HOW TO CELEBRATE YOUR SHINERAMA SUCCESS

You've planned, organized, rallied, trained, prepared, partnered, communicated, laughed, and worked all summer for Shinerama. We know it’s close to your heart, and more than one night you've gone to sleep ticking off the boxes in your mental checklist of “Shinerama To-Do’s”.

Although it’s an incredibly rewarding experience that definitely pays off, we know that it takes a lot to organize and execute a great Shinerama campaign. Some days you might want to cheer from the roof tops with excitement and other days you may want to bury your head in the ground and hide. You want it to be perfect and you want it to be the best.

But after everything you and each person involved have put into it, how do you say thank you when it is all over? Do what Shine Leader Kevin Duquette does best… No, not take your shirt off. Talk about yourself!

BRAGGING RIGHTS

Your campaign deserves it, so brag about it! Now I don’t mean the self-centred kind where you sit there and say “I did this, I did that”. I mean brag about the campaign as a whole and how awesome everyone involved has been. This means your shiner student volunteers, partners and sponsors, the community that has supported you, your final total and anything else about your campaign that you can. This makes you and those who came together to make your Shinerama a success feel great about each other and everyone’s hard work.

So what is the best way to brag? There is no set formula for exactly how to say thanks, but from my experience an effective announcement and show of appreciation relies on good networking, relationships, and a little advance planning. We’ve found that the most effective way to accomplish your brag is a combination of several factors. I recommend these three activities:

• A formal media announcement using the News Release and/or a press conference.
• Some sort of get-together for volunteers to announce a total, celebrate their hard work, and say thanks for their support.
• A social media announcement, if this is a tool you've been using throughout your campaign.

MEDIA RELATIONSHIPS

The first place you should begin is the media. This will help you with mutual community recognition and give you a chance to thank everyone on a wider scale. If you haven’t already, find the formal and social media contact information for all local media sources. This includes newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, and any student newspapers. This could be as easy as contacting the marketing or PR department at your university or college as they usually have a list of all contacts available.

When contacting media, the key is often to make a personal connection. When you’re able to have a conversation and share your enthusiasm and reasons for being involved with Shinerama, you will inspire them to really want to cover your event. You can find a range of useful tools, tips, and templates in this year’s Shinerama Media Kit (if you do not have this please contact us at shinerama@cysticfibrosis.ca). Ideally you will have already contacted media outlets prior to Shine Day with a Media Advisory or Letter to the Editor and a follow-up phone conversation.

Once your Shine Day is over, a perfect way to announce your total and the success of your campaign is to send your media contacts a News Release. This is designed to announce the success of your event and is an excellent opportunity to publicly thank everyone who participated and supported the campaign. Send it as soon as your total is known (day of or day after Shine Day ideally) and follow-up with a phone call conversation.

When it comes to that personal connection I mentioned, having an actual conversation with your media contact can make all the difference in having media support. Try to do this before your Shine Day so that you can discuss some of the details about Shinerama at your school and why it is important both to you personally and to Canadians living with cystic fibrosis. Give them a personal invitation to cover your Shine Day.

Communication is key. Keep in mind that media outlets often get many, many media advisory’s and news releases, so establishing that personal connection can be the difference in making your Shinerama campaign disappear into or stand out from the pile. If you follow our advice, you will be able to have a media outlet(s) doing a story on your Shinerama campaign. And as we all know, PR is good for your fundraising efforts!

THE ANNOUNCEMENT

So how do you celebrate your final amount and hardworking volunteers? Try and get Justin Bieber to tweet about it? You could try that but you’d run the risk of looking creepy like OQ Regional Director Sara Glover; she’s been trying to get the Biebs to tweet her for years with no luck (keep trying Sara, never give up on your dreams!).

When it comes to sharing the news with student shiners, the main things to consider are location and method. Where are you going to do your announcement? Are you going to have a press conference; a party; a small dinner; etc?

In the two campaigns I helped to coordinate we went with a fun and simple plan to thank our volunteers. After Shine Day everyone hit up the student restaurant, had a good time eating and dancing, and around 12:30am we announced the total on stage. Occasionally a pink gorilla could be spotted celebrating the total throughout the evening. Together the Frosh Leaders, Coordinators and Executives made sure it was a good night for all involved.

SPREAD SHINE LOVE ON THE INTERWEBS

We all know that this day and age is run by the social media pages of the world so it almost goes without saying to do an announcement on Facebook, Twitter, and any other virtual location you’ve been using to promo Shinerama. Encourage your volunteers to share, like, and retweet everything.  This can be just as effective as local media or even more effective. Just think of all the people you can reach and say thanks to with the help of your shiners!

FROM SPENCER’S CORNER: INKING IT

If you’ve been bitten hard enough by the Shinerama bug you may want to consider this option as a personal testament to your dedication and the impact Shinerama has made on your life. For me, this was a way to permanently denote what Shinerama means to me and how it’s forever affected my friendships, growth, experiences, and life.

SAY IT AGAIN

I can’t say enough how critical it is to how Shinerama is remembered at your school that your volunteers be well thanked and truly feel appreciated. These students, many of whom are new to our cause, have spent all day in the heat, cold, or even torrential rain (props to Dal this year!). They’ve been dedicated, cheerful, and infectious in their enthusiasm, and have kept the Shinerama spirit strong no matter the circumstances. These amazing Shiners need to be thanked until you’re all thanked out. So YES, you need to find a place to have a good celebratory time with your volunteers. They will want to unwind, talk, and enjoy their shared success!

Regardless of how you say thank you to those around you for being a part of this unforgettable experience, we also want to say thanks to you from us, the Shinerama leaders and Cystic Fibrosis Canada. Thank you for being a part of this very special cause with us. Your participation makes a difference, and we can’t wait to see you shine again next year!

Now get out there and do yourself a favour… Just brag about it will ya?

Spencer Fry
Campaign Advisor, ON & QC