Get Ready for Engineers Week with these planning tips

Getting Organized...

TIP #1

Start by naming an Engineers Week contact for your Section or Branch. Your current outreach chair will be the main point of contact, but if you don’t have one, email outreach@asce.org and provide a POC. 

TIP #2

Help us recognize special volunteers at the ASCE Multi-Regional Leadership Conferences. Use the simple online form to provide the name and mailing address of one volunteer from your Section/Branch/Younger Member Forumwho deserves special recognition. We will recognize him or her at the ASCE Leadership Conferences awards luncheon, and also send your volunteer a Starbuck's gift card to express our thanks during Engineers Week! Deadline for submission is Fri., Jan. 4, 2013.  

TIP #3

Reach out! ASCE and the Society of Women Engineers have formed a special partnership to celebrate Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, Feb. 21, 2013.  Free resources and special offers from ASCE and SWE will help you join forces and help us meet our goal of reaching 1,000 girls through our efforts! For more information visit swe.asce.org/girlday.

 
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Celebrate awesome.

This year’s Engineer’s Week theme, Celebrate Awesome, highlights the awesome creativity and innovation behind engineering. Think about the many ways civil engineers make a BIG difference in the world, and let kids know just how awesome a career in civil engineering can be!

TIP #4

Order themed posters to celebrate Engineers Week and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. FREE posters are available through outreach@asce.org.  (Limit one EWeek and one Girl Day kit per request.)
TIP #5 -- Order National Engineers Week resources from ASCE and the EWeek Foundation.  Free and low cost resources are now available online from ASCE or in the National Engineers Week Foundation online store. 

TIP #6

 Adopt the Engineers Week theme in your informational campaign. Download free Web graphics for your newsletters, programs and other communications.  Use for:
• In articles about Engineers Week in your January and /or February eNewsletters.
• On your Section or Branch Website
• On banners, programs, and other communications
• Or create a signature line for your emails during February to recognize National Engineers Week.

TIP #7

Share the theme with engineering companies and agencies for Websites, in their newsletters, on banners, enclosed with employee paychecks, or on signs or table tents in the lunchroom. 

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Help kids discover the ‘awesome’ in engineering.

What would Engineers Week be without educational outreach activities to help kids discover the awesome power behind engineering?

TIP #8

 Organize pre-college outreach activities.
• Get advice and tips from staff at outreach@asce.org
• Order activity guides, handouts, pencils, stickers, bookmarks and other free or low cost resources for your next event.
• Promote your activity on the new Discover-e Web portal.
• Have volunteers wear a promotional t-shirt indicating their special role in bringing hands-on engineering to students. Include the Discover-e logo on the shirt.
• Pass out a Discover-e themed postcard with details about how participants in your event may contact your Section or Branch to have a “real engineer” attend their classroom or after school event.
• Treat outreach volunteers to a unique ‘Thank you’ or special recognition for their participation.  Let them know how much you value their time and contribution.
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Celebrate volunteers.

Outreach volunteers are awesome, too!  Engineers Week is a perfect time to celebrate volunteerism and highlight the extraordinary work volunteers do throughout the year, promoting civil engineering in their communities. 

TIP #9

 Recognize local volunteers as part of Engineers Week.
• Prepare certificates and present them at a prominent Section/Branch event or awards dinner. Certificates are available in the national Engineers Week eStore. >http://shop.eweek.org/site/store/detail.aspx?ID=64<
• Write letters to volunteers’ employers letting them know the volunteer’s accomplishments and how much you appreciate their support of the volunteer’s efforts.
• Give special volunteers a unique thank you, or reward just a few for their efforts. 
        Ruler/Tape measure (any brand) - "It's easy to measure the difference you've made.”
        ASCE logo hat - "Our hats are off to you! Thanks for all you do!" 
        ASCE shirt - "We know you'd give the shirt off your back... Here's an extra one for the next time you give so much."
• Include a volunteer feature in your eNewsletter.
• Send news about your volunteers to ASCE headquarters to outreach@asce.org.

TIP #10

 Hold an Engineers Week banquet or luncheon to honor volunteers.
• Consider joining forces with other engineering societies to hold a banquet or luncheon
• Use the Celebrate Awesome theme in your ‘save the date’ email, invitation and program.
• Feature speakers who have been touched by the volunteer service of engineers in your section or branch
• Showcase the awesome contributions of volunteer leaders in your Section or Branch, New Faces of Civil Engineering, or EWB chapter.
• Hang banners or display posters to highlight the Celebrate Awesome theme.
• Create a slide show with photographs of your Section or Branch’s volunteers at work.  Set the show to themed music, such as Eric Clapton’s Change the World. Show the slide show while guests are arriving.
• Invite students and provide postcards with information about how awesome it would be if they started making a difference  while they are still an undergrad.
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Questions?

Please Contact Leslie Payne, Senior Manager, Pre-college Outreach at ASCE, 703-295-6364 or email outreach@asce.org.