Wellness Library

Brown bag presentations are a good way to create awareness about selected health issues. Community health professionals will frequently support presentations of a half hour or less at no charge. Use employee interest surveys to follow up on employee interests that are expressed. The definition of health is broad, so brown bag presentations may also cover a wide variety of issues. Topics may include physical, mental, emotional, women’s health, men’s health, monetary health, etc.

Considerations for brown bag presentations:
• Brown bag sessions are great for awareness building. This seed planting process can help workers become more proactive about healthy choices.
• Do not schedule the program for the full hour – usually 40 minutes or so works best. This will provide folks with a chance to come and go, grab a quick bite, ask questions, etc.
• If the subject matter is sensitive, such as domestic violence, substance abuse, etc., people may be reluctant to attend for fear of being associated publicly with the issue. They will, however, attend if the focus is on assisting family members, coworkers, etc.
• Be sure that employees hear valuable information and will leave with tools and resources to carry out the message. Work with the presenter on information strategies that work for your employee group.
• Promotional materials ought to publicize the program with a name that speaks to the brown bag focus. Include all other pertinent information such as where, who, when, etc.
• Some issues that can’t be covered in one session could be available in a short series. It will work best to schedule one session each week instead of several sessions in one week. For example, you might offer a 3-week series on healthy eating instead of trying to cram all the information into one session.
• A clever title can attract participants to the event. An example of this would be calling lunchtime presentations “Noonlighting”
• If possible, support a no cost healthy snack for employees who attend.
• To maintain momentum, try setting up a routine monthly time and day for lunchtime courses.
• If employees work in shift or are in work groups in different geographical locations, devise a plan that offers equal attendance opportunity to all.

Resources:

1. Please see the idea list at the end of this guide which offers a variety of resource issues of interest to workers.
2. Every area has many professionals, experts, or specialists from voluntary groups (heart, cancer, lung associations), special interest groups (Y’s, Red Cross, Weight Watcher’s, Safety Council, Alcoholics Anonymous), or the local health department as possibilities to present workplace sessions free or at a low cost. Many of these contacts will also provide inexpensive materials.
3. Topic videos can be utilized for a brown bag session.

Tags: Corporate Wellness, health, medical, Wellness Library

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 3:17 am and is filed under Corporate Wellness, Wellness Library. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.