Each year, the D6 Worksite Wellness program hosts a Wellness Fair with about 400 employee participants and 50 booths. Of course that type of in-person event was not feasible in 2020. The wellness team pivoted to an online option and it was a great success! We were able to not only hold a single day Wellness Fair, but an entire Wellness Week. Our Superintendent, Dr. Deirdre Pilch, even provided not one, but two keynote sessions to kick the week off. District leadership support of wellness was on full display!
The sessions were recorded and posted to our Nutrition Services YouTube page for employees who were not able to attend live. Those who watched recorded sessions were still eligible for prizes. The Flash Networking session was the most technology challenging, as there were over 20 “booths” (community partners that we would typically have at our in-person event) set up as breakout rooms in Zoom. Employees could select which booth they wanted to join (as long as they had downloaded the most recent Zoom version!) and a message was broadcast out every 6 minutes asking employees to move on to the next booth. They were able to attend 10 booths throughout the 1.5 hour event. A prize wheel using www.wheelofnames.com was a big hit. It was used for attendance during the Flash Networking event and a drawing entry was earned for each event attended throughout the week. Prizes included Apple watches, Hydroflasks, yoga mats, Ninja Blenders, Instant Pots, and more.
The event was such a success that we plan to offer at least a portion of the event virtual again next year!
A bit of feedback:
“I really appreciated how Dr. Pilch stressed doing at least one thing each day that helps your physical or mental health…something that fills you. It is a needed message from leadership especially during the pandemic. Thank you!”
“I liked how it was spread out throughout the week. And doing it virtually actually helped because then I did not have to worry about having childcare for my kids or bringing them and watching them at the Wellness Fair. I could actually focus on it 🙂 “
“I really prefer this zoom style to the in person one!”
“Mindful breathing helps me destress and would help my students, too. I think I’ll try it next week before testing with my first graders.”
“Overall I just thought that each topic can be accomplished with minimal effort which I really need right now. I wrote down a little goal that I set for myself from each and hope to try out this week. Thanks for recording.”
“I will be using the mindfulness with Troy a lot. Good stuff!”
Colorado Education Initiative