Lois Kirkpatrick of Fairfax, Va., writes:
“I work for a large county government that has a variety of groundbreaking/grand opening events.
“The facilities range from libraries, parks and public safety buildings to homeless shelters and mental health centers.
“What are some things we can do instead of the dreaded VIPs-holding-shovels groundbreakings and VIPs-holding-scissors ribbon-cuttings? I’m looking for general ideas that can be applied to most types of facilities.”
Why not creating a time capsule at the event? Have people bring photos, newspaper clippings, drawings, etc. to bury? This could involve kids to adults, with the bonus of a contest for best time capsule submissions (smallest, heaviest, etc.).
Fun idea. It would also be interesting to compare what goes into today’s time capsules with what went into time capsules 20 years ago.
I love the idea of “fun” and playful themes where the attendees and the “officials” of whatever the location is get involved. people tend to love parties, especially if they can bring family and it’s festive–always include some kind of food, even if it’s just a punch and cookies….so a library opening can have a “Make your own book” section, public safety building could give special hats, take people through special safety drills right there; parks could have easy and advanced obstacle courses, using and highlighting the park’s facilities, homeless shelters can have a very sweet and touching theme…no matter where you are home is where the heart is…could have each room in the shelter present its heart and give a special kind of heart to each of the people living in the center and those participating in the event. These are just some of the ideas that come to me.
I love the idea about an obstacle course at the local park, Angel. It has the three ingredients that TV loves: people, color and motion!
Hold events that give back to the community when you announce the opening/reopening of a government venue. For a library, organize a book drive for those who cannot afford new books or are challenged for transportation to the library. Some of those books may also go to the shelter during its opening.
Regarding the shelter, hold a drive for baby items, such as diapers, bottles and the like so that the new facility may be well stocked.
Such events may be coordinated for any of these kind of celebrations and would generate more interest and respect than the shovel/check acceptance cliche photos.
Gail, these are fabulous ideas. The TV stations LOVE stories like this.
Besides, any story that plays into how to save people time and money during this rotten economy usually attracts media attention.
I like many of the ideas shared! However, I’m going to give a very simple one because I understand many of the limitations government personnel face with these events. (I managed large construction projects for the U.S. Navy)
Get a Flip video camera and record a video as the contractor begins the site prep work. Ideally they’re excavating with heavy equipment. Then have someone engaging to listen to in the foreground sharing key pieces of information about the project.
Low budget. Takes almost no resources (people or gov’t funds) to arrange. Simple. Easy.
Yet the video can be shared anywhere and everywhere. Social sites, email, mobile, etc.
Thanks so much for the comments, everyone!
Re: the Flip video idea. A number of newspapers have added video to their online versions. I’d be interested in hearing if anyone has had success getting their videos used by media sites.