Dying Matters Awareness Week Events Toolkit

Thinking of holding an event for Dying Matters Awareness Week, but need some advice? Read our top tips and things to consider.

This year is a chance to focus on the language that we use, and conversations we have, around death and dying – specifically between healthcare professionals and patients, their carers and their families.

Holding a Dying Matters Awareness Week event is easy - read our top tips

The way we talk about Dying Matters

Dying Matters Awareness Week is all about starting conversations in your community.

Whatever the nature of your Awareness Week event - big or small, and wherever it takes place - the idea is to simply get people talking about why the way we talk about Dying Matters.

Why plan an event?

We're always amazed by the creativity and diversity of events that happen across the country - in hospices, hospitals, schools, GP surgeries and businesses.

But a Dying Matters event can be really simple and low key, too. Simply printing off and sharing some of our resources in your workplace, a local business or perhaps your local library is a really good start.

Make sure you register your event on our website, too, so that you have an events page to share online. Even if you're simply displaying a few resources during Awareness Week, we'd love to know about it.

It can feel a little intimidating to start a conversation about death and dying. But believe us, it's not as hard as you might think. Some simple prompts can work really well.
1. Ask people to share a memory of a loved one that they've lost. People generally enjoy talking about friends and family who are no longer with us, and it can be the perfect way to start the conversation.
2. Think of some softer prompts which might be easier to start with. We often find that asking about people's music choices at their funeral is a good one, for example.
3. Ask tangible, relatable questions such as where people might want to be when they die, or who they would like to have with them.
4. Use our online planning tool - it's an easy way to set out your wishes around end of life.
5. Use one of our videos - you can find them on YouTube - as an introduction to the topic.
1. Find a good venue for your event. You may work in a hospice, library or other community space - but if not, think about whether you could approach someone who would have a space for you to use. A local church or mosque, a village hall, or the reception area of a GP surgery might be ideal. Your local hospice will be a great organisation to work with, and may well already be planning events of their own. Not sure where yours is? Use our hospice finder tool.
2. Be clear on who event is for, and how you'll reach them. If it's the patients and families of a hospice or GP surgery, they are likely to be passing through regularly. But if you're putting something on in a local cafe, think about who is likely to be most interested in the event, and how you can make sure they hear about it.
3. Use our range of Dying Matters resources: they're downloadable and printable, and full of tips and advice on talking about death and dying.
4. Provide some refreshments if you can: there's nothing like a cup of tea and cake to encourage people to have a chat.
5. Register your event on our listings page so that you can promote it via email and social media. Think about which local organisation might help you promote the event, for example in their shop window or via an email newsletter.
1. Decide which platforms you want to use to host your event online. Zoom is a popular choice, but there are lots of options. Make sure you are well prepared to check the technology is working!
2. Register your event on our listings page so that you can promote it via email and social media. Make sure you post lots on social media using the hashtags #DMAW24 and #TalkingAboutDyingMatters.
3. Think about how to encourage people to join in: online events are brilliant for encouraging lots of people to take part wherever they are, but it can be a little harder to get people talking. Think about how you encourage people to join in, whether that is through a little game, a series of questions, or breaking people into smaller online groups.
4. Decide the best time for your event based on who you are hoping will attend. Is it better in the evening, after work, or during the day?
5. Don't be worried if your event is small. Lots of people register for online events and then can't make it on the day - but sometimes a small group is even better for starting conversations.