Open Doors 2008 - Promoting Your Event

The key ingredient to having a successful Open Doors event is the effort you put into promoting it locally in your own community.

In order to help with your grassroots, community-based promotional efforts, we have some materials that you can download, customize to your needs, print and distribute, disseminate or post. There are small posters, flyers, invitation letters and a template press release that you can provide to the local media to hopefully generate some interest. You can include your residence and event information in each and get the word out about Open Doors and your event specifically.

Below you will find all of the materials available for download. Here's an idea of some of the things that you should do or focus on in order to raise awareness for your even in the couple of weeks leading up to Open Doors:

Send letters and invitations to:

residents' family members
prospective residents who have visited or called your home in the past
local businesses
directors of local seniors clubs or organizations
key contacts at your local CCAC and hospital
doctors and pharmacists
lawyers and accountants

Customize and send a press release to your local media:

community newspapers
cable television
local radio

Open Doors 2008 is proud to be collaborating with Metroland's "Best of Life" Edition to help further raise awareness for the Open Doors event and the participating homes. Best of Life will be distributed in September to coincide with "Open Doors 2008" and International Day of Older Persons, October 2008 and include timely editorial on retirement residence living and relative lifestyle concerns. The supplement will also contain a pullout section complete with map detailing the facilities participating in the weekend-long "Open Doors 2008" event across Ontario.

For more information about how to take advantage of this opportunity in your area, please call Lisa Orpen at 416-493-1300 ext. 261 or by email at lorpen@metroland.com.

Note: Please be patient when downloading these documents as some files are larger than others and may take a minute or two to download depending on your connection speed.

If you having trouble opening any of these documents, please click here

How To Build A Better Event - planning is a hot topic and key ingredient to running a successful event. Five templates have been provided to assist you in event design, development and implementation. The Master Plan provides operational direction for the event team. The Task Completion Schedule manages the event details. The Day-Of Planning Template organizes you and your team on the actual day of the event. The Event Budget Template gives you a financial blueprint to follow. The Event Planning Flowchart is an overview of the planning steps leading up to Open Doors 2008.

Document

Format

Master Plan Template

(60 KB)

Task Completion Schedule Template

(17 KB)

Day-Of Planning Template

(16 KB)

Event Budget Template

(16 KB)

Event Planning Flowchart

(40 KB)

All of the following documents are customizable so that you can add your home’s contact information and your home’s specific event information using Microsoft Word. Simply download the document, customize it and save it on your computer. Then you can print them at your home, or send them to a local print shop for colour copies.

Note: If you require a copy of the Open Doors 2008 logo for your own promotional materials, please click here.

Document

Format

Invitation for the General Public	(160 KB)
Use this invitation as a mail-out invitation to families, friends and anyone in the general public you would like to invite to your Open Doors event.

Invitation for VIP’s	(75 KB)
This is a customizable letter of invitation you can use to invite VIP’s to your Open Doors event. This professional invitation format can be used to invite government officials, important members of the health care industry or anyone you wish to speak at your event.

Press Release Template	(25 KB)
This is a customizable press release you can use to promote your event to local media. Just highlight the areas indicated in the press release and type in your own copy.

Flyer for the General Public	(160 KB)
Use this flyer to post in areas where people have time to read them, such as the local seniors centre or the library. Or give a stack of flyers to your local CCAC, pharmacy or anyone who will distribute them for you.

Flyer for High Traffic Areas	(100 KB)
This flyer leaves you a lot of space to keep the message big, bold and hard to miss. Use this flyer to post in an area where people will see them at a glance such as grocery store bulletin boards, store windows or telephone poles.

Open Doors Letterhead	(70 KB)
This is a customizable Open Doors letterhead you can use to create letters, to post memos within your home, or however you please!