Make the perfect stall
Lots of you will be setting up stalls and displays for No Smoking Day - here are a few tips:
Location - whether outdoors or indoors, choose a spot where there will be plenty of passers-by, close to other "attractions" if possible so that people can approach you easily. If you're outdoors, try to provide a bit of overhead shelter for the public as well as staff in case of rain - no-one will want to hang around if they are getting drenched!
Preparation - order posters and merchandise well in advance, decide what you want the stall to look like and make any extra props you need. Pack staple guns, scissors, drawing pins, velcro tabs, sticky tape and anything else you need to set up.
Staffing - make sure there are enough of you to cover the stand at all times; you may be busiest at lunchtime so don't let everyone disappear to the nearest café! You may be doing CO monitoring, taking contact details for referrals, handing out goodies and listening to people's stories all at the same time.
Get noticed - you want to be visible from a distance, so try to have display boards or a wall where you can put up posters and banners, and wear No Smoking Day t-shirts, baseball caps and organiser badges. Our huge umbrellas are great even if it isn't raining! Someone in a Big Cig costume will always draw attention and make people laugh.
Leaflets - who will you be talking to? We have two printed multi-lingual leaflets as well as English, and Welsh/English. The credit-card size leaflets are handy for people to keep in a wallet.
Goodies and giveaways - everyone likes a free gift, so use our great range of promotional products to tempt visitors over your way and send them off with a fun/useful reminder about stopping smoking. Everything has the wequit web address and several have national helpline numbers - but they don't carry the actual date of the Day, so you can go on using them through the year … Don't put everything out at the start, though, or you may not have anything left after an hour! Try to engage with each person who comes up and offer an appropriate freebie - so for someone who's trying to cut down or quit, a stress ball or a tangle puzzle could be just the thing to help cope with cravings, while a saving calculator wheel or a money box might motivate a smoker to try stopping and start saving. Balloons to give away will attract young children, and their parents/carers might be very pleased with a nursery thermometer or an activity pack . . Pens and pencils, bookmarks and stickers make low-cost giveaways for almost anyone. Have a look at our whole range; we're sure you'll find something for everyone!
