PLANNING EVENTS: SAMPLE PROGRAMS There are a number of viable models for planning successful events. The model you choose will be based in part on the number of Mentees, prior experience with event planning and mentoring, employer and Mentee interests, and community resources. AAPD encourages Local Coordinators to use their own creativity in planning DMD events, though first-time coordinators may want to follow a model more closely. The main objective is planning activities that meet the interests of your community and are manageable. ONE-ON-ONE & GROUP ACTIVITIES Strategize about your event plans in a series of steps. The first step is determining what types of interactions you want to have between Mentees and their Workplace Mentors. There are two main types of activities: one-on-one job shadowing and group visits. One-on-One Job Shadowing. AAPD encourages all Local Coordinators to make one-on-one job shadowing part of their DMD experience. This gives students and job seekers the chance to have the complete attention of someone in the workplace who has similar career interests. Workplace Mentors can give Mentees an idea of what a career path is actually like on a day-to-day basis. They can offer advice on educational objectives and work experiences that will help prepare students and job seekers for full-time employment. They can provide perspective on anxieties about succeeding in the workplace and offer tips for gaining a competitive edge. One-on-one job shadowing can be a time-consuming activity to plan, because making the best possible matches between Mentees and Workplace Mentors is not an exact science. Organized Group Visits. For some Mentees and some Participating Employers, group tours may be preferable to one-on-one job shadowing. In the past, for example, some employers have requested to host a group of students and plan their own schedule for having the group meet various personnel and visit different office divisions. Some educators/vocational counselors may also prefer to organize a group visit depending on the Mentees’ maturity level. PLENARY GATHERINGS & RECEPTIONS Where possible, AAPD encourages Local Coordinators to plan for common starting/ending points for all Mentees, because it opens up the possibility for two additional types of activities: plenary sessions and receptions. Using common starting/ending points will minimize logistical challenges (especially in terms of transportation) and enables you to pad the schedule (in terms of providing a cushion to ensure that Mentees make it to work sites on time). Plenary Sessions. Depending on how many Mentees you have and the geographic spread of schools, homes, and workplaces, you might consider incorporating plenary sessions into your plan for DMD. A kick-off plenary session, for example, can provide an opportunity to present overall themes for the day and give Mentees a chance to ask questions about education and career planning in general. You might invite a well-known keynote speaker to present remarks. People with disabilities who have successful careers could talk about the challenges and barriers they have faced in the workplace, including discrimination. Human Resources representatives could talk about the job search process and how best to prepare for careers in certain fields. A plenary session at the end of the day can provide an opportunity for Mentees and Workplace Mentors to share their experiences and develop a network of contacts. Breakfasts/Luncheons/Receptions. Plenary sessions might be combined with a breakfast, lunch, reception, or even dinner. Such venues could include a formal speaking program or simply be an informal time for students/job seekers and Workplace Mentors to share ideas and experiences. Including a meal or reception into your DMD program obviously raises questions about space needs and financing, but they can be a great addition to Mentees’ overall experience. DEVELOPING A SCHEDULE Once you’ve developed an idea of the types of activities you’d like to have, you need to organize the activities in a realistic schedule. One of the most important decisions is determining the total time frame for your DMD event. It could be a whole day, half a day, or chunk of time in the middle of the day. Some things to keep in mind: * Start Time & End Time. Depending on the age range and how you coordinate transportation, you may need to start the day earlier or later to match Mentees’ regular schedules, or end by specific times to accommodate other commitments. * Duration. Tailor the overall length of your activities to your Mentees’ attention spans and schedules. It is better to have all parties excited for more, than to be checking the time to wonder when the day will come to an end. Work with your Local Organizing Committee to develop a plan that works for your likely participants, including employers. * Variety. Depending on the duration of your overall event, vary the types of activity throughout the day. One-on-one job shadowing should be broken up into different activities/meetings rather than one marathon face-to-face session, for example, and individual plenary sessions should probably not last longer than an hour (for speaking programs) or two (for sessions with meals/receptions). * Allow for Extra Time. Give Mentees a starting time 15-30 minutes earlier than your actual planned starting time (either for a speaking program or at individual work sites), which will provide time for checking in and attending to any accessibility needs. If you plan an hour-long kick-off program, leave an extra 30 minutes in the schedule if the program runs over or moving (i.e. traveling) to the next part of the program takes more time than anticipated. If you schedule each component part too tightly and begin missing arranged times, it can interfere with employers’ and Workplace Mentors’ schedule for the rest of the day, and perhaps discourage them from future participation. * Talk to Stakeholders. Spend time strategizing with teachers, students, employers, and other stakeholders to figure out what makes the most sense. If you’re in doubt about how ambitious to be, keep your expectations low and use this year as a way to create a foundation for future years. TRANSPORTATION Whether you coordinate an DMD event for one Mentee or a hundred, transportation will likely be one of the biggest logistical challenges. If your Mentees all come from one source, e.g. a single school or university, it may be possible to have well-organized and central transportation. A public school or college, for example, might be able to arrange for transportation for a group of its students. If, however, you have individual or small groups of Mentees from various sources, coordinating transportation can be extremely complicated. Here are some options to consider: * Mentee/Parent Personal Transportation. You might request that each Mentee (or his/her parents) take responsibility for getting to and from their DMD events. This could mean providing one’s own transportation throughout the day, or simply to/from a starting/end point. This could include driving one’s own car or taking public transportation. * School Vehicles. Public Schools, Colleges, and Universities typically have buses and vans at their disposal for school-sanctioned activities. Depending on the number of Mentees involved, they may be able to take responsibility for transportation of all their Mentees. * Organization Transportation. Some disability organizations and other community service organizations have vehicles for their activities, and might be open to offering their support to your DMD events. * Public Transportation. You might find that local public transportation officials would make vehicles available for specialized routes – either for a fee or as an in-kind sponsor. * Employer Vehicles. Many employers, especially large ones, have company vehicles at their disposal. They may not be able to pick up Mentees from individual schools or homes, but they might be able to transport Mentees from/to a central starting/ending point. Note: If you are able to find organizations to provide assistance with transportation at no cost, you should consider recognizing them as local, in-kind sponsors. PERMISSION & MEDICAL AUTHORIZATION You may need to have Mentees or their parents/guardians grant permission to participate in DMD. (As a general rule, anyone under the age of 18 will need to have the consent of his or her parent/guardian.) Employers may also require that Mentees or their parents/guardians sign a medical authorization form. Some employers may raise additional questions about liability. Be open about their concerns and work with them to develop permission/authorization forms that meet their needs. Appendix B includes sample parent/guardian permission and medical authorization forms. RECOMMENDED EVENT MODEL: ONE-ON-ONE WITH PLENARY SESSIONS AAPD recommends a “Bookend” model as a starting point for planning. This model makes use of common starting/ending point plenary sessions as bookends around one-on-one job shadowing at various employers. Mentees are responsible for their own transportation to/from the common starting/ending points, but not for any transportation during the day to particular work sites. The advantage to this model is that it provides both for one-on-one job shadowing and makes DMD a community event that brings a variety of Mentees and Participating Employers together. The plenary sessions enable you to convey a common message to all Mentees and enables Mentees to make more contacts. From a logistics vantage point, this model enables you to inform all prospective Mentees where they need to be in the application itself, rather than direct each Mentee to a different location. A recommended time-frame for this model is: * 9:00 AM. Check-in. Ask all Mentees to arrive at 9:00 AM, so you can distribute information packets and attend to accommodation requests. This provides a cushion to ensure that you can start the plenary session on time. If a Mentee doesn’t show up, call the Workplace Mentor immediately to free his/her schedule. * 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM. Plenary Kick-Off. Use this session to focus on two main themes: 1) testimonials from people with disabilities about their employment experiences; 2) general guidance about career preparation and finding good jobs. Assume that every speaker will go about twice as long as you ask, and schedule no more than 25 minutes of prepared remarks (e.g. one 10-minute presentation and three 5-minute presentations). This will also leave room for questions. * 10:30 AM to 10:45 AM. Participant/Employer Matching. At the conclusion of the plenary session, link each Mentee to someone who will help ensure that he/she makes it to the right work site. This could be someone from the Participating Employer who will be providing transportation, or a volunteer who will be coordinating transportation for that individual. * 10:45 AM to 11:00 AM. Transportation. Leave some padding for transportation time from the plenary session to the employer work site, which is suitable to the distances that need to be traveled in your community. * 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM. One-on-One Job Shadowing. Inform each Workplace Mentor that it is his/her responsibility to provide lunch for each Mentee. This could be in an individual or group setting. In working with each Participating Employer, you might develop a more detailed schedule for the on-site time. * 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM. Transportation. Be clear with each Participating Employer about how the Mentees are to get from the work site to the ending reception. Leave ample time between the job shadowing schedule and the beginning of the reception to allow for transportation time and for the one-on-one time to run over schedule. * 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM. Reception. This will work best if a set program is kept to a minimum; keep the focus on mingling. You might, for example, ask a few Mentees and Workplace Mentors to make brief comments on their experience. But don’t plan on an hour-long speaking program. Under this time schedule, keep food light. Employers will likely provide ample lunch, so Mentees may not be very hungry. * 4:30 PM. Adjourn. Make sure Mentees understand it is their responsibility to get home from the reception. If necessary, individuals can arrange for earlier pickups (i.e. between 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM). EVENT MODEL: INDIVIDUALIZED ONE-ON-ONE JOB SHADOWING The recommended model is perhaps the most time-consuming to plan, as it involves coordinating a community of participants and planning group events. There are others way to plan effective one-on-one job shadowing that have other benefits. Rather than bring everyone together at a common starting and ending point, you can plan for Mentees to go directly to a work site and spend as much as an entire day at the site. This approach can provide more face time than the “Bookend” model, though it means an individual is pretty much on his or her own for the day. Make sure your Mentees are prepared for that type of experience, and have the necessary assistance and support that might be needed (i.e., from a parent, attendant). Some important tips for this model: * Make sure you provide each workplace mentor and each Mentee with complete contact information for their Mentee/mentor. You want to be able to have them communicate directly to coordinate any transportation or other logistics. * Work with your Local Organizing Committee to plan a schedule for the day. Depending upon your Mentees and employers, you may want to coordinate with a school schedule, or limit the experience to half a day. * Make sure to communicate clearly with both Mentees and Workplace Mentors about responsibility for meals. More likely than not, you will want to make lunch part of the day. Preferably, the workplace mentor will pay for lunch. * While this approach can mean less transportation coordination, transportation can still be challenging precisely because it is not coordinated. Make sure each Mentee understands how he/she will be getting from home/school to the work site. (You will probably want to make it each Mentee’s responsibility to get to/from the work site.) EVENT MODEL: ONE-ON-ONE OVER TIME A variation on the individualized job shadowing model described above is matching Mentees and Workplace Mentors over a period of several weeks/months or even throughout the year. The benefit of this model is that it takes some of the logistics pressure off of coordinating activities for an entire group. This model can also work better with matching some schedules – college students, for example, may have particular classes or labs that conflict with the “official” day. Another advantage is that you can work very carefully with individual Mentees to identify an employer that most closely matches their interests. One way to implement this approach is to use the “official” mentoring day as a way to draw attention to your effort and recruit Mentees. Your organization could host a small reception and issue a media advisory and press release to publicize your program. You could invite educators, vocational counselors, and area employers to attend the event to tell them about your plans and encourage them to host Mentees. As you receive Mentee applications, you can then follow-up individually to find out what time frame works best, what type of employer they would like to visit, and what they would like to get out of their experience. EVENT MODEL: GROUP VISIT There are two principal reasons you may want to pursue a group rather than individualized activity: employer interest and Mentee interest. Employers. Some employers may prefer to plan a day for a group to visit their work sites, where they schedule time for a number of different personnel to meet with the visiting group. This might include a visit with the Human Resources personnel, information technology specialists, project/program directors, management officials, production facility managers, etc. Such an approach could include some one-on-one job shadowing. A group of 10-12 Mentees, for example, might spend several hours touring a work site, and then team up with individual staff for an hour or so. Mentees. Some prospective Mentees may not have very well-defined career interests, in which cases the most valuable experience may be to get a broader view of what a workplace is like rather than focus on a particular job and career path. In other cases, prospective Mentees may not have the level of maturity or confidence necessary for meeting one-on-one with someone in the workforce for several hours. There is no one way to plan an effective group visit. Many businesses will have hosted similar youth events in the past, and may have their own very well-defined ideas about what they would like DMD to look like. If you are thinking of taking a group approach, it’s probably best to start by meeting with employers who want to host a group of Mentees, and talk through what they have done in the past and what types of personnel they think would be interested in participating. KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER * AAPD encourages one-on-one job shadowing, but group visits can also be very valuable * Allow for extra time in any schedule that you plan – speakers will take more time than you think, transportation will take longer, and time will go by quicker than you imagine * Make sure you are clear with all Participating Employers, Educators/Vocational Counselors, and Mentees about exactly what their responsibilities are for transportation, food, and other logistics * Find out about concerns regarding permission and liability, and obtain the necessary permissions well in advance of your scheduled events