Communications professionals use events for many reasons ... to announce a new program or an accomplishment, to promote a product, to share information with industry or consumers, or to inform their customers about something that will affect their lives.

The communications professionals at the Michigan Department of Agriculture use press conferences and special events for the same reasons.

Although events often look effortless on the surface (and, in fact, the success of an event can be directly related to how effortless it seems to guests), there are many behind-the-scenes steps that must be taken for an event to be successful. To help you understand those steps, let’s walk through the planning, presentation and follow-up stages of an actual event—a Michigan Week celebration at the Mott Hashbarger Children’s Farm in Flint, Michigan.

Planning Stage

The Five Ws

As with any good news story, the planning of a successful event involves the five Ws — who, what, where, when and why. In February, MDA started thinking about how to promote agriculture during Michigan Week, May 17-26—three months away. As with past Michigan Week events, we knew we wanted to feature animals and children, but were not sure where to go.

We heard about the Mott Hashbarger Children’s Farm in Flint, and it sounded intriguing, so we scheduled a site visit with the farm’s manager, Ron Schnell.

As soon as we arrived at the farm, we knew it would suit our needs. The farm was clean and inviting, Ron was enthusiastic and articulate, and children interacting with the farm animals would add a great visual for the media.

So, we were able to determine our Five Ws:

Who: MDA Director Dan Wyant, school children, Mott Hashbarger Farm Manager Ron Schnell.

What: A media event to promote Michigan agriculture and the educational and agriculture tourism aspects of the industry.

Where: Mott Hashbarger Children’s Farm, Flint.

When: During Michigan Week, May 16-26, 2003.

Why: To highlight the importance of Michigan agriculture to our state, and the connection to all Michigan citizens, rural and urban, young and old.

We worked with Ron Schnell and Dan Wyant to set a date for the event, decided on May 22, and then got busy working on the details.

Setting the stage and gathering the supplies

Three Weeks Out

Now that the date for the event was set, the next step was to plan the day’s agenda. Knowing we wanted to promote Michigan agriculture, agriculture education and agriculture tourism and tie them to Michigan Week, we decided the event would involve four parts: a media event with children and animals, a tour of the farm, an educational display area, and an informal gathering with industry members. We started gathering background materials for a display, and invited key industry contacts to participate at the event.

Two Weeks Out

An itinerary was drafted that included a timeline for the day; a description of the setting for the media event; driving instructions to the farm; detailed job assignments for each staff member involved in the event; background information on the Mott Hashbarger Children’s Farm, Michigan’s agriculture industry and Michigan Week; and contact information for all of the day’s key participants.

One Week Out

A packing list was developed for the event, and supplies were gathered and/or purchased. A state-owned minivan was reserved to haul the supplies and display to the event. A media advisory was drafted and distributed to key media in the Flint area. Final touches were added to the educational display.

One Day Out

Follow-up telephone calls were made to the media to make sure they knew about the event. A press release was finalized, and informational kits were prepared for distribution the day of the event. Supplies and display materials were loaded into the minivan, itineraries were distributed to all participants, and travel arrangements were confirmed. Everything was set for the next day’s event.

Presentation Stage

Set-up

When we arrived at the farm early the morning of the event, tents, tables and chairs had been delivered. We arranged the tables and chairs in tents, set up the cookies and coffee, selected the perfect location for the portable lecturn, tested the power source, and set up the educational displays. The Mott Hashbarger staff set up a portable animal pen with pigs, and added potted flowers and straw bales. The setting was complete, and we were ready for showtime.

Showtime

It was a beautiful, sunny spring day. The farm was bustling with activity. At 8 a.m., busloads of school children had already begun to arrive from all over Southeast and mid-Michigan. By day's end, more than 300 school children had toured the farm, taken a hayride with Farmer Ron or his staff, and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the sunny picnic area.

Dan Wyant arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the media portion of the event. After a final briefing from staff, Dan was introduced to Ron Schnell, and they worked their way toward the podium.

TV crews began to arrive and were greeted by MDA. Fourth-grade students from the Flint Public Schools and a visiting group of preschoolers were seated on the straw bales. The program began, and the staff sat back and watched things unfold. The program went well, the children asked a lot of questions, and the pigs were adorable.

Immediately after the presentation, reporters met with Dan and Ron for some one-on-one interviews, then the tour of the farm began.

The tour gave Ron the opportunity to highlight the facility, and also gave Dan a chance to interact with farm visitors. Dan also had the opportunity to meet with some area farmers before heading back to Lansing.

Follow-up Stage

After sending Dan on his way to another meeting, MDA and Mott Hashbarger staff started the chore of cleaning and packing up. It’s always amazing how fast things can be torn down and packed away, compared to the amount of time needed to set up!

Staff made their way back to Lansing, unpacked, and sat down for a minute or two before starting on the next project. Over the next few days, photographs were developed, thank-you letters were written to participants, and an evaluation of the event was done.

For an event like this one, we usually don’t do a formal evaluation, but we do make notes for our event file about what worked well and what improvements we would make for another event like this. These notes help us to constantly strive to improve events hosted by the department. All notes, handouts, contact information and other information were filed in the event file and saved as reference for future events. Last, but not least, copies of any media clips were filed with the event folder, and the file was closed.