If you were able to make it to one of our launch events in October and November you should have a pretty good idea of how to use this year's theme – Take the Leap – to help smokers who want to quit.

If you didn't come along, or you need a reminder, read on!

This year's striking theme aims to urge smokers to put their health first by placing emphasis on the energy they may gain from giving up. The slogan recognises that giving up is tough and that a big leap is required, but the image and the connotations of the word leap help the quitter to feel that their health will be liberated by giving up.

Other hooks include the fact that 2012 is a leap year and, with the Olympics fast approaching, we will all be thinking about our physical health.

She looks happy, healthy, in control… looks bright, fresh… I'd like to feel like that 15–a–day smoker, Female, 23

She's pushing it down, saying 'I can end that'. 20–a–day Somali male, 42

The most important thing is that the theme is positive and upbeat; we are not here to lecture smokers but to support and motivate those who want to quit. When we tested the poster image with smokers they said it inspired them to believe a smokefree future is possible.

Below you can download, customise and print this year's A4 poster. Go to our shop to buy large format posters, leaflets and merchandise. You can also download our briefing presentation below if you decide to hold a local briefing – or just for inspiration. The presentation, developed for our launch events, looks at how to use this year's theme in fun and eye–catching ways.

DIY Poster

Briefing Presentation

A successful No Smoking Day event should not mean lots of extra work. The key to the success of any event is planning. Spending some time deciding what you want to do and how you plan to do it will be time well spent.

Don't try and do it all yourself. No Smoking Day should be a team effort so get recruiting. PT health trainers are always very keen to participate, as well as chefs, medical and dental staff. And don't forget that families of officers may have useful skills that can be vital to making No Smoking Day a success.

Make sure all of your staff know about Military No Smoking Day, can answer questions on stopping smoking and know how to refer people to your local stop smoking clinic.

Your aim is to help and support all Armed Forces personnel and their families who want to stop smoking. Think about how you can reach your smokers so that they are aware of No Smoking Day. Try to create engaging activities that encourage people to take part. Make sure your ideas suit your service personnel, their families and what the unit is doing. You might be deployed or busy, but Military No Smoking Day can still fit around your normal work.

Here are some ideas for activities:

• Make a big advice board with quotes and advice on smoking related topics: asthma, impotence, injuries, chest infections, heart disease, child health and family planning
• Organise an obstacle race, tug–of–war or other physical activity – you could 'handicap' one team with weights to illustrate the extra toll on the body from smoking
• Hold a drop–in clinic for healthy lifestyle advice including smoking cessation
• Make a display in the Dental Centre with information on oral cancers and other oral and dental health issues related to smoking
• Set up a carbon monoxide (CO) or lung age monitoring station in the canteen offering instant testing
• If you have or can borrow a Big Cig costume, use it as much as possible; it will always attract attention and makes great photos!

Stalls

• Create an eye–catching stall with the No Smoking Day Military pack.
• Freebies such as fuzzy bugs, stationery and puzzles are always a crowd puller. You can buy them in our online shop
• Get creative and bring something personal to your stall by making homemade resources.
• Create a buzz in your community by setting up sponsored activities and donating the funds to charity. The British Heart Foundation welcomes funds to continue its life saving work

Location

Where is just as important as what when you plan your activities:

• NAAFI clubs, shops and WRVs, waiting room areas of sick bays, medical and dental centres are all great places to display information on No Smoking Day
• Remember that not all personnel go to these locations on a regular basis so vary where you display your posters
• Organise sporting activities in your local gym in the run up to No Smoking Day
• Dining facilities are great places to set up stands, and mealtime activities capture a large audience.

Publicising your activities

• Inform your local media of your event and create photo opportunities. Use our PR Guide and template press release if you need help.
• Sponsored activities and local celebrities create great audiences for the event
• Engage a unit member who has successfully stopped smoking
• Publicise what you are doing as widely as you can using newsletters, routine orders, via emails, the unit magazines, BFBS or Garrison Radio
• Grab people's attention with sports competitions, fitness challenges, a tug of war, a No Smoking Day Olympics, orienteering, and adventure training. Make sure activities are fun and well organised
• Add your events and activities to our Event Register – we are often contacted by potential quitters, journalists and MPs who want to support local activities so if we know what you're doing, we can let them know!

How to Set Up a Facebook Account

• Start at the homepage. When you go to Facebook.com, you see a screen that asks you to login or sign up for a free account. Click on "Sign Up", which takes you to a Web form.
• Fill out the form that asks for your full name, your current status, email address, a password and your birthday. You'll also have to type in a series of letters and numbers for a security check as well as check a box saying that you understand and agree to the terms of use and privacy policy. Click the "Sign up now!" button when you have completed the form.
• Wait for your confirmation email. Facebook sends this email to confirm your registration. When you get the email, click on the link in the email to confirm that you did in fact register for a Facebook account. You will then be logged into Facebook.
• Search for friends and coworkers. When you first set up a Facebook account, you have the opportunity to search your email address book for possible friends and contacts. Type in your email address and password to do a search, or try searching by school or company.

Twitter

• Go to https://twitter.com/signup. This will take you to the main signup page.
• Try to use your real name, you increase your relevancy and familiarity with your followers.
• Next, you will be asked to select a username. Try to pick something that describes you – such as Barnstaple Stop Smoking Service, whether it's a nickname, an interest or a hobby. This will be the name your followers use when sending @replies, direct messages, or Retweets.

Finding Sources That Interest You

With any campaign, it is really important to measure how successful it was, what lessons you learnt, how you would improve next year and how many smokers you helped to quit.

Here are some tips on how to evaluate your campaign:

Follow–up

• Before you've gone out to your event, make sure that you have a way to record information about the people you meet.
• Whether just counting the numbers you see or contact information for smokers so you can contact them in the future – you will need to create a form.
• Make sure all your staff/volunteers have forms that they can fill in, contact information from smokers who are thinking about setting a quit date.
• Make sure you contact everyone within the week of the event otherwise smokers might forget that they wanted to quit.
• Try giving out appointments to the stop smoking service for the same week because at least then smokers will have a date to work towards.

Evaluation

The focus of your evaluation will depend on the audience – perhaps your funders, colleagues, partners or participants. It should cover; aims and objectives, key successes, challenges and what you would improve to more effectively reach your target audience.

A meaningful report might include:

1. Planning
   • What were the aims and objectives? Make sure they are measureable.
   • What activities did you plan?
   • Was the timetable realistic? Did you have to make any alterations?
   • What were the views of those involved?
2. People involved
   • Who did you aim to work with?
   • Who worked with you?
   • What function did they fulfill?
   • Get their feedback after the event, how did it go for them?
3. The event
   • Did you find the right venue to reach your target group?
   • Did you have enough merchandise/freebies? What worked and what didn't?
   • Use photographs of the day to illustrate your evaluation.
   • Record media coverage generated, how many interviews did you give? How many media articles and did they feature your organisation or case studies?
4. Your target group
   • Who was your target group(s) and why?
   • How many did you reach? Did they give feedback on your event? Were they happy that you were there?
   • What information did you give out? How many people said they would quit? What are the follow–up results?

You may need to do some on–the–spot questionnaires to get feedback on your event or if possible make some follow–up calls.

Remember, No Smoking Day aims to raise awareness of support available for people who want to quit. So the support provided for smokers should not stop at the end of the day. Follow up with potential quitters.

If you produce an evaluation report, please send us a copy. We love to see what people are doing – without your activities there would be no campaign!