Local park districts are being required, perhaps more than ever before, to defend their budgets, programs and even their very existence to citizens in their communities. Effective public relations is becoming an important collateral duty of park administrators in these days of tax-cut fever.

Certainly, the best public relations is providing your constituents with the type of programs and services they wish. However, many of these services may go unused without good advertising. A well planned and well written series of press releases in your local newspaper is invaluable.

Smaller communities, particularly those serviced by only one or two newspapers, usually are happy to give news space to park district releases. However, if your park district encompasses a large area, which lacks a regional communication's media, you might consider a speaker service as a backup to your press coverage.

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has been successfully using such a service for the last four years. The District lies in the shadow of Chicago and its major media market. Many county residents look to Chicago media for their news and this presents the District with a problem of how to promote its goals and

A Naturalist may talk to as many as four classes per day as part of the Forest Preserve District's School Program Service.

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has been successfully using such a service for the last four years. The District lies in the shadow of Chicago and its major media market. Many county residents look to Chicago media for their news and this presents the District with a problem of how to promote its goals and programs. DuPage County, alone, has forty-five local newspapers, all of which receive regular press releases from the District. Additional information is passed through the District's quarterly publication, THE DU PAGE CONSERVATIONIST, with nearly 8,000 subscribers. Brochures describing programs and activities are also distributed through the cooperation of local park districts, real estate activities and has allowed the District to reach additional thousands of DuPagers on a "one-to-one" basis with excellent results.

The Speaker Service has two divisions, Community Programs and School Programs. Both are run by the District's Department of Conservation as part of its educational and public information responsibilities.

The School Program division operates from November through April during the period when school field trips are at a minimum. Naturalists from the District's Environmental Education Center speak to as many as four classes each day of the school week, except Friday. Generally, all classes are in the same school to avoid logistics problems. The program service has reached more than twenty thousand school children every year.

Benefits derived from the school program service extend beyond just teaching the children about nature. Many parents first learn about forest preserve activities by means of the enthusiastic reports given by their youngsters. We know of several instances where families who participated in one of our nature programs came because "the kids heard about it in school." The effectiveness of this child to parent vector is well documented, as evidenced by recent investigations of television advertising directed at children.

The school programs have also enabled District naturalists to keep aware of the outdoor education needs of area teachers. Naturalists have hosted a number of teacher institute days which have been well attended. A recently created environmental education service enables teachers to call upon the District for ideas and learn which preserves are most suitable for the activities envisioned. The overall effect of the school programs and related services has been to maintain an excellent rapport between the Forest Preserve District and DuPage County educators.

However, the school children do not pay taxes, so another service has been provided by the District.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 6 July/August, 1979

Author Frank M. Klicar selects transparencies for a new program. Careful choice in the selection of visual materials is critical in the production of an effective public information program, says Klicar.

The Community Program Service provides speakers for any interested civic group in the county. Topics are almost always one of those selected by the group from a published brochure provided by the District. This enables the District to produce an audio-visual program for each topic which will graphically and succinctly outline the District's achievements or position. Commentary is rehearsed so that the entire presentation can be made within the usual thirty-minute limit imposed by many luncheon clubs such as Lions or Rotary, yet still leave time for questions. The service has provided nearly 300 programs to local civic organizations since its inception.

The importance of good public relations with local civic groups cannot be overemphasized. Many members of these clubs are the leaders of their communities whose position for or against a particular issue carries considerable weight. Their influence on other people in the community in supporting, say, open space proposals could be vital. Providing such groups with a speaker gives your park organization an excellent opportunity to meet these people, learn their views, and defend any recent policy decisions by giving in-depth background information that is often overlooked by the press. These clubs usually have contact with other similar organizations and members may often belong to more than one type of club. This provides a built-in promotional device for the speaker service. The Forest Preserve District regularly receives program requests from other organizations who have heard about the speaker service by word-of-mouth.

There are two main factors which determine the success of a speaker service — well planned programs and good marketing.

Nothing will alienate an audience faster than a disorganized program, with the speaker mumbling his lines, shuffling through notes or showing unfamiliarity with the subject matter. Perhaps an even worse condition is "speakerities" when the speaker is all too familiar with his material and rambles interminably about the glories of his park system. Choose your graphics or audio-visual material carefully to illustrate your points clearly and dramatically. Fifteen minutes should be the maximum length for a slide presentation if you hope to keep your audience awake. Keep your program short, concise and dramatic. Remember that old vaudeville maxim; "keep 'em wanting more."

Advertising these services is not as difficult as it may seem. Local school districts can provide listings of area schools. Chamber of Commerce often maintain a roster of civic organizations which includes the names of the officers. A well drafted letter, sent to each school or club, should bring a response within a few weeks. Many clubs book programs as much as one year ahead and evening presentations account for about 60'yo of the requests. Once the speaker service is established there will be little difficulty obtaining bookings since most organizations are desperately looking for good programs.

What about charging a fee for the service? A fee may be justified if the speaker had to use his or her own car and had to provide their own meal. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County does not charge a fee since we believe that it defeats the purpose of the service. Many sponsoring clubs or schools are delighted when they learn the program is provided as a public service and will not drain their already low treasuries.

Public relations is a somewhat nebulous science and its effectiveness is often hard to determine. However, in the four years that the Forest Preserve District Speaker Service has been offered, many DuPage citizens have been won over to an open space philosophy and many otherwise uninformed people have been enlighted about how their tax dollars are being spent.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 7 July/August, 1979