MANY PEOPLE ASK US FOR OUR ADVICE ON HOW TO RUN AN EVENT THAT MEN OR BOYS WILL WANT TO COME ALONG TO. SO HERE’S SOME EASY, QUICK IDEAS ON RUNNING AN ENGAGING MEN’S HEALTH EVENT.
What Kind Of Event?
We’ve seen hundreds of events listed over the last few years and there are certain things that successful events seem to do that bring people in.
Start with this: Make It Fun.
I know, it’s about health and we gotta tell men to be healthier. OK, but there’s a place for that and it seems that making events fun first is a better way to increase your audience than going with a health angle first.
There are lots of ways to make events fun for blokes – how about hot rod cars, motorbikes, family fun days, rock bands/comps, competitions, go-karts, community working bees, shed open days….
So, start with a fun idea that you can show to blokes and say “this will be awesome and by the way, it’s for a good cause because we’re also shining a light on men’s health at this event. We know that’s important to you.”
Finding Resources and Speakers
Of course when you are running a Men’s Health event, you’ll want to include information packs and resources. If you are running an event listed on this website, we will send you an Event Pack in early to mid May. These packs contain posters, fliers and some merchandise that you can use as freebies or giveaways.
Other places to locate men’s health resources include:
- Beyond Blue
- Andrology Australia
- Foundation 49
- Fathers and Families Action Centre
- MensLine
- Lifeline
- COPMI (Children Of Parents With Mental Illness)
- Black Dog Institute
- Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia
- Interrelate
- Relationships Australia
- Men’s Health Resource List (NSW) – PDF, 354kb)
Our approach to men’s health is based on local people working with men and boys in their region. We recommend finding local people with good stories to be part of your event. By all means, invite a celebrity but you can get a great results with local figures.
We also suggest involving the local health services from an early stage – they can usually offer some form of health input without running the whole event.