Given that you’ve completed the forms to be recognised as a new centre, you may wonder whether a launch event is even necessary. Organising a launch event might be the most stressful part of this entire journey, but it will be worth it.
Making sure everyone knows you exist
You might feel you’ve talked to everyone by this point, but you can guarantee there are people that don’t know about your new centre. Some of the most exciting outcomes of launching a new centre are the unexpected and unplanned collaborative opportunities that emerge when you get people together. This only happens if you make sure everyone knows you exist. A real launch event will achieve far more than any number of emails can.
Fostering inclusion
When people are invited to a launch event, they know that the new centre is for them, and they feel included. Your centre is trying to bring people together who haven’t been working together before. Some of the previous missed opportunities may have resulted from people assuming that previous endeavours haven’t been aimed at them. You don’t want to repeat this mistake. Explicitly inviting people to join you at a launch event does a lot to break down barriers.
Make yourself approachable
Some of the people you’re trying to unite won’t know who you are, some may not know your intentions. This can present a stubborn barrier to collaboration. Standing on a stage, introducing yourself, and describing the purpose of your new centre can overcome these challenges in a few minutes.
Data gathering and agenda setting
Your launch event will bring a unique set of people together behind your shared vision. This provides a unique opportunity to ask them questions, and gather data that can motivate the centre for years to come.
Content
Your centre exists, but you don’t have any pictures of its members. You don’t have much material you can use to promote your centre internally and externally. The pictures, videos, and social media posts for a launch will be useful long beyond the launch. The press might even pick up on it.
Having fun!
In the end a launch event is fun. You get to invite the people who inspire you the most to talk, you get to bring people together who you think would work well together, you get to see the fruits of your labour realised.
Set some goals
Before embarking on designing a schedule it’s important to note down what your goals from a launch event are. Some will be obvious, but they are still worth noting down because you want to design the day to achieve these goals. Here are some (non-exhaustive) suggestions:
- Make sure everyone knows you exist
- Announce new funding opportunities
- Identify research themes to meet around
- Highlight research strengths, in my case, from bench to bedside, across institutions
- Demonstrate support from institutions
- Receive ideas on challenges and opportunities the centre could address.
- Enable people to identify new collaborative opportunities.