Create A Parade?? Really??
By Paula L. Pedene APR
If you had told me 20 years ago that I would be creating a Parade for Veterans, I would have looked at you quite quizzically. Me, create a parade? Why, how, what in the world would be the impetus for that?
The impetus came in the form of direction from one of my best bosses, VA Medical Center Director John Fears. In was 1996 and we had just finished a “parade” started by the Black Employment Committee on Veterans Day. There were probably 100 marchers in the “parade”, Model T cars, some Vans, a fire truck and a few clowns. On the street, we were lucky if there were 10 people watching.
The Wednesday after, at our weekly strategy meeting, Director John Fears looked at me and said, “That parade has to be better next time”. I wanted to say, but I didn’t have much to do with it…and I could tell it wasn’t one of those discussion times, so I said yes sir and off I went to figure out how to build a parade.
I did not realize the effort it would take and the coordination it would require, how much it would cost, or where I would even start. So it became one of those other on the job training experiences I have found a plethora of in my PR career.
First I had to figure out who could help. I started with the City, they declined saying they already had enough events to manage. Then I went to the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber told me I had to get the City on our side. Therefore, I was back at square one, until the chamber leaders said just meet with your council member. So John Fears and I met with Councilman Craig Tribken and he took the concept to the council chambers, where it passed. The City reluctantly was involved. But that wasn’t the worst of it. When they called the City and VA Special Events meeting, there I was sitting across the table from the people who had told me no in the first place. The glares were grueling and I felt bad but it was one of the best PR lessons I have ever learned--careful negotiations. That day, I gave my word to the City that VA would do what it needed to in order to make this a successful event for everyone.
My word meant something and I think they could tell. I was asked to create a committee and lead it with chairs for staging, destaging, logistics, bands, and others. We had to obtain permission to close streets, work with City of Phoenix Fire and Police to ensure safety all around and to work with our Congressional liaisons and Veterans Service Organizations to help find people who were willing to be part of a parade. Moreover, we had to create a parade lineup that would depict a pretty event moving down the street. Planning included a blend of Veterans group, military members and equipment, novelty units, bands and much more.
We also had to select a theme (Salute to Patriots) and we had to publicize the event, order port a potties, pedestrian fencing, sound towers, tell people we were closing the streets and I could go on and on.
I worked almost 80 hours a week from Sept. to Nov. in 1997 and I have to tell you I learned a lot--about our PR trade, about event planning, about budgeting for large scale events, about promoting VA and Veterans and about working with the community and the City of Phoenix Special Events Department.
That year the parade had about 1,000 people in it, with approximately 85 entries and we had 10,000 people on the street cheering us on. After the 1997 Parade, at my weekly strategy meeting, my director said, “You did a great job, with that parade, thank you”. And he rewarded me with a nice special contribution award. His thanks meant the world to me. Just as importantly the City Special Events coordinators became my friends and remain so to this day. So keeping my word, careful negotiations and the success of an event that would honor our nation’s Veterans became a part of my PR experience.
For the past 13 years, it has been a matter of honing what we learned that first year in our parade planning. Today our event garners nearly 200,000 spectators, 2500 people who are parade entries and a committee that works tirelessly to support what we do. We have created timelines to keep us on track, we have developed phenomenal publicity venues, we have added education elements, we aligned the event with the VA health care system’s strategic goals and perhaps most importantly our research shows that we have improved the image of VA and Veterans in the Phoenix community by about 30% per year.
The planning has become a bit easier, funding comes from the Veterans Medical Leadership Council, the Parade Committee has remained strong and faithful—this year there are three members who have retired from their jobs and still volunteer-- and just this past year we earned the PRSA Silver Anvil for Community Relations, Government. AND we are working on our current event. You can see the latest publicity efforts at www.phoenix.va.gov/news/parade.asp.
If you want to see how these efforts earned us the PRSA Silver Anvil come see us at the Home of the Free, Because of the Brave Class at the PRSA International Conference in Washington DC on Monday, Oct. 18 at 9:45 a.m. We will have some great pointers for incorporating special events intro your strategy and we will have some fun along the way. I look forward to seeing you there.
