Forum events are great organizing tools for town committees. These types of events educate and engage voters, providing committees with the opportunity to get more voters involved. Forum events can be very time-consuming to organize, so it's important to follow a basic strategy.
A good strategy for a forum event starts with the committee picking a subject matter and then finding experts who can talk about that subject. Committees either use a panel or lecture format, with the program also including Q&A at the end. Once the forum participants have been selected and the format for the event is determined, find a venue and set a date. The overall program usually lasts about an hour; figure a half hour on both ends for set-up and clean-up. Build a standard marketing plan with a content distribution strategy and include an RSVP form for collecting attendees contact information. It is very important to have committee marketing information and a list of up-coming events to hand out to attendees.
Forums are also great for generating shareable content leading up to, during, and after the event. If possible, record the event and take a lot of pictures. Committee members should be Posting content to social media and including it in the committee's newsletter. When developing these events, it's important to keep in mind that the primary goal is to create a positive connection with the voting public and collect contact information for follow-up engagement.