Even if you’ve never done it before, hosting a health fair can be easy with the right plan in place. Here are a few tips to get your health fair off the ground:

1. Organize a committee in your office. You’ve got administration and nursing staff for a reason. Use their unique talents and skillsets to help you plan, organize and execute your upcoming fair.
2. Promote your health fair in as many channels as possible. Use your social media accounts, issue a press release, alert local publications, create posters and put them up in area businesses, ask vendors to hand out a flier, etc. Don’t be shy about asking supermarkets and local stores to put the fliers up on their community boards either.
3. Invite organizations that make sense for your practice. Maybe there’s not a direct connection between your two businesses just yet, but this is a perfect time to start building one.
4. Give yourself enough lead-time. You’ll want to give yourself at least a 2-3 month window to prepare and market the event within your area.
5. Make sure to tell your patients. You’ve already got a built-in, loyal audience so you’ll want to make sure they’re invited to the event.
6. Set your expectations accordingly. Don’t expect to set the world on fire the first time and don’t be too disappointed if your attendance numbers are low.
7. Plan activities. Just because you hosted the health fair doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You should have a booth set up that at least includes some combination of the following: activities, brochures, candy, games, giveaways and handouts.
8. Take plenty of photos. No matter what the attendance numbers are, you can make it look crowded. You’ll want photos to post on your social media account, insert into newsletters, send to local media, and leverage for future fair marketing materials.
9. Send all the vendors a note after the event. Personally send the vendors a note thanking them for participating in your event in case you decide to have another one in the future. Plus, it’s another unobtrusive way to give them your contact information and massage that new relationship.

Success is a relative term so you’ll have to set a goal and define it for your practice. Did you really want 300 people in shuffling about in your lobby? Did you want 12 vendors and a couple of good business leads? Did you just want a free lunch? You will have to measure that yourself – just be sure to track your results to see if the event is worth doing again.