Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
30 activities in total: 1 play, 5 webinars, 5 workshops, 7 talks, 2 panels, 9 videos, a TikTok contest, and a website
Year:
2022
Type of Events Held:
- Conference/Forum
- Lab Tour
- Online/Virtual
- Press Briefing
- Social Media Campaign
- Workshop
Target Audiences:
- General Public
- High school students (9-12)
- K-12 Teachers
- Middle school students (6-8)
Approximate Number of People Reached:
Our content was accesible to almost 75,000 people. Synchronous activities reached approximately 54,000 people.
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
Our program was fully virtual and included 1 play, 5 webinars, 5 workshops, 7 talks, 2 panels, 9 videos, a TikTok contest, and a website. We held activities all month long.
Our main objective was to generate enthusiasm towards the study of how the brain functions, and to make our community accessible to children, young people, teachers, and families, through sharing our research, results, and the people of our academic community.
This year’s topic was the nervous system health, regarding two main areas: how it is damaged by bad habits or by disease (such as diabetes, COVID-19, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer), and how it may be protected (neuroprotection, myelinization, emotional health, creativity and physical activity).
We are confident we achieved our goal because we successfully reached K12 students, teachers, and families, and we received generally positive feedback from our audiences through comments on social media, and a post-event survey. Our most appreciated activities were (1) a multidisciplinary panel that engaged in dialogue with the audience, regarding neurological effects of COVID-19; (2) the play “Be careful with the brain!”, that depicted a fictional trial where the 5 senses argued their importance and how they should be cared for, (3) a short video designed for children, regarding skills to detect processed food and reduce its consumption; (4) the talk “Sweetened brain”, regarding the effects of diabetes on the nervous system, and (5) the talk “Synchrony in our brain”, regarding the relevance of myelinization.
A second line of content we deem successful was the Webinar Series for Educators, which had very high organic reach, and received positive feedback through comments and a live poll.
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Emails
- Press Release/Media Advisory
- Website
- Social Media
- Other
Other Publicity Methods:
Advertising banners and radio interviews.
Which of These Publicity Methods Was The Most Successful?
Resources
What downloadable materials from the Foundation did you use for your events?
- Puzzles: Grades 6-8
- Puzzles: Grades 9-12
- Adults' Fact Sheets
- Kids' Fact Sheets Grades 9-12
What other downloadable materials would you like the Foundation to provide?
- New Fact Sheets
- Activities/Experiments
- New Puzzles/Games
Which BAW graphic materials did you use in publicizing your events?
- Brain Awareness Week Logos
Feedback & Keys to Success
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
A very important lesson for us was to reach members of our intended audiences beforehand, in the planning stages of the event. Since we held this year’s BAW during the transition of education policy going from virtual activities to hybrid or even in person activities, it was a challenge to plan for the best way to make our content accessible in terms of formats, plataforms, and schedules. It was fundamental to consider teacher’s opinions and standpoints about what they thought was more pertinent.
