McKinney Texas - Relay For Life

16 Apr 2009

McKinney Relay For Life Event

Event Chair and Co Chair Manual

• Chair - The key to success starts here. This person is responsible for overseeing the entire event from start to finish and seeing that all functions are accomplished.  

          Characteristics:

• enthusiastic

• willing to make personal commitment

• have excellent motivational, organizational and leadership skills

• have excellent knowledge of the community and who can get things done

• have ability to work cohesively with staff and committee members

• Co-Chair - This is your key to next year's success, since this person is "in training" and will chair your event next year. This person should have the same attributes as the chairperson and serve as his/her "right hand man."  

Advocacy Manual

• Chair - Advocacy at RELAY For Life provides greater variety for your RELAY participants – new information, new materials, and another means of educating, entertaining and engaging participants during your event.  The fight against cancer has a legislative role.  If we hope to win this fight, elected officials must learn that American Cancer Society volunteers want legislators to make cancer issues a priority.  Advocacy at RELAY For Life is a way to empower your volunteers with a voice to their legislators – a voice that will help beat cancer.

Cancer Education Manual

• Chair - As Cancer Education Chairperson, you will work with the your ACS staff partner and Relay For Life Event Committee to ensure the annual educational message of the American Cancer Society is infused into all before, during and after activities related to the Relay For Life. In addition, you will help educate potential teams, Team Captains, Team members, Relay Leadership, and Relay participants about ACS accomplishments through the “Ask Me About Relay!” activity.

Entertainment and Activities Manual

• Chair - oversees all planning of the activities for the Relay to ensure the participants enjoy themselves during the event.  Communicates needs and plans of his committee to the logistics chair, the luminaria chair, and the survivors chair.

• Entertainment Chair - responsible for securing music for the event, either through live bands or disc jockeys or a combination of both and serving as stage manager during the event to ensure that entertainment runs smoothly.

• Children’s Activities - responsible for planning and implementing activities and games for the children at the Relay For Life.

• Adult Activities - responsible for planning and implementing activities and games for the adults at the Relay For Life.

Logistics Manual 

• Chair - This position requires a very detail oriented person.  Secure the location of the event with the event chairman and ACS staff person. Communicates the rules and regulations from the school or city to the committee. Secure any tents, portable toilets, sinks, trashcans and electrical needs.  Recruit a team of people to help set up for the event and clean up the site. Contracts, Permits and Security: An application must be submitted to the school or city to request the use of the facility.  Usually the school or city will provide the form for the ACS staff person to fill out and sign.  Request an insurance certificate from the ACS home office to be sent to the school or city.  Contact local police department and inform them of the event and the dates and most will provide some form of security. Contact the city manager at least 3 months before the event.  Some cities require a permit to have an event.  Inquire about curfews for minors and inform the committee with information. If tables and chairs are borrowed from a school or facility, the logistics chair should sign off on a form stating how many items were borrowed on set up day and how many item were returned on Saturday.

Luminaria Manual

• Chair - should attend the Relay For Life Committee meetings and maintain communication with their subcommittee.  It is very important that as the chairperson of the Luminaria Committee you realize that a subcommittee is a very essential part of the Luminaria Ceremony. It is a good idea to involve those who are creative and organized on your committee.  Luminarias can be purchased in “Memory” of or in “Honor” of someone who has fought cancer. The Luminarias are sold prior to the event and at the event. The Luminaria Ceremony involves pre- event planning to make it a success. It is hopeful that this handbook can help your committee plan a memorable Luminaria Ceremony for your Relay For Life.

Registration Manual

• Chair -To oversee the registration of all Relay For Life participants prior to the event date and on the day of the Relay keeping an accurate record of individual and team donations.

Relay Publicity Manual

• Chair - plays a vital role in communicating the details of the event to the media and ultimately the general public in your community.  They are also charged with ensuring the event is visual, exciting and attractive to the local media so they will feel compelled to cover the event.  It is a very good idea to recruit a vice chair and/or committee to help you. Two heads are better than one and if you are unable to chair next year, other folks will have the experience and knowledge.  

Survivors Chairman Manual

• Chair - Oversee all sub-committee members and set up communication process for each. See that all sub-committee members have the knowledge, training, and resources needed to fulfill their job descriptions. Communicate regularly with the appropriate planning committee chairs including: event chair(s), team development chair, publicity and marketing chair, underwriting/sponsorship chairs, logistics chair, entertainment chair, etc 

• Co-Chair - Assist chair in all chairman’s duties and responsibilities. Responsible for coordination of communication with survivor sub-committee members and other Relay sub-committees to insure all survivor activities are publicized, and survivors are given opportunities for involvement in all Relay activities (planning committees, kickoffs/rallies, team captain meetings, teams etc.). 

• Survivor Recruitment - The person in charge of survivor recruitment understands that cancer survivors are everywhere in your community, they are not all newly diagnosed, some are undergoing treatment or years beyond treatment, old or young, people with special needs or independent active people. Recruitment efforts should reflect all of these possibilities. 

• Survivor Retention - For those events past their first event, having someone specifically responsible for establishing and maintaining contact with previous year’s survivors following the event is essential. 

• Relay Event Planner – planning person for all survivor components at Relay For life, and includes caregiver recognition component. Plan for the registration of survivors and caregivers who participate in the Relay event.

• Engaging Survivors - someone who plans survivor activities & functions throughout the year and provide opportunities for survivors to become engaged in ACS programs and services 

Team Development Manual

• Recruitment – This committee is solely responsible for recruiting teams to come to the event. Use the team committee structure and formula to make sure this committee is the correct size. Develop new team recruitment plan with Chairman and committee and recruit new teams. Responsible for thanking teams after event

• Retention – this committee is responsible for contacting all the returning teams to make sure they are coming back the next year and recruit past teams. Responsible for thanking teams after event

• Mentor – this committee is responsible for mentoring returning teams as well as new teams via phone calls, meetings, e-mail, etc. You should also be educating the team captains on the importance of team, individual and onsite fundraising. Mentor new teams as they are recruited and educate teams on fund raising. Responsible for thanking teams after event.

• Manager – this committee is responsible for all team captain meetings, hold at least 3 meetings. Make them fun, interesting so that people will want to attend. Following up with any team captains that do not attend the team captain meetings. The committee works with team captains to ensure that they know what their team is to do before and during the event. This committee should have constant contact with all team captains.  Coordinate the Relay kickoff with the whole Team Development chair and committee. Coordinate bank night(s) along with team development chair and committee.  Responsible for thanking teams after the event.

• Underwriting - Underwriting is solicited to pay the cost of the event or an activity of the event. The underwriter receives benefits, but those benefits are associated with the activities underwritten.

• Sponsorship - Sponsorship is what the business pays to be associated with the American Cancer Society and the event (or a part of the event).  

• Media Sponsorship - Media Sponsorship is key to any event.  Media Sponsors agree to donate a specific amount of promotional time or space and is included in the event’s promotion. Ask the media sponsor to provide a complete list of coverage the event received.  Media Sponsors should receive benefits at one-half the level of a