“R U OK?”
Since 2009, the R U OK? Foundation has been encouraging Aussies to ask each other this simple question. And more so, it wants you to ask it regularly to stay connected and have conversations that can help others through difficult times in their lives. The foundation’s vision is of “a world where we’re all connected and are protected from suicide”, and its national R U OK? Day campaign each September focuses on helping everyone build the motivation, confidence, and skills to have a meaningful conversation with someone who’s struggling.
From humble beginnings, R U OK? Day has grown into a national movement supported by an array of corporate partners and Australians from all walks of life. R U OK? Day contributes to suicide prevention efforts by encouraging people to invest more time in their relationships with friends, family, and colleagues.
This R U OK? Day, you can be a part of this important national conversation with the right ideas for R U OK? Day events that help your guests understand the impacts of mental health issues and suicide in the community, and how we can all support each other.
R U OK? Day Events for work and community
This R U OK? Day, reach out to your target audience with an event that appeals to your workplace or community with inspiration from our community of event creators. Morning tea events, panel discussions, comedy shows, and even trivia nights are just some of the R U OK? Day event ideas to encourage your attendees to join your awareness and fundraising efforts. Read on for a few inspirational examples.
Lynn and Brown Lawyers R U OK? Day Morning Tea
The team from Lynn and Brown Lawyers encouraged their employees to speak to colleagues they don’t normally spend time with over a cuppa and cupcakes to create connection. The event also raised funds for the R U OK? Foundation through guest donations.
Morning tea events are one of the easiest R U OK? Day ideas for workplaces and small community groups. Consider supplying special-edition cups for extra donations or R U OK? Day conversation starter cards to get the ball rolling.
Yoga Australia’s National Forum + R U OK? Day Panel Discussion
Yoga Australia invited expert panellists to a discussion around suicide prevention on R U OK? Day in 2021. The event was open to all yoga teachers, members, and friends, and the discussion encouraged the panellists and guests to share their experiences and knowledge.
If you’re looking for great virtual ideas to attract a diverse audience to your R U OK? Day event, a panel discussion is perfect for both online and in-person guests. You can increase attendance even more by inviting interesting leaders from your workplace, industry, or community. By bringing in someone people know, you can keep the conversation going down the track. You could also share a recording of the event with your wider network.
Deakin University’s Student Life R U OK? Day Friendship Trivia
For R U OK? Day in 2021, Deakin University’s Wellbeing Ambassadors hosted a lively friendship-themed trivia event to raise awareness and encourage connection in their student community. Guests answered questions about fantastic sidekick duos, movie characters, historic acts of camaraderie, and more, for great prizes and plenty of laughs.
Take a leaf from the Deakin University book and encourage all of your guests to wear yellow in support of R U OK? Day and suicide awareness.
Maranoa Regional Council’s Laughter Clinic and Comedy Show
Maranoa Regional Council took their R U OK? Day festivities on the road, encouraging community members from the outback Queensland towns of Injune and Roma to join their Laughter Clinic and Comedy Shows. The Laughter Clinic presentation offered plenty of humour and giggles with easy-to-remember mental health strategies and take-away messages.
Make sure your guests keep the laughter and conversation going after your event with a similar take-home pack of R U OK? Day information or a post-event follow-up email.
Once you’ve found the perfect event format for your particular audience, it’s time to start building engagement and excitement.
Grow your attendance
If you’re focused on promoting healthy R U OK? Day conversations in your community, you may not have as much time for event management and promotion. Here are our top tips for building a bigger audience and preparing your best event yet, as well as some ways that Eventbrite tools can help.
Engage partners and industry groups
Want a quick way to let your community know about your event? Ask key partners or industry groups to help promote it to their networks as well as yours. When the team from Australian Foodservice Advocacy Body (AFAB), an advisory service representing hospitality workers and businesses across the country, teamed up with the R U OK? Foundation in 2021 they promoted the R U OK? mission with a series of webinars specifically targeting the hospitality community through their combined network.
Find out more about your audience with event surveys
Want to know exactly how your guests feel before or after your event? From managing dietary requirements to wellbeing surveys, you can set up a questionnaire for each attendee to complete before or after the event. A post-event survey is also a fantastic way to share more R U OK? Day ideas and tips for your audience to remember year-round.
Work with a sponsor or event partner
If you’re planning a community fundraising event, engaging the right sponsors can help you to grow your audience while reducing your event costs. Your sponsors can not only provide free or discounted event supplies, you can encourage them to promote the event to their own networks and via their own online channels. For example, the team from Deakin University’s Student Life invited sponsors to provide competition prizes for their Friendship Trivia event, offering sponsors the ideal opportunity to get in front of their target consumers while supporting a great cause.
Promote your R U OK? Day event
R U OK? Day has become a powerful movement across Australia. Add your voice to the cause with these creative event promotion tips from our community of creators.
Share your event online
Once you’ve created your event on Eventbrite, you can use your free event website to promote it online, register guests, and sell tickets. Then, use the simple tools that Eventbrite Boost offers to quickly post and share to platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Don’t forget to reach out to your networks via LinkedIn for business events, and to post your event to the R U OK? website, which hosts a directory of events by location. It’s free to register your event on the R U OK? website, and you’ll also find useful resources (such as posters, event ideas, etc) that you can print and use.
Reach out to your existing audience
If you already have a loyal following of past guests and fans, reach out to them to be future guests at your next R U OK? Day event. Build a mailing list of past event guests and contact them through a service like MailChimp, which can be integrated into Eventbrite to easily send bulk email communications to your list, with a registration link back to your event website for all the details and ticket registration online.
Nail down the details
Using an online event management platform can simplify event management tasks like ticketing and event check-in. From tools to generate seating plans at your venue to diverse ticket types and donation management, achieve your event goals with these recommendations from our team of experts.
Offer different ticket types for your diverse community
One of the biggest benefits of online event registration is ease of ticket sales and registration. Using Eventbrite, you can add different ticket types to suit your audience, like discount group tickets, early bird tickets, or tickets where guests can add an additional donation to your cause. You can also offer add-on purchases such as pre-purchased food, drinks, or experiences to maximise revenue.
Complete event check-in
In the post-COVID event world, a seamless check-in experience is vital for guest experience and efficiency. Check in guests without paper tickets and keep track of attendance and attendee information with Eventbrite Organiser.
Put your R U OK? Day ideas into action
Talented event creators are connecting communities across Australia this September with a range of unique R U OK? Day event ideas designed to appeal to every attendee and environment. 2022 is the perfect time to join them with your own event to drive awareness and change.
Use Eventbrite to make your own event happen. We can help you collect RSVPs, enable COVID safety measures, and promote your event online to a bigger audience, so you’ll spend less time organising and more time joining the conversation.
