Exhibiting Tips

Displaying an exhibit during National Midwifery Week is a wonderful way to promote midwifery and raise the public's awareness about the profession as the perfect choice for women's health care. Exhibits can be displayed at a local health fair, in a hospital/birth center lobby, at a local mall, at your city's library, or even at a church or school event. Exhibits allow you to present the wonderful work you do, and become visible to those who may not know about midwifery. Remember, nobody articulates the wonders of midwifery like a midwife! To take full advantage of your audience, have a midwife available at the exhibit to answer questions.

• Practice setting up the exhibit before the event. In doing this, you will familiarize yourself with the exhibit, check for any damage, and arrange it on the table how you'd like it presented.
• Be prompt in setting up and removing the display within the times specified.
• Consider the use of flowers or a visual aid (like balloons) to attract people's attention. The unusual will catch eyes in a large or crowded area.
• Bring giveaway items, as they can be an excellent tool for attracting visitors and helping them to remember you. Consider having a bowl of small wrapped candies on hand. Also think about what you can provide about your particular practice or affiliate, and visit the ACNM Store for exhibiting materials such as pregnancy calculators, "Listen to Women" buttons, Today's Midwife brochures, or other products. 
  
• Have a cache of relevant information on hand such as the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health Ask the Midwife series, pages from www.DiscoverMidwives.com, play the Discover Midwives presentation if a screen is available, and hand out brochures from your practice and education programs in the area.
• Look professional. The personal appearance of those staffing the exhibit needs to be consistent with the image of certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives as caring professionals.
• Wear a name tag to identify yourself to visitors. Go out of your way to greet people, ask if they have questions, and make them feel genuinely welcome. Do not rely on visitors to seek you out for information.
• Bring your business cards so any visitor you speak with will leave with your appropriate contact information.
• Remind people that CNMs and CMs do more than attend births. Have information on hand about the gynecologic care that women of every age can receive from a midwife.