Work with your steering committee to develop an outreach and information campaign to inform people of the web fair. You and the committee should also begin to consider what the event will look like--how long will it be, and what will be the primary focus?

Set the dates and locations of the informational meetings, and begin to inform people of when and where they are. This can take the form of another mailing. You may want to include a letter that explains what a web fair is and/or includes frequently asked questions.

Develop a "save the date" initial mailing you can send out so people are aware of the event and will be looking for more information. This mailing should be inexpensive and could be a simple postcard. E-mail notices could also be sent out to augment this effort.

What will the event look like? Will all the attendees be there from start to finish? Will they come in shifts? This depends on what people know. Most people by now are familiar with the internet, but they might not know what goes in to creating a web page, how to put a page up on the web, etc. At its first web fair, the St. Louis CIN offered several classes, and people stayed the entire time. For subsequent web fairs, as people became more familiar with the web page design process, attendees signed up for shifts. These later events also focused more on enhancing existing web pages than on creating new ones.

You should also determine what types of classes you should offer. Again, this will be determined by what people in your community already know, and what they may be interested in. It will also be determined by how many people you want to attend. Obviously, the smaller the event, the less you will be able to offer. The steering committee will help you to decide these issues.

At this point, consider what would attract people to your event. What type of "carrot" can you offer? The St. Louis CIN has used the debut of new Census 2000 information and interactive maps to attract people. A St. Louis neighborhood used its web fair to unveil its new web page.

Begin to consider what your event will look like. Will you provide food? If so, will it have to be catered? How much will it cost (if anything) for people to attend? The St. Louis CIN has charged a $5.00 registration fee to help cover its costs.

Send the initial mailing.

Publicity Pieces:

Note: Some documents are in Microsoft Word format.

• Sample text for initial mailing (this was done as a postcard) (in Microsoft Word format)
• Carrots:
  • Census page
  • New Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood web page.
• Letters:
  • What is a web fair? (in Microsoft Word format)
  • Frequently asked questions (in Microsoft Word format)

For not-for-profit agencies

Contacting sponsors and other key players in the not-for-profit arena.