Queensland Stay On Your Feet® - Step 4D: Share and celebrate results

Step 4D: Share and celebrate results

Share experiencesEvaluation of your project/program will provide valuable information about which aspects worked and which did not. Sharing project/program experiences is often overlooked and may not be automatically built into project/program plans. This information is important to share with others throughout the project/program and at its completion.

Sharing project/program experiences is greater than just providing the results of your project/program. It is about engaging others throughout to improve the project's/program's reach and adoption, and so key stakeholders can adapt their current activities according to results ^[110]. Sharing learnings and results may help to:

• gain further support for the introduction of successful projects/programs ^[111]
• provide support for new similar projects/programs
• increase the reach, adoption and impact of the project/program and ultimately help to maintain it ^[111]
• prevent the waste of finite resources on undertaking similar work in the case of unsuccessful projects/programs ^[111]
• provide feedback for future planning ^[112]
• boost morale of those involved with the project/program ^[23].

Throughout the project/program and after its evaluation, disseminate your project/program's interim and final results, sharing both positive and negative learnings to add to the evidence base. Share your experiences with a wide range of people, including participants, organisations, agencies, services, funding bodies, government departments, health professionals, universities and academics and the media ^[113].

Ways to share project/program results and learnings with others include:

• distributing project/program updates through the media (eg. newsletter, radio interviews, newspaper articles, television interviews, blogs, social media)
• holding a forum or public meeting with a high profile guest speaker, and a local person who has benefited from the project/program
• producing an executive summary of the results
• conducting training or education sessions
• publishing reports online
• presenting at relevant conferences eg. seniors conferences, injury prevention conference
• publishing an article in a peer reviewed journal ^{[111, 113]}
• conducting a web seminar (webinar)
• running video conferences ^[110].

Celebrate!Celebrate the positive aspects of the project/program and the contribution of others. Remember, "success breeds success, so when you have a win, be sure to celebrate" ^[24]. A celebration can be as simple as holding a morning tea to announce a significant project/program achievement and thanking the working group members and key stakeholders for their contributions ^[23]. More significant celebrations could include members of Parliament, the local Mayor or Councillors, a high profile media personality or a function sponsored by local businesses. Just make sure everyone has fun!