Health Equity Summit 2021

The DC Health Office of Health Equity, in collaboration with the DC Office of Racial Equity within the office of the City Administrator, engaged Bayne LLC (Bayne) to design, develop, and deliver the Health Equity Summit 2021 (the Summit), a forum that focused on using an Equity-Informed Determinants Lens for effective community-engaged, post-pandemic agenda setting through an integrated dialogue on what it will take to achieve health equity in the District.  

Bayne produced a six-hour virtual Summit that included discussions on strategies to eliminate disparities in access to quality health care, social and structural determinants of health, and structural and institutional racism. There were 1,000 registrants, 550 participants, and 24 speakers.

Outreach and Publicity

• Engaged with and solicited support from the DC Healthy Communities Collaborative, local advocacy groups, civic organizations, local officials, and community-based organizations - particularly those with strong footprints in minority and underserved communities - to secure partnerships and participation in the Summit
• Created a social media toolkit with high-impact infographics and campaign elements for use by DC Health and community partners to promote the Summit
• Developed #hashtags, re-tweets, and live polls for use during the Summit
• Monitored social media networks to flag opportunities to engage with others, provided information, and answered questions, and notified DC Health of complaints or issues (with recommended responses)
• Placed approved ads on DC Health’s Facebook and Instagram pages to promote the Summit, specifically targeting Wards 5, 7, and 8 to maximize visibility in those Wards and to drive attendance

Event Logistics and Delivery

• Distributed email and SMS invitations to a list of DC residents, stakeholders, and community officials complied from previous conferences and projects (including the 2018 Health Equity Summit). Distributed follow-up messages to potential attendees.
• Developed a website for the Summit that included the Summit agenda, guest speaker biographies, social media kits, and registration information.
• Streamed the Summit on DC Health’s Facebook page
• Provided a virtual event platform (Run the World) to support live streaming concurrent sessions and forum-style discussion boards
• Prepared digital Summit materials
• Provided graphic recordings to capture discussions
• Created a speaker prep kit (PowerPoint templates, virtual platform access codes, audio/video check schedule, contact list)
• Supported social media outreach during the Summit with promotional posts, moderated discussion boards, and event-related social media posts; flagged, reported, blocked or deleted inappropriate language or conduct
• Disseminated evaluations, and collected evaluation responses; reported results
• Provided recordings of all Summit sessions, social media hashtags, discussion board engagement, MP4 or digital files of each Summit session, and documentation of social media that were engaged.