Building on Success: Using and Sharing Lessons Learned From Your Town Hall Meeting Experience
You’ve held your Town Hall Meeting (THM)…now what? First, give yourself a pat on
the back and celebrate your accomplishment! Over the past several weeks, you and your
planning committee worked feverishly to discuss and finalize all details related to
your event. You double-checked your To Do lists and at times piled on more action
items than you were able to complete. The weeks leading
up to your event became days, which then became hours.
While planning your Town Hall Meeting (THM), you may have experienced working twice
as hard to promote your event because a community activity was scheduled for the same
date and time as your THM. Perhaps you had to cancel or reschedule your event due to
inclement weather. You may have even lost support from a key partner, worked with very
limited resources, or scrambled to acquire another panelist or featured speaker after
your first choice canceled due to a personal emergency. But you persevered and now your
community is more informed and better able to address the many underage drinking issues
confronting the adolescents you serve. Before you depart for a well-deserved break,
convene with your planning committee to discuss lessons learned.
This stage is very important to you as an organizer of a reoccurring THM on
underage drinking prevention. Though you may not realize it, your Lessons Learned
meeting will benefit all involved―from your planning committee to your partners
and sponsors to the youth in your community who have been empowered with knowledge
and tools to engage in fun-filled activities that don’t include alcohol.
Consider these key objectives during your Lessons Learned meeting:
- Give thanks. It is nice to be important but more important to
be grateful for the service of others who supported you through tough times.
Extend your thanks and gratitude for the role played by each member of your
planning committee and others involved in your THM.
- Be open to constructive feedback. Members of your planning
committee should feel compelled to give honest feedback on what worked and what
needed improvement. In addition, think about asking for comments from those
outside the planning committee, such as your panelists, audience members,
and media representatives. Exchange your ideas with one another. You can do
this by telephone, via email, or an informal feedback form.
- Document and review all comments. During your meeting, record
all discussion points to increase your potential for success in the future. Stay
focused. If you succeeded in one area, you want to avoid compromising it
needlessly while correcting a problem. Review the comments and circulate
among your planning committee.
After assessing your event planning strategy from the Lessons Learned meeting,
review The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (PDF 1.4 MB) for
ideas on how your community can move beyond awareness and implement strategies
that promote environmental change. For example, team with educators and local officials to enforce underage drinking
laws and policies, marketing practices, pricing, and the physical availability of alcohol.
Invite your target audiences to contribute to the format of your next THM and ensure an
even greater success. Sustain efforts and momentum by planning THM follow-up activities.
This should not be delayed. Start brainstorming while it is still relatively fresh on
your mind and on fellow committee members’ minds. As word about your successful THM
event gets around, it will continue to grow and help your community
focus on underage
drinking prevention (PDF 2.08 MB).