Let’s bring the book alive! An Event at Druids Heath Library
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Meet the team Berit Kuut - event manager I am a third year student in Birmingham City University studying Media and Communication. I had the interest of organising events since I was in high school where I had the opportunity to organise most of the school’s activities and events. I like taking part of different festivals and organising them. Telephone: 07774733916 Email: berit.kuut@mail.bcu.ac.uk
Diane Delaveau, Communication manager I am a third year Media and Communication student at the Birmingham City University. I enjoy going to festivals and club nights, and had hold some DJ nights in my hometown, as well as organising the ball prom of my high school. Telephone : 07517630391 Email : diane.delaveau@mail.bcu.ac.uk
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The event The intended outcome of the event is to promote Druids Heath Library and show people, especially kids, it new and improved children’s section which is specifically designed for them and their needs. We want to get people involved with the library’s activities and let them know what the library has to offer besides the books. The event is designed to bring a story to life. By putting on a Story Mob at the Druids Heath Library, we want to show to children that books can be fun and interactive. Using decorations, games, quizzes and actors we want to create an environment for kids to enjoy the book’s story. Actors will be in the in the character and like stepped out from the book. That will give an interactive interpretation to the story and book. ✓
: We would like to get a partnership with one of the shops nearby to donate a prize, but also involves the existing groups in the library by asking them to create the quiz. It would be about the library and the story. By attending the event, the audience gets a chance to enter our prize competition.
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: We will create games related to the quiz and the book, with the actors and the children. This will aim to show that book can be interesting and also make them familiar with the library.
The ideal date and time for that would be 3rd of December 2016, from 11.00 to 14.00. Choosing Saturday for our event gives the opportunity for parents to join with their kids and also brings more people into the library on that day. 3
Audience Audience research There is not dominant demographic library users. Users under 16 years old represent around 18% of the visitors of the library in 2014.
Area research (B14) Druids Heath is an area of southern Birmingham, United Kingdom covering the south-west part of the B14 postcode. Nearby neighborhood include Kings Heath and Kings Norton. Druids Heath is in the local council ward of Brandwood, represented by Labour Councillors Mike Leddy, Barry Henley, and Eva Phillips. The schools of the Druids Heath area are The Baverstock Academy, Bells Farm Primary School, The Oaks Primary School and St. Jude's RC Junior and Infant School. Druids Heath has remained largely unchanged since it was developed in the 1960s. There is two shopping areas nearby the library : one in front of it, with four shops including a cafÊs and a cake shop. The other one, across the main road, Alcester Road, is larger and made of well- known shop as well as independent one : Greggs, Iceland, Burger King, Sainsbury’s, Wilko, etc. There is a small parking right next to the library, which can be useful on the day of the event.
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Stakeholder mapping Our key stakeholders are Druids Heath Library, as they are our client but also where the event will take place, as well as CLSU, the main authoritiy englobing all the libraries of Birmingham City Council. The local authorities and community groups are also crucial because the event is depending on their presence on the date. Moreover, our primary stakeholders are our sponsor WHSmith King’s Heath, because they enhance the success of our event through in-kind donations, but also Birmingham City University and Birmingham City Council because they are supporting our event creation and development. Finally, the secondary stakeholders are the community media as B14 news, because they will help us carry out promotion for our event, as well as the surround shopping areas.
Marketing Strategy Our target market is a young audience who lives within the area of Druids Heath and attend school within this targeted district. This audience is in the process of learning reading and enjoying reading. In order to engage this targeted audience and make them attend our event we will organise our activity day around a book that the kids are currently reading at school, and then the purpose of our event will be educational, or something that appeals to a popular taste, and then it will have a more entertaining extent. As the event is free, it is a simple and easy to access the activity day for households of the area and also to entertain their
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kids on the weekends. Targeting a specific classroom aims to market it also as a event where the kid’s friends will go and therefore we want to endorse this event as a peer-group one. As we want to market the library as a community place, the event will work on familiarity, however the first inclination to join in the activity has to be entertainment and education. Regarding the venue, the community library is settled within the Druids Heath area, which is part of the Selly Oak District. There is a decline within the last few years of visitors within the Druids Heath Library. New Children’s section opened within the library, thanks to the Wolfson grant, since the 4th of April 2016. Citizens of all ages and circumstances can join the local library. By getting a free of charge library card, you can access and borrow a books, CDs, videos, DVD and magazines. The library is a community facility right in the heart of the area. Citizens of all ages and circumstances can join the library. The library card provides access to book, CDs, Videos, DVD, magazines and websites. It is a leisure place with free access, where you can find information and enquiry service, support for learners and promote readings for all purposes. Refurbishments aims to improve visits, ICT access and book loans from children, helped with the Wolfson Foundation Grant. There is also a disable access. It is already holding a number of events, including five groups, already meeting within the environment of the library : ✓
Raspberry Pi, a friendly group where you can learn how to use the Raspberry Pi product.
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Coffee morning, a drink and conversation event held every Thursday morning.
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Crafty Sew n Sews, where you can have a drink and talk about crafts every Saturday morning. 6
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Family History Session, where the librarians can help about your family history research.
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Read n Share Book group, every Friday afternoon. Moreover, the library is welcoming the Councillors Surgeries and Citizen’s Advice
Bureau. Through researching the Druids Heath area, we found out three potential business that , through their corporate social responsibility, can gain advantage of sponsoring the event : Greggs and Aldi in Druids Heath and WHSmith in King’s Heath. The three of them takes a special highlight at helping the community they are surrounding with. We also contacted to optimised our chance to get a sponsor Wilko, Iceland, Boots and Sainsbury’s, through email, phone, social media and in-store visits. We finally success to get in-kind donations from WHSmith King’s Heath of 6 Children books, that will be aimed at the competition prize. This will aimed to engage the audience and give an incentive, as it will give a motivation to attend the event.
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Promotional strategy The small-scaled event and our targeted audience allows us a targeted promotion plan. Indeed, most of our communication will be made directly to our chosen audience. Although we will also make sure to also engage a communication through diverse media platforms: Facebook, Library website, local media outlet. We will imply a direct marketing by promoting the event to and through the local community, by communicating leaflets to the school targeted, as well as a direct communication with the school staff. We will also create a media kit that can be used for multi-purpose: through the Library Facebook page but also for media coverage. We will also make sure to provide a design in order to create a more efficient and visual promotion, with a consistent colour that will follow all our promotional strategy. On a more practical scale, We have created a media kit aimed to the potential sponsors, the local authorities, the media outlets selected but also the library. We will send the press release to the local media on the Friday 25th of November, to the following news outlets : B14 News website, Birmingham Newsroom website, Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Library of Birmingham Website. Moreover, we will showcase the event through the Facebook page and website of Druids Heath Library. Finally, to engage the event directly to the community, we will contact throughout the week prior to the event the diverse community groups of Druids Heath through social media.
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Staff For our event we need to hire some additional staff as well like a photographer, to get evidence and showcase the event afterwards. Actors, who will be the hosts of the event and also volunteer, who will help us to look after the children and that everything runs smoothly. ● Berit Kuut – event manager ● Diane Delaveau – communication manager ● Michael Smith – videographer, photographer ● Keona Smith - volunteer ● Jack Fogerty - actor
Logistics Item
Quantity
Cost
Camera
1
£0
Signs
2-3
£0
Cups
50
£2
Book
1
£0
Prizes (Books)
6
£0
Quiz
30 copies
£0
Water
Games Staff
£0 5
£0 9
Timeline and task list
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Event planning Here is a updated list all of our main informations regarding how we will plan the event and what are the crucial points to know about the person responsible for each task. Event’s name: Story Mob Event’s date: 3rd of December, 11.00 – 14.00 Event’s location: Druids Heath Library Client: Druids Heath Library Event’s team: Berit Kuut, Diane Delaveau Target audience: School’s children (Year 2/ Year 3) Message: promote the library and its new children’s section, get new people to sign up for the library Event’s objectives: promoting the library Event’s description: bringing a kids book to life, showing that reading can be fun and interactive PR, marketing, communications, social media: Diane Client liaison: Berit Stakeholders: Diane Risk assessment : Diane Evaluation: Berit, Diane Budget: Berit Protocol: Diane Flyer: Diane 12
Catering: drinks – Berit Advertising: Diane Book/story: Berit Program: Berit Guests/sponsors: Berit, Diane Security: Diane Staffing: Berit Ambience/decorations: Berit Guest comfort, hospitality: Berit Housekeeping: Berit, Diane After event: Berit, Diane
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Financial When it comes to staff then involving people from university gives us the benefit of having the event for free for everyone. We have involved volunteers to help with games and quiz. Videographer/photographer and the actors are there to get experience in their field. We want to get the whole community to participate in the library’s activities, that’s why we are in contact with sponsors to get them to help us with putting on the event, for example donating prizes we can give to the children who win the quiz. That way we ensure the community’s involvement with the library and the event.
Health and Safety The library is suited for wheelchair access and is also equipped with a first aid kit. In case of emergency, the staff is trained to deal with the situation is aware of the numbers to call if there is a need of exterior help. As well as our own risk assessment, to ensure the full safety of our event, we will follow the Children and Vulnerable Adults Procedure of the Library of Birmingham, if required.
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Risk Assessment
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Venue Layout plan (Children’s library)
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Directory
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Appendices Media Kit
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Design
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Summary of the book Brave little hedgehog by Paul and Emma Rogers “Would you like to star in your very own story? The little hedgehog would: he sets off in search of storybook stardom and meets some fairy-tale friends along the way - The Three Little Pigs, a witch and The Gingerbread Man - who all have advice to offer. But it's only when he meets The Big Bad Wolf that his adventure really begins and a brand-new story is born. A cosy tale to cuddle up with and enjoy again and again.” We chose this book because of its story and its main character - the hedgehog. That animal is playing an important role because the Druids Heath library’s mascot is a hedgehog called Boris. And that gave us the idea to look into books with hedgehogs.
Children and Vulnerable Adults Procedure - Library of Birmingham Because we are not left alone with the children at our event DBR check is not needed, however we need to familiarise ourselves with that document.
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