class?
Alt. Heating/Cooking-Exceeded
expectations (all)
72 Hour kits-exceeded
expectations (4), met expectations (3)
Water Storage-exceeded
expectations (2), met expectations (2)
Using Food Storage-exceeded
expectations (4), met expectations (3), did not answer (1)
How would you rate the content of the booths?
exceeded expectations (21), met expectations (7), did not answer (1)
How would you rate the length of the event? Too Short
(7), just right (21), did not answer (1)
How would you rate the length of the classes? Too
Short (2), just right (27), did not answer (1)
Topics you would like to recommend
“Same topics, but a repeat”
“what to do in case of…”
“All of them”
“Hands on class cooking with
food storage (do & learn)
Topics you would like to teach –no responses
Additional comments
“Thank you! Best ever. Very qualified
instructors”
“Fantastic”
“Great Job! Share with other
stakes, esp. Cincinnati! J
“
“Awesome!”
“Excellent!”
“Excellent!”
“I wish there were more class
sections so I could go to more.”
“Wish I could have attended more
classes”
“Loved it”
“Hold if for 4 hours, with more classes
and teach them at least twice. Have booths open all the time. Invite police,
fire, others to present too.”
“Great food! Keep doing the food
samples”
“I really enjoyed the classes
but always would like more time. Great event!”
“Today was the same day as the
Bellbrook Festival. Consider an “extension” booth at the fair to invite
additional people over. Indoor was better than being out in the cold anyway!”
