Happy 4th Anniversary, Manufacturing Day!

It’s funny how we place more significance on anniversaries that have numbers ending in a 0 or a 5. This month, my wife and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, but I’m not sure how much more noteworthy that is over our 19th or next year’s 21st. So let’s break from the norm and highlight the fourth anniversary of another annual, albeit not so romantic, occasion: Manufacturing Day.

This year’s Manufacturing Day is October 2. Co-founded by a range of organizations, including FMA, NAM and MEP, the event was established to enable machine shops and manufacturers to open their doors so students, parents, politicians and others could not only get a firsthand look at what modern, advanced production facilities look like, but also learn about the various career opportunities manufacturing businesses offer.

Event organizers have done a good job of putting together various resources to help you effectively plan and host your event. Visit mfgday.com/resources to find tools such as:

• Host tool kit. A downloadable 19-page brochure offers advice and answers to common questions about hosting an event at your facility. It addresses what to show visitors and how to share your story with them through presentations, roundtable discussions, and the like. The tool kit also suggests what type of audience to invite, offers tips for making the event more memorable, and provides a checklist to help you manage your event planning process.

• Multimedia resources. Our friends at the Edge Factor, a Manufacturing Day media partner, have created a package of multimedia resources that you can use at your event. A tutorial video takes you through what this kit offers, including high-impact video, PowerPoint templates, audience engagement tools, and ideas for prize packages and possible hands-on projects.

• Media kit. Don’t forget about getting the attention of your local media. A downloadable media kit offers a broad overview of Manufacturing Day, links to all event press releases to date, manufacturing facts and other information to enable you to create your own media announcements. A marketing flyer is also available to help you get the word out about your event as well as a social media “playbook” to help you leverage this burgeoning communication channel.

• Webinars. A handful of webinars are available to help you get the most out of your event, offering advice from manufacturers that have hosted past events as well as event-planning tips. One such webinar was produced by the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence (FLATE). Florida led the nation last year in number of events, and efforts by the state event organizers at FLATE were instrumental in realizing such statewide participation.