Mission recruitment: Standing room only

Thoughtful recruitment of diverse and representative participants is a key element in the success of the public engagement process. This roundtable will share practical examples of recruitment, retention and marketing strategies for public and stakeholder engagement around pandemic influenza policies. Lessons learned throughout the process and how challenges and calamities were handled will be discussed, including: (1) Identify your targeted audience and demographic criteria such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, employment area before recruitment. Your public engagement topic will influence ideal participant profiles. (2) Advertising materials, screening tools, registration forms, event logistics and clear participant expectations contribute to the success of enrolling enough participants. Pilot test your recruitment and registration materials. (3) Email distribution lists for community agencies, service organizations and faith communities help disseminate invitations quickly. (4) Effective marketing strategies include church bulletins, posters targeted to particular populations and news articles in regional, neighborhood and ethnic media. (5) Targeted recruitment for underrepresented categories needs to occur a week or more before the registration deadline. Spreadsheets help track participant demographics and can be used to maintain a standby registration list. (6) Incentives serve as a significant motivator for participation. Location, conference date and time, meals, free parking, and reminder calls also contribute to a good turnout. Tools and forms developed for the events will be shared with roundtable participants.