NPSW coordinator's corner

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NPSW celebration guide for coordinators
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Thank you certificates
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Tips

Begin planning now -- the earlier the better. Set up a planning meeting and create an organizing committee as soon as possible
Ensure your manager fully supports your work in this area, including providing you the time necessary to fulfill your NPSW coordinator's obligations
Advertise for volunteers as soon as possible. Get students within the Public Service to help you to organize your events -- they are very dynamic and full of great ideas
Determine what events you would like senior management to attend and advise their offices as soon as possible
Contact your regional offices to have NPSW representatives appointed. In this way you can help ensure that your regional offices are engaged in the Week at the departmental or interdepartmental levels
Create a timeline of steps to take. Many ideas are simple but need to be scheduled far in advance of NPSW
Use a suggestion box in your department to get innovative ideas
Designate a point of contact for your organization
Share your ideas. Keep the Agency's Awards, Recognition and Special Events team informed of your activities
If you need to contract for booths, tents, tables, chairs and other supplies, consider a joint procurement effort with other departments.

In organizing events for National Public Service Week, it is always a good idea to keep certain goals and principles in mind. In this way, you can ensure that your efforts have a great impact and everyone has an enjoyable and memorable time.

Use the following checklist to see where the strengths of your events lie and where, perhaps, activities may be enhanced:

In my event, ________________________, I have considered the following components:

Departmental values and how they relate to the event
Promotion before, during and after the event
Building employee pride in workplace contributions
Fun (music, decorations, food and beverages, etc.)
Employee participation options, i.e. conflicts with work requirements, etc.
Accessibility appropriateness of the location
Diversity and respect in any representations, in language type, etc.
Bilingualism
Occasions for learning opportunities
Managerial support, visibility and participation
Any other target groups or special interest participation
Environmental concerns e.g. recycling
Recognition of everyone’s help before, during and after the event
Implementation of a system to measure attendance / participation and
Recording best practices and lessons learned for next year.

Be sure to keep a record of your events for reporting purposes

Highlight in your reporting the goals and principles above and explain how they were realized. Also include:

time spent organizing the event, at what time this planning began, how it was organized, i.e. committee, working groups, etc.;
what you would and would not do again, and why;
how your activity improved pride in the workplace;
what aspects were most popular with employees;
money spent;
what communications vehicles helped make the event special; and
what could be done to increase employees' participation.