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A Guide to organising Reader Events

Introduction At Read Easy UK’s 2018 conference, we held a forum on the subject of organising ‘Reader Events’. To provide a starter for discussion, a member of the Read Easy Winchester Management Team and one of their Readers kindly came along to share their own experience of the very successful Celebration Evening they had held that summer for Readers and their families and friends (see photo above).

One of the requests that came out of the conference forum was for Read Easy UK to provide a guide on how such events might be organised, so below we share some of the learning from Read Easy Winchester’s experience, as well as ideas from other volunteers.

To be clear, there is no expectation from Read Easy UK that Read Easy groups should organise such events; we understand the pressures on volunteers’ time just to keep the everyday activities running. But we are keen to encourage them when possible because of their many potential benefits, from giving your Readers – and all your volunteers - a chance to meet one another and celebrate together, to raising the profile of your group in the area.

In addition, when appropriate, Ginny (our Chief Executive), and/or other members of the Head Office team, would be delighted to be invited to attend, so that we have an opportunity to meet your Readers and volunteers, celebrate with you and gain a greater insight into your work and achievements. (‘Certificate Presentation by the Chief Executive’ is also an option if it appeals!)

As part of this, if you and your Readers were interested, there could also be an opportunity for organising a slightly more formal ‘Reader Forum’ when Ginny could sit down and talk to a group of Readers to learn from their experience and – if appropriate - feed this into Read Easy’s development planning. This could either be an event in itself, or before or after some other event you are organising. Read Easy UK would certainly benefit, and we hope that Readers would also benefit from realising that their views are of real interest and value to us.

So, we hope that this guide will be useful to you and we should be very pleased to hear about anything you may decide to organise, and to be involved if you would like to invite us and it proves to be feasible. Thank you to Read Easy Winchester and others for sharing their experience.

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1. Benefits of holding Reader Events

● Foremost, Reader Events can have a really positive outcome for Readers, who can have their progress marked and celebrated, alongside their loved ones. It can also:

● give them an opportunity to meet and share experiences with other Readers

● increase their confidence in socialising and expand their network

● encourage them to keep going, and give them a chance to encourage others

● empower them – one Reader in Winchester said that it was the first time in her life she had felt equal to others.

● give them a chance to talk to the local Management Team – and possibly Read Easy UK – about their wishes.

● Reader Events can also have benefits for Coaches who get to see their Readers celebrated but also have the chance to meet with others.

● There can also be a positive impact for Management Team members who often don’t get the ‘feel good’ factor of connecting their work to the outcome for Readers and seeing how they are making a difference.

● Winchester invited staff from Tesco who had provided funding through the carrier bag scheme. This was really useful as they also got to see how their funding makes a difference first-hand.

● Readers can be empowered by such events to share their stories and talk more to others about what they have achieved – both during and after the event.

● Publicising the good news stories that come out of these events (with permission) helps to raise Read Easy’s profile, both locally and nationally, and can help with fundraising.

● Some of these stories – whether shared personally or in the media - may attract new Readers and encourage them to come to Read Easy for reading support themselves.

2. Ideas for events

Winchester’s Celebration Evening was held in a church hall with access to a small garden, started at about 7.00 pm and lasted a couple of hours. It had a very simple format:

● Everyone involved was invited: Readers and their guests, all volunteers and funders.

● Tables and chairs were arranged informally, café style, with tea, coffee and biscuits served as people arrived, with time to chat

● Welcome by Team Leader

● Short talk from local Read Easy patron, followed by presentation of (framed) certificates to each Reader present, reflecting and celebrating their progress – photographs taken

● Presentation of special certificate by REUK’s CEO to Winchester’s first graduate, to recognise his contribution in acting as a local ambassador for the group.

● Cheque presentation by local funder

● Closing words from Team Leader

● Group photograph of all Readers together and more refreshments and time to chat.

© Read Easy UK 3 of 3 25/04/19

Another group held a Presentation Evening in their local Town Hall to which they invited all their Readers since the group started in order to celebrate everyone’s achievements. Coaches, friends, families and local dignitaries were also invited and a well-known local celebrity presented certificates and ‘Quick Read’ books to all Readers. (In some cases, this was a re-presenting of certificates.) There was a turn-out of around 80 people and – as with Winchester - the event was featured in the local press.

3. Planning your event – things to think about

Team work

The Winchester group said that a ‘huge’ amount of planning went into their event and that you need to be mindful of the work required before embarking. If you do decide to go ahead, make sure that a good few members of your team are involved from the start.

It is obviously entirely up to you how you plan your event, based on what you think will suit your particular Readers and work for your group. You will probably need to work it out partly from trial and error, but the following are a few pointers.

Venue

Think about your programme, what facilities and space you will need and what sort of atmosphere you want to create. Consider parking for those who drive and accessibility by public transport, particularly for those you most want to attend. Don’t forget accessibility for the disabled. If you are meeting in the summer, then having an outside space may also be welcome.

Invitations

Invitations to most people can nowadays be sent almost entirely by email to save time and resources, but this will not work for most of your Readers. In Winchester, Coaches invited their Readers verbally, including giving them a ‘Save the Date’ early on, followed by asking them to let the Coach know definitely who would be coming, and with lots of follow-up reminders. This helped to ensure that numbers for attendance were clear and planned, but it was done with a personal approach.

Confidentiality

Not all Readers may want to attend, but many will. Giving people the option and protecting their privacy by providing an ‘opt out’ on photography on the day should help to address this.

Costs

Winchester kindly provided their costs, which worked out at £3.33 per participant:

Item Cost

Venue Free but £30 donation given to church

Food and Drink £70

Frames for learner certificates £2.50 x 16 = £40

Programmes (in-house) 0.25 x 60 = £15

Thank you plants £15

Book tokens for graduates 3 x £10 = £30

Total £200 (of which £30 donation)