Lunch-n-learns are great for providing employees with important information.

Here is how a lunch-n-learn works: Have or bring in someone to talk about or demonstrate a certain topic over the lunch hour when employees are eating their mid-day meals. You would typically hold a lunch-n-learn in a large break room or conference room.

Tips for a successful lunch-n-learn:

• Promote the event: Make an announcement at least a week in advance. Put up posters in employee gathering areas and send out an email (if your employees have work email addresses). You may want to include an RSVP feature so you have an idea of how many people to expect.
• Be mindful of time: Leave enough time for employees to take care of personal business such as to use the rest room and/or place a personal call if needed. Shoot for a presentation that uses about half of the employees’ lunch break.
• Have handouts: Provide printed materials that include points from the presentation and contact information and/or website addresses for additional resources.
• Consider providing food: You don’t necessarily have to include the lunch itself, but you may want to provide drinks, fruit, or a dessert.
• Be consistent: Consider holding lunch-n-learns on a regular basis, such as monthly or once a quarter. After the first few, you may notice that attendance is increasing as word gets out about the events.
• Ask for ideas: Encourage employees to submit ideas on topics that they would like to see covered in future lunch-n-learns. This way you can provide employees with what they want (which is always more effective than guessing), and employees will likely feel like leadership is listening and cares about what employees think and want.

Several days, weeks, and months throughout the year are designated as observance times for various things, including utility-related people and issues. Take the opportunity to get the word out about your utility through social media, news articles, radio interviews, staff and community events, and more.

So that you’re not throwing together your observance at the last minute, plan ahead, at least a month or so. Here is a look at some upcoming utility-related observances in March:

• Fix a Leak Week: March 14 – 20. Check out the EPA’s Fix a Leak Week webpage for content and ideas.
• National Gas Utility Workers’ Day: March 18. Check out the APGA website to learn more and access free resources.
• World Water Day: March 22. For more information, go to the World Water Day website.

As a community-based organization, you likely will have events from time to time where you want community members to attend – whether it’s an open house, tour, lunch-n-learn, or something else. How do you make sure everyone is invited? Get the word out in as many places as possible.

• Send the details to the local newspaper and radio stations.
• Create a flyer that you can post on local community bulletin boards (churches, schools, library, etc.) and in your office.
• Include an invitation on the utility bill statement.
• Add a mention of the event to your phone system’s on-hold message and your email signature blocks.
• If your utility has a Facebook page, create an event, share a post about it, and encourage your followers to share it. If your utility doesn’t have a Facebook page, ask another community-based organization or news group to share the event information for you on their pages.