Public Relations Handbook - Narcotics Anonymous

should not assume that a facility staff member or professional knows who weare. When coordinating an event, trusted servants can take some time toexplain what Narcotics Anonymous is and what services NA provides. Trusted servants need to behave in a professional manner with those publicbusinesses they interact with at events. Principles such as cooperation, respect,communication, follow-up, and adaptability are crucial to leaving a positiveimpression with those outside of NA. A successful event needs members with a variety of qualities and skills. Someideal qualities are the ability to effectively work with people, resourcefulness,and wisdom to anticipate and solve unexpected problems. An event’s success depends on having enough volunteers. There need to beenough trusted servants to plan and coordinate the event and enough trustedservants to set up and clean up an event. Having enough volunteers helpsensure that trusted servants won’t become overburdened with too many tasks. Monitoring the progress of tasks that have been assigned to trusted servants isimportant to the success of an event. Tasks may need to be reassigned ifmembers are not able to fulfill their commitments. A committee needs to have a plan for addressing security issues such as theft andcrowd control. Sometimes a facility will require a professional outside service toact as security for an event. It’s a good idea to purchase insurance for NA events.Trusted servants will need to research (asking the facility its policy) whetherinsurance is required for the event. A committee can create a strong communication link between the facilitypersonnel and NA volunteers; inviting facility management or staff to a planningmeeting at the facility can be a way to foster strong communication.Committees can hold an initial meeting and/or their final meeting at the facilitywhere the event is to take place. Meeting with a facility’s staff gives trustedservants an opportunity to introduce NA members to the staff, as well as timeto address anyone’s questions or concerns. Creating documents like a timeline (see addenda for a sample timeline), eventguidelines, budget (including both human and financial resources), and a finalchecklist (which includes all materials needed at the event) will help in theoverall coordination of the event. Members can create an effective timeline orevent plan by beginning with the actual event day and then working backwards. If written materials such as press kits and releases will be used for an event,more than one person should review all the materials before they are releasedto the public. This can help to minimize errors in the written material.Chapter Four contains detailed information about presenting to a public andprofessional audience. Committees planning for these kinds of events may want torefer to that section for more information. The following points are additionalconsiderations when planning an event for an external audience: If the committee is putting on an event for professionals in the community,considering the relevance of the event to this audience is important. Often,professionals who attend NA events do so on their own time and at theirown expense. Making convenient venue choices and scheduling the event ata time that is convenient for professional attendees respects the timedemands of participants. Addressing these considerations will ultimately addto the success of the event.October 2006 | PR Handbook | 101