Department of Loose Ends

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"
Whittier: Maud Muller

If you're going to have a celebration, then HAVE a celebra­tion! Have a celebration that will give every other organization in the community a mark to shoot at until the end of time. Do an inspired job—not just a job—or don't undertake an anniversary celebration at all.

We know, of course, that you are approaching your assignment in just such a mood of high resolve. We know that you are now reading the final chapter of a book prepared with a single guid­ing principle: to help you produce a Dream Celebration in the most direct, efficient, economical, and businesslike way possible. We know that if you follow, even approximately, the course of action outlined herein, you'll have your memorable celebration. We know that for you there'll be no vain regrets over lost oppor­tunities once your anniversary celebration is history.

There's not a line of abstract speculation in these pages. When a recommendation is made to you, you may be sure we lived it before we tell you about it. Time after time you get, in a sentence or a paragraph, the distilled essence of an idea or a conclusion that required 18 months to develop or prove. Every word, every suggestion, every concept in this book has been hammered out at a hundred meeting-room discussions, commuter-train brain storms, coffee-break arguments, and club-car conferences.

Every caution, warning, or admonition comes from the experi­ence, sometimes hapless, of businessmen who routinely aim at obtaining the greatest amount of value for every dollar they spend.

From those men, and the meetings and conferences and experi­ences they share with you in this book, come the lessons you have learned by now.

The lesson, for example, that, much though you'd like to be­lieve otherwise, people couldn't possibly care less about your celebration until they get a satisfactory answer to the question: "What's in it for me!"

The lessons that sound, careful, preparatory organization of your plans can cut your problems in half; that current problems may often be guided to a solution by a study of the past; and that why a company celebrates is sometimes more important than how it celebrates.

You have learned (and agreed more or less) that we favor a type of celebration which combines as well as possible the usual ex­pected birthday party shennanigans with, at the core, an intelli­gently selfish intention of concentrating as fully as possible, and as far into the future as possible, on such projects as appear best designed to arouse and keep the most favorable public reaction, the greatest general good will, and the deepest community pride in the company as a local institution which has "made good."

You've learned, we trust, to write shorter sentences than that!
You learned that an anniversary celebration does not have to be an enormously expensive affair. You learned, as did those of us who preceded you, that a company can have a quite notable cele­bration simply by concentrating on activities which involve no new direct cost. Anniversary Year activities can easily be things a company does often or regularly, provided that they be done for the anniversary with a bit of additional care and attention, an extra measure of flourish and dash, an increased investment of pride and thought, an extra allotment of polish and glamor. Devotion of time and money to improving things the organiza­tion already has or does (things like redesigning stationery, uni­forms, promotion pieces; modernizing the premises; revitalizing its tours) can pay off handsomely.

To help you to achieve a celebration you could be proud of, we mapped for you a safe and direct route to follow. And, at the end of the route, we presented some anniversary activities tried and tested in actual use. True, we made no guarantee that every suggestion would fit all seasons, businesses, geographical locations, executive preferences, operational policies, and budgetary limita­tions. Neither did we imply (at least we didn't intend to imply) that just because the suggestions had proved successful under one set of circumstances, you'd automatically and without effort get equally satisfactory results in your own situation. But we did imply (at least we intended to) that every one of them would respond to your care, effort, and ingenuity, and would return rich rewards for any investment of talent and labor.

We inspired you, we hope, with at least a touch of our belief in the rewards of broad employee participation. Back in Chapter 1 we first expressed this belief, recommending early formation of staff committees. If you followed that recommendation, you prob­ably understand by now why we made it. If you decided against following it, and have done nothing much along those lines, we'd feel remiss if we failed to reaffirm our position.

ATTRACTING EMPLOYEE SUPPORT

We believe that a company undertaking an anniversary celebra­tion can do itself a real injury, and perhaps a permanent one, by mishandling its employee relations in connection with the event. And one sure, unfailing way to get the project off on the wrong foot and guarantee complete employee indifference is to withhold information on plans, or exclude employees from a share in the planning. Few things hurt employee morale more than to receive news of something affecting them, their jobs, or their organiza­tion from a customer who moved into town just last week from Anchorage, Alaska.

Management is customarily strong on lip-service to this idea, and it will be most unusual if you find an executive openly scorn­ful of it, or one ready to assert that it is neither necessary nor wise to seek employee confidence, participation, and support. It will be even more unusual, however, to find any two management people who agree on how such participation should be invited, at what point in planning it should be invited, and how much of it should be invited.

The way your company handles the question (the way any company handles it) will be based on the kind of organization it is, its past experience in similar situations, and the convictions, attitudes, preferences, and fears of the management representatives who make the final decisions.

One thing is certain, however: Either employees are in, or they are out. Either they belong to the celebration and the celebra­tion to them, or the celebration is something apart from their lives and they can mind their own business.

If it's the latter, then there should be no occasion for surprise when they look upon anniversary activities involving their de­partments as little more than irritating intrusions.

If it's the former, and you'd really like to have their interest and suggestions, it isn't necessary to stumble around being subtle as all get out. The process of obtaining such participation is as simple as it can be.
Just ask.

MEASURING RESULTS

So how are you doing?
Actually, there is no scientific way to measure exactly the re­sults of any major public relations venture such as an anniversary celebration. However, some attempt at measurement of achieve­ment in the light of the original goals should be made.

Some happy times, of course, it is no trouble at all to tell how the public feels about you. A metropolitan library held its 75th anniversary celebration, and within the first four months of its year made such a favorable impression on the public that in April —the fourth month of the celebration—a whopping vote of ap­proval was cast at a referendum seeking an issue of bonds to un­derwrite the expense of a new building.

How can you tell if you're doing well? And how can you con­vince the boss that the anniversary investment is paying its way?

Among available yardsticks for approximating a good guess would be the amount of obvious public interest created; the amount and frequency of radio and television coverage; the total column-inches of newspaper coverage (engage a clipping service to help keep track); verbal and written public response; number of visitors.

A bit more community acceptance, friendly and relaxed; a little more frequent expression of public understanding and appreciation; a greater measure of good-natured tolerance for your short­comings; a slow, steady, and permanent increase in the number of your customers, patrons, supporters, clients—these are the tangible things which provide assurance that you've been doing well. These are the things which add up to a bountiful return on your investment of a few paltry pennies each on the total num­ber of people your anniversary program touched.

KEEP YOUR ANNIVERSARY MATERIAL

Back in Chapter 2 we recommended that you begin to assemble a scrapbook of anniversary activities and material. We hope you took our advice, started a scrapbook, and have kept at it faith­fully. If you did, you now have a priceless and irreplaceable his­torical record. Don't throw it away!

So many organizations do throw out their material, once the anniversary period is over and storage space is scanty. They can see no reason for keeping "this junk" any longer; yet what a loss!
If your organization is similarly shortsighted, try to make them see that other anniversaries will be coming along. Try to make them understand the value this material would have had if it existed when you started anniversary planning. Try to make them see the sheer money value of this assembled material in terms of reduced research time and expense when next a celebration comes up for consideration. Try to make them see the link you have forged with all future celebrations. If that won't work, try to make them see in the scrapbook the cornerstone of a historical record which will grow in value year by year.

Clear the dead correspondence out of your own files to make room for this material but don't throw your scrapbook away!

MORE ANNIVERSARIES ARE COMING

We know of no way at all to decide how often an organization should celebrate an anniversary. There are too many variables, changing with each establishment. Certainly there aren't any "rules," except those imposed by common sense and good taste.

We do not agree with those who claim that the only anni­versaries meriting public celebration are the 25th, the 50th, the 75 th, and the 100th. Certainly those dates are among the most impressive, logical, and well-spaced, but we feel that a 10th anniversary marks a very important milestone in the growth of a young company even though the scope of a celebration is apt to be restricted. We know that many companies successfully note their 60th (now known, along with the 75th, as Diamond Jubilee or Anniversary) and their 70th years. We believe that from the 75th year on, an organization can expect a reasonably successful cele­bration every five years if it likes.

And we are sure that if a company has a successful Silver (25th) Anniversary, an attempt at another celebration on its 26th birth­day is likely to fall flat on its face!

But that's all we know about how often a company may cele­brate.

DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW THROUGH

An anniversary celebration is an unbeatable opportunity for creative public relations, but even the best public relations depart­ments sometimes fall down on follow-through.

Don't ever think that because your company received more publicity than ever before in its history, the celebration is auto­matically a complete and permanent success. The only thing such publicity does is provide for an organization a spotlight wherein it may continue its performance. Unless you are alert to this fact, and alert to the fact that the community good will engendered by the anniversary program must be constantly nourished and cultivated, you'll shortly be back where you were before your celebration began.

If you fail to take full advantage of the inside track you now have with the public—a public wholly conditioned and inclined to hear you with patience and sympathy—you are cheating your­self out of one of the biggest rewards that can crown your efforts. You are letting slip through your fingers one of the most valuable results of your months of labor: a climate wherein the people of your community will lend attention to just about anything you want to tell them.

But if you don't tell them anything, they can't listen, can they? If you stop communicating with them, there are many of your competitors who will be only too happy to cash in on your invest­ment. If you file this book away with the holiday tinsel, instead of
using sections like "Publicity" and "So You're Publicity Chair­man" until the pages are tattered and torn, there are too many demands on the attention of your public for anybody to remember you long.
So let your anniversary celebration echo and re-echo through your community. Use it repeatedly as a springboard for fresh ap­proaches to the public. The bright memory of your bid for good will remains. You've paid for it. Why not use it?
Happy celebrating!

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