This is the first step to take once you have decided to hold a web fair. At this time you want to lay the organizational foundations for the design and implementation of the web fair. Consider establishing a steering committee to build ownership in the process and to help you with planning and outreach. Designate who will work on the project and begin an outreach process. Contact people and encourage their involvement. If you are working with not-for-profit agencies, contact people and agencies who have and interest in bringing not-for-profits on-line.

You can make these initial contacts by mail, telephone, or e-mail, depending on who you are trying to involve.

Regardless if you are working with neighborhoods or not-for-profit agencies (or both), start to identify key people who are interested in the process and who could serve on the steering committee. Approach these people to see if they are interested, and if they are, invite them to sit on the committee. The size of the steering committee will depend on the size of your event. Also, try to find committee members who reflect the groups you are trying to reach out to. If you are working with a neighborhood organization, that group may already have a steering committee.

The process of contacting parties who may be interested in the web fair can be time-consuming. Consider approaching a university or college in your area to recruit students as a part of a class project. Community development or social issues classes should have experiential components. These students can be very helpful at this stage of the event planning. Identify faculty who teach these types of classes and present the web fair as a potential community-based project.

Identify institutional sponsors, and begin preliminary discussions with them. Invite a representative to sit on the steering committee. Ideally, one of them will be able to host the event.

Schedule steering committee meetings. Ideally, the steering committee should meet at least once per month for the duration of the planning process.

Letters:

Note: these documents are in Microsoft Word format.

• Letter to an institutional sponsor (St. Louis Public Schools) (in Microsoft Word format)
• Letter to a professor that describes the web fair as a potential student project. (in Microsoft Word format)
• Letter to a potential steering committee member. (in Microsoft Word format)

For not-for-profits:

Step one of not-for-profit web fair guide

Contains information on how to identify and begin to work with not-for-profits.