How To Use This Film
The toolkit below is provided by Active Voice as a means for community partners and organizations to use Hold Your Breath as an education and outreach tool through planning events centered around screenings of the film.
For more information on how to use Hold Your Breath in your community or institution, you can also view or download a copy of the Hold Your Breath Facilitator's Guide (pdf).
- Getting Started with your Hold Your Breath Event
- Working with your Public Television Station
- Getting the Word Out
- Tips for Post-Screening Discussion
- Planning Checklist
Getting Started With Your Hold Your Breath Event
Consider your organization's goals and needs - and use the film to support them in a practical way. Before any film screening, you should ask yourself the following questions
- Who is your target audience?
Identifying your target audience will lay the foundation for your event planning. Do you hope to cast a wide net and reach the community-at-large? Or do you want to keep things focused and reach out to a specific sector or group (e.g., medical students, service providers, health administrators or immigrant communities)? Carefully defining your target audience will help you refine your objectives and frame your event. - What are your objectives for showing the film to this group?
Think about what you'd like to get out of the event, how you'd like to engage your audience, and what is realistic. Here are a few suggested event objectives (these are not mutually exclusive!):- Raise awareness about the importance of culturally competent health services in your diverse community.
- Heighten your organization's visibility and shine a spotlight on the importance of your work.
- Build bridges between local healthcare providers and immigrant communities.
- Educate newcomers about their healthcare rights and the opportunities that are available to them in your community.
- Build coalitions with other organizations and inspire the development of new programs that address cultural barriers in healthcare, education, the workforce, etc.
- Help local hospital administrators and other decision-makers consider how their own services can contribute to cultural competency.
- Promote the local broadcast of Hold Your Breath.
- How will you frame the event so that your objectives will be met?
Will you choose to focus on one particular issue, or a range of issues? You may simply choose to do a screening with brief comments before and after, but it is best that you engage the audience in a way that enhances your work directly. Here are some suggestions:- Community screening: A pre-broadcast screening/panel discussion designed to attract a range of community members - from interested individuals to community leaders - in a broader conversation about the ideas raised in the documentary (e.g., the implications of ethnic diversity in communities, the need for culturally sensitive care, a review of health disparities in the United States, etc.)
- Cross-sector policy review: An event designed to engage specific sectors, such as the Muslim community, healthcare providers, hospice administrators and other interested partners in a thoughtful solutions-based conversation. The dialogue would be carefully framed, focusing on short term and systemic solutions to health disparities (e.g., collaborations, services, cultural competency training, etc.). Ideally, one component of this would be invitational, the other open to the public.
- Town hall meeting: A screening and forum for members of the community to learn more about the intersection of diversity and healthcare in a local context, and to voice related ideas, questions or concerns. Discussants could include a health administrator, a diversity expert and an experienced facilitator. Note: An event like this should be held in a neutral space so that all community members feel comfortable expressing their opinions.
- Advancing higher education: A university-based event that seeks to engage students and faculty across schools and disciplines to consider the academic implications of the film - such as how higher education can be improved to address cultural barriers,how scholarly research can contribute to gaining more understanding, or what types of medical training can prevent situations like the one depicted in the film.
- What other elements might enhance your event?
- Keynote speaker: Invite a local leader or scholar to speak about some of the themes the film raises, such as globalization, health disparities or immigrant integration. Try to screen the film for her/him in advance!
- Action steps: Offer motivated audience members things they can do to help address cultural barriers in your community (e.g., volunteer at your organization, offer translation services, participate in cultural competency trainings, etc.).
- Experienced moderator: This is especially useful if you'll have a smaller group that wants to really tackle some of the tougher issues.
- Reception: Plan a special meet-and-greet with refreshments to allow opportunities for networking either before or after the screening. Depending on your budget and capacity, this could be open to the public or invite-only.
- Exhibit hall: Provide opportunities for co-sponsors to display information about their organizations and relevant programs/services they provide.
- Performances: Invite a local choir, playhouse or dance troupe to perform a piece dedicated to wellness or diversity.
Working With Your Public Television Station
How can I leverage the local broadcast of Hold Your Breath?
Beginning in April 2007, Hold Your Breath will be broadcast on select public television stations across the country. In the public television world this limited broadcast is referred to as a "soft feed," where it's essentially up to each individual station whether they'd like to broadcast a certain program or not. Unless stated otherwise, Active Voice will be your liaison to the public television station and will keep you posted on a local broadcast in your community.
- If there is a broadcast scheduled: Ideally, you should hold your event no sooner than three weeks before, and no later than three days before, broadcast. Holding an event within this window of time will allow you to frame your event as a sneak preview screening and generate more interest in the community, even press attention. For that reason, your public television station might be more likely to participate in your event. Usually, the more involved the station is, the more robust the sneak preview. (See below, "How do public television stations get involved?")
- If there is NO broadcast scheduled: You can be relatively flexible in choosing the date of your event, as long as it falls within the terms of your Letter of Agreement with Active Voice. However, there is a likelihood that your public television station may decide to broadcast the program if it knows how much local interest there is. For this reason Active Voice will keep the public television station notified of your plans.
- If your event is happening after broadcast: Your local public television station will be much less likely to get involved, but it is still a good idea to let them know of your plans if it is a community-wide event.
How do public television stations get involved?
When the time is right, Active Voice will contact the community outreach director at your local public television station to see how they might contribute to your event. But note that local public television stations are independent entities; some are large with considerable outreach resources, and others are small with more limited capacity. A station's involvement could range from getting the word out to its membership, to participating on a panel, to co-sponsoring and contributing some time for event planning. Although some stations may help by announcing your event on the air, this is not common, so don't assume it. And please, never pressure your station to get involved!
Getting the Word Out
There are several ways to get the word out about your event, from sending emails to your listserv, to identifying "allied" organizations to broaden your reach, to pursuing the local media.
Electronic/Viral Outreach
Active Voice will provide you with a customizable email announcement to make it easy for you to spread the word about your event and the broadcast. You'll notice there is room for you to add your own language, logos, etc. We recommend you send out these emails twice: two weeks before, and then a reminder several days before your event. If applicable, Active Voice will also send out this email to our personal contacts in your area.
Co-Sponsoring Organizations
Active Voice strongly encourages including other organizations in your event plans, as it helps you broaden your reach and establish new, potentially long-term coalitions. Allied organizations can get involved in a range of ways depending on their capacity. This can include getting the word out about the film through their listservs or websites, contributing time or resources to the screening event, and/or participating in a post-screening panel discussion.
There are many groups that would make good co-sponsors, including hospitals, community health centers, universities, immigrants' rights organizations, faith-based coalitions and media/film centers. For example, when Active Voice hosted a meeting about Hold Your Breath, we invited the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Islamic Networks Group, American Muslim Voice and Stanford Hospital's Spiritual Care Service.
When you're ready to pursue this, let us know who you'd like to approach and Active Voice will send you language that you can use to invite potential organizations as allies. The key in approaching co-sponsors is to help them understand how your event fits into their priorities as an organization, and how they will ultimately benefit from being associated with your plans.
Working with Local Media
If you or one of your co-sponsoring organizations has a communications department that can take the reigns on contacting press, get them involved right away. But we understand that many community partners are small organizations that are limited in this capacity, so we've put together some basic tips that can be useful to those who are new to working with local media. Beforehand, we recommend you do a little background reading to get acquainted with the basic steps and terms.
For a "beginners" overview read:
http://www.causecommunications.com/diy/getnewscoverage.html
For a full tutorial on news releases from the SPIN Project check out:
http://spinproject.org/article.php?id=115
Before you make complicated plans about how to promote your event, spend extra time thinking about who is most likely to understand and appreciate your event, and what your target audience listens to, reads and logs on to. By targeting your core audience, you might decide that it makes more sense to focus on, say, an alternative weekly paper that already covers innovative community initiatives vs. the headline-driven daily paper that tends to focus on crime and celebrity.
Below are some basic tips for your media outreach:
- Add your event details to the press release template provided by Active Voice and, if applicable, make sure to emphasize the local broadcast as a hook. Other interesting details to include would be local statistics on health disparities, a well-known physician who will be on the panel, and a complete list of the co-sponsoring organizations. Make sure to make a special mention if your event will feature the filmmaker, Maren Grainger-Monsen (ask Active Voice about her availability).
- Ten days before the event, issue the release to a wide range of mainstream and ethnic media. Make sure to send it to reporters covering health issues and the arts/entertainment and metro sections.
- Try to get calendar listings in your city's weekly publication(s) and on the web.
- Make calls to local television and radio programs, including local news, public affairs programs, talk radio and pop radio. Let them know about your event, and be prepared to give them information about a local health expert or cultural competency advocate that can be available for interviews. Who to contact:
- Local TV news: assignment editors
- Public affairs programs: producers
- Talk radio: producers or hosts
- A couple of days prior to your event contact the people to whom you sent press materials and encourage them to attend the event. Pitch the value of this unique screening and the importance of educating people about the experiences of immigrants in the community and the important need for culturally competent care.
Tips for Post-Screening Discussion
Complex films like Hold Your Breath can raise a range of emotions, questions and/or concerns from the audience, and we recommend you address this with a post-screening discussion. Below are some tips and ideas for framing the discussion, keeping the conversation moving and focusing the audience on important topics. Check out the Hold Your Breath facilitator's guide for additional suggestions.
Panelists
Your post-screening discussion will vary depending on your event objectives, but it's always a good idea to have a range of perspectives represented on the panel.
- Your co-sponsors are great resources for identifying potential panelists for the discussion. Also, they'll have more incentive to promote the event if they're being represented on the panel.
- For a cross-sector discussion, you might include a physician, an immigrant advocate and an expert on cultural competency or health disparities. If you're planning a town hall-style event, it's good to include an experienced facilitator as well.
- If possible, ask panelists to screen the film before the event so they can prepare.
- Give your panelists an idea of who will be in the audience, so they can tailor the discussion to the audience's needs. For example, if you anticipate a general audience, ask panelists to tone down any sector-specific jargon.
- Have a translator present if you'll have audience members with limited English proficiency.
Meeting Your Objectives with the Discussion
The way the discussion is framed can be helpful in meeting your objectives.
- If you're hoping to build coalitions or enhance existing programs, the discussion should be action-oriented. Focus on what needs to be done, how that might happen, and how different community sectors can contribute.
- If you'd like to raise visibility, showcase your organization's work and make sure it's made clear why your work is important to the community. You'll also want to get key people in the audience, including press, potential funders and other influentials.
- If your main objective is public education, set aside at least half an hour for Q&A with the audience and have fact sheets handy.
- Offer your audience members ways to get involved, whether it's as simple as visiting your website to find out about upcoming events, or something more specific like volunteering at a local hospital.
Controlling the Discussion
- You might want to select an experienced moderator to keep the discussion moving and field questions from the audience.
- If you have more than one person lined up to speak it is up to you to decide whether each speaker should give a brief reaction to the film in context to their work or if you want to go straight into a moderated discussion. This is largely based on the time limitations you have, but if you have more than 30 minutes available it's a good idea to allow some time for each speaker to introduce themselves - who they are and what role they play in cultural competency.
- As the panelists speak, encourage them to choose specific scenes from the film and link them to their comments.
- Be prepared for potential criticism.
- Although it is a very small possibility, you must be ready in case the film or speakers come under scrutiny. For example, there may be a lack of sympathy for immigrants that don't speak English or resistance to the use of public funds to enhance cultural competency. A moderator can help make sure that the conversation remains productive and many perspectives are heard.
- Guide any comments or concerns to a positive end that applauds the benefits of sharing information in an open forum. Encourage critical audience members to think about how the film might be a helpful way to address the tensions that they are feeling.
Quick Tips and Discussion Topics
- It's always useful to put it in a local context, so if possible, have a speaker share a locally relevant story about the importance of cultural competency in your community. Perhaps there was a similar situation that happened at a local hospital?
- Physicians can discuss the barriers they are faced with when serving a culturally and ethnically diverse population, and what they have done to address those barriers.
- Hospital administrators can discuss successful programs that have been instated to address health disparities.
- Immigrant advocates can share the opportunities available to immigrants seeking healthcare, and the obstacles that prevent full access.
- A legal expert can go into the health policy implications of our increasingly diverse communities.
- A patient or family member can share a personal story about the difficulties of navigating the healthcare system with limited cultural/linguistic abilities.
Important Things to Know
- The date and time of broadcast on your local public television station.
- The film is available for purchase at www.fanlight.com.
- Hold Your Breath was originally a short documentary that was part of Worlds Apart, a four-part documentary about different communities grappling with health disparities. Worlds Apart is also available at www.fanlight.com.
Planning Checklist
Once you have defined your target audience, objectives, and framing, begin planning the event.
Preliminary planning - at least 6 weeks prior
- Book the venue and date for your screening.
- Recruit local organizational partners to broaden your reach, and help identify roles for each one - such as publicity, panelist coordination, reception planning, etc.
- Determine speakers, panelists, and moderator (if applicable).
Logistical planning - 3-4 weeks prior
- Create a flyer to publicize your screening (template provided by Active Voice).
- Contact press. Check out the "Getting the Word Out" section of this toolkit for more information.
- Confirm the appropriate format for your screening (DVD, VHS or Beta-SP).
- Secure food for reception (if applicable).
- Draft agenda and vet with partners.
Logistical planning - 2 weeks prior
- Create an email blast to publicize your event electronically (template provided by Active Voice). We suggest sending one announcement 2 weeks prior and another several days prior.
- Contact community calendars about your event.
Media outreach - 10 days prior
- Send out press releases to media outlets.
- Make calls to local television and radio programs.
Final planning - several days prior
- Important: test screen your format version of the film in advance of the event to make sure there aren't any glitches.
- Send second round of email blasts.
- Follow up with press who expressed an interest in covering the story.
- Finalize agenda.
- Make copies of handouts: information about the film (PDF provided by Active Voice), literature from your organization, etc.
At the event itself
- As people arrive, ask them to sign up to receive updates from your organization.
- Have a timekeeper so that panelists/speakers remain within their assigned speaking time.
- If applicable, announce the broadcast and encourage participants to spread the word.
- If possible, announce a call to action or have materials available for attendees to follow up.
- Let audience members know the film is available for purchase at www.fanlight.com.
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