A Q&A With Action For Happiness On Spreading Their Message Through Events
Photo by Moyan Brenn on Flickr
We recently had the pleasure of talking with Mark Williamson, Director of Action for Happiness, about their mission to spread the message of happiness, its importance to our everyday lives, and the role events are playing in spreading the word here in the UK.
What is Action for Happiness and what are its main aims?
Action for Happiness is a movement of people who share a conviction that happiness really matters, to our lives and to society at large. Importantly, we want to move beyond happiness as an idea or concept, and encourage real action to help create a happier and more caring society.
So our aims are to raise the overall awareness of happiness and the positive role in can play in the lives of individuals and societies; to bring together those who already believe happiness is important; and encourage actions that create happiness.
How do events play a role in achieving those goals?
We have a very large online community of about 35,000 members and over 250,000 online followers.
Events are a great way of bringing that community together in the real world, helping members to connect with one another, share ideas and be inspired.
They also play a role in helping to achieve our goals by being action oriented. We want our events to inspire, help our members learn something new and meet new people. However we also really focus on providing our attendees with the tools and motivation to do something after the event.
Can events help promote happiness? What is it about events that leave people feeling better about themselves?
Events can definitely leave people feeling inspired and happier. They’re natural playgrounds for creativity and new ideas; and they help foster new connections with like-minded people. These elements of human connection and positive experiences make events in general a great vehicle for improving happiness.
In terms of our events specifically, we want to turn inspiration into action. So our events aim to have people leave not just thinking “that’s interesting,” but “I’m going to do something about that!” We want them to take action on what they’re heard and make a difference in the world around them.
What can people expect from attending an Action for Happiness event?
Each month is a different theme with a keynote speaker for each event. For example in the past we’ve had Ruby Wax talking about mental health, Daniel Goleman presenting on emotional intelligence, and Jon Kabat-zinn speaking about mindfulness.
We also make sure there’s always plenty of interaction and involvement, lots of conversation, often little exercises to complete, sometimes we have books or sheets of info to take away, and always there will be a focus on actions people can complete after the event, to make the world a better, happier, place.
One of the questions we get at Eventbrite the most is how to promote your event and reach a bigger audience. How did you find your community? Any tips you’d suggest for reaching a bigger audience?
As I mentioned earlier, we have a very large social reach online, so that’s our go-to place for telling people about upcoming events.
I’d certainly encourage other organisers to build a large and engaged social community online. We’ve focused on Twitter and Facebook, but of course there are always new ones emerging.
I would also say that event organisers should pay lots of attention to their existing attendees. We find that the people most likely to come to an event are those who’ve been to one in the past.
So look after your existing attendees! Make sure you show them how important they are and that they feel looked after.
From taking this attitude we’ve managed to at least treble our average attendance since launching 4 years ago, with our pool of regular attendees growing to nearly 3000 people now.
We’ve also found that partner organisations, who work in related subjects to those tackled at each event, are very effective, as they’ll promote the event to their members and so we’re reaching new people that way too.
Where can people go to learn more about Action for Happiness and any upcoming events?
To learn more about Action for Happiness you can visit http://www.actionforhappiness.org, join our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.
For upcoming events you can check out our Eventbrite page.