I’ve just completed the evaluation for an event and it has
been a very rewarding process. I can see positive results from the hard work
and am able to see how we can improve on future events.
I am also helping with planning for ‘Fruit and Veg September’1.
I usually love the feeling of starting on a new project however this one felt a
little overwhelming. The ‘2 Fruit and 5 Veg’ message seems simple, but the
statistics highlight the challenges we face:
- World Health Organisation attributes 1.7 million deaths per year due to inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption, making it one of the top 10 health risk factors face globally.2
- According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
2012 yearbook only 6% of Australians eat
the recommended daily serves of both fruit and vegetables.3
So where do we start… by looking at past strategies and
their evaluations. This helped me see what has worked in the past and what hasn’t.
It helped identify local public perceptions and barriers to adoption of the 2
and 5 messages. I was also able to see where grants, donations and sponsorship have
come from and what types of stories gained media coverage. After looking at the
evaluations I didn’t feel so lost and was able to start setting goals and
planning for ‘Fruit and Veg September’.
Just as they taught us at university, in strategic public
relations the evaluation is not only the end of a cycle but the start of the
next one.
