Organize an Event – A Planning Guide
Choose Event Activities – Choose a Program

Choose Event Activities:
• Choose a Program
• Pick a Theme
• Plan Entertainment
• Educate
• Find a Speaker
• Honor Survivors
• Serve Festive Food
• Decorate

The type of program you choose will determine the necessary preparations. However, as applicable, remember to arrange for a stage, podium, platform, power source, microphone and sound system, lighting, extra bulbs, projector and screen, presentation materials, TV and media player, extension cords, and an educational resource table/exhibit area with information on treatment, support, etc. The following ideas may be helpful in developing your winning program:

• Schedule entertainment and speakers. Consider including local and national celebrities who have been affected in some way by cancer. Registered events can access a searchable Speakers Bureau Roster online.
• Choose an emcee. A local news anchor may be willing to serve in this capacity.
• Healthcare providers such as physicians, nurses, and social workers can make good speakers. A local oncologist may be willing to briefly describe new cancer treatments and current research efforts.
• Invite community leaders to participate, particularly those who have been affected by cancer. Possibilities include the governor and/or spouse, mayors, county board chairpersons, city council presidents, local sports heroes, entertainers, and patient advocates.
• NCSD is an ideal event to be supported by local government in the form of a proclamation. Write and call the mayor or governor, asking him or her to designate the first Sunday in June as National Cancer Survivors Day in your city or state (see Sample Letters). A ceremony incorporating the proclamation signing is a good way to attract media attention. Ask the mayor or governor to read and sign the proclamation at the ceremony or to send a representative.
• Ask a musician to write a song honoring cancer survivors and perform it at your NCSD celebration.
• Invite an author of a cancer-related book to speak, and give away autographed copies of the book as door prizes.
• Consider drawing your entertainment from among survivors rather than using professionals.
• Survivors can share messages of hope by telling first-person stories, reading journal entries, reciting poems aloud, or giving a comic monologue about dealing with cancer.
• Instead of, or in addition to, a main speaker, have several survivors briefly share their stories.
• To encourage survivor participation, have the event emcee walk through the crowd with a microphone, allowing survivors to address the audience.
• Create a slideshow featuring photos of past events or of survivors before, during, and after treatment.
• Organize a panel of long-term survivors to discuss cancer survivorship issues and answer the questions of newly diagnosed survivors and their families.
• Use the occasion to honor oncology staff members and other professionals who are retiring.
• Invite local support group leaders to share coping strategies.
• Ask a minister to give an invocation or to speak about the spiritual side of coping.
• Produce a play or drama about dealing with cancer, with survivors and/or healthcare professionals as the actors, or ask a repertory company or acting class to present an appropriate cancer-related drama.
• Ask each participant to bring a bell and conclude the program with a bell ringing ceremony.
• Break the ice with games such as “Dress Up Your Leader,” using items provided in a mystery bag.

2011 Event Coverage and Photos

2010 Event Coverage and Photos

2009 Event Coverage and Photos