NHPAW 2011 Recap

A note from Paul Buffel, President of the NHPC Board of Directors

Well, another super successful NHPAW event has concluded for 2011 at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market.

It was a warm day at -6 and the first day of the Winter Festival which kicked off at the Market. We were busy with our 10 minute complementary public treatments from the moment the Market opened at 8 am.

Ten NHPC practitioners provided 80 treatments between 8 am and 3 pm. Thai, Shiatsu, Tui Na, table and chair massage were the featured modalities. All participating practitioners work in Saskatoon or in smaller towns around Saskatoon and volunteered their time.

Many of those that received treatments had never had natural health treatments before or were not aware of the Eastern massage styles. Each practitioner was able to talk with their clients about the benefits of natural health practices, self care, and positive lifestyle choices.

Many participants chose to stand (or sit) and wait for their treatment so they could watch our practitioners work, or talk with me at the table about the NHPC. A laptop on site allowed me to take the public through a tour of our website highlighting the "Find a Member" service.

As you can see from the photos, we had participants from those just able to walk right up to the age of 91. Many kids pulled their parents over to have a look and just had to get on the floor for some of the fun. This event really was a joy!

We had promotional material from each practitioner available, along with the poster and the other very informative materials that were provided through the NHPC website.

All the materials printed beautifully in colour with the NHPC logo and looked very professional. We also used the poster and marketing materials from the website to produce our own postcards through Vista Print which we distributed through our clients and other contact lists. The postcards were also at the Market three weeks prior to our event.

We visited each Farmers' Market vendor the week prior with an invitation to visit us for a treatment once the market closed. This was the first time we stayed 45 minutes past the closing of the market to provide treatments to the vendors at the market.

All in all, the public greatly appreciated our services, and walked away into their weekend with smiles on their faces and stepping a bit more lightly (a few actually skipped!).

Our practitioners appreciated the chance to share with the public a broader range of natural health practices while promoting their services. Thanks to everyone who supported this very important public awareness event, we are all looking forward to next year's NHPAW.

Photos
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