Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
4
Year:
2018
Type of Events Held:
- Workshop
Target Audiences:
- Elementary school students(1-5)
- General Public
- High School students(9-12)
- Middle school students(6-8)
- University students
Approximate Number of People Reached:
200
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
Promotion I used several channels to promote my BAW event including official University of Leuven Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, and the internal KU Leuven Newsletter and mailing lists, and through local newspapers. #thesmellchallenge Over 200 visitors participated in our events. All participants were welcomed with drinks and a 10 minutes introductory lecture about the brain, rodent research, and how olfaction can help us in unraveling neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Next, kids, teens and adults took part in the Smell Challenge where they were blindfolded and had to recognize several smells, and tell them what they reminded them of. There results and group differences were presented and discussed. In the creative corner, children could color neurons and brains and learned interactively about how neurons communicate. At the end of the sessions, all visitors were handed a goody-bag with information about neuroscience and our laboratory, and a little souvenir in the form of a sliding puzzle and button as a reminder of this day. The winner of the smell challenge competition got a cool crystal beveled cube paperweight, featuring a laser-etched, 3D brain. Feedback We’ve got a lot of positive feedback from the visitors about the activity. They’ve indicated that they’ve learned a lot about the brain, neuroscience and Alzheimer’s research in general.
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Advertisements
- Calendar Listings (newspapers, radio, television)
- Emails
- Mailings
- Posters/Flyers
- Website
- Social Media
Which of These Publicity Methods Was The Most Successful?
Resources
Of the Dana Foundation publications/resources distributed at your event(s), if any, please indicate the three most popular. Please choose up to three. If "other," please indicate below:
- Other
Other Dana Foundation Materials Distributed:
- none because I live outside USA I dindn't get any promotional material
- but since I got a DANA Foundation/FENS grant
- I bought T-shirt
- buttons and sliding puzzles with the BAW18 logo on
What downloadable materials from the Foundation did you use for your events?
- Mindboggling Coloring Sheets
- The Five Senses Coloring Sheets
What other downloadable materials would you like the Foundation to provide?
- New Puzzles/Games
Other Downloadable Materials:
- sliding puzzles would be a nice addition
Which BAW graphic materials did you use in publicizing your events?
- BAW Flyer
- BAW Logos
- BAW Poster
- BAW Web site banner
- BAW Facebook Cover Photo
- BAW LinkedIn Cover Photo
- BAW Twitter Cover Photo
Feedback & Keys to Success
How do you feel BAW participation benefited your organization and the local community?
I hosted 4 workshops at several occasions during several science events with differnt audiences (children, general public, university students). This really put the spotlight on our lab and research so was very useful indeed.
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
Perhaps provide also promotional material to non USA partners but shipment will be expensive I guess
Did/do you like our Facebook page?
Yes
Was the information provided on Facebook useful?
yes
