SucheBZgA Exhibitions and Join-In Circuits
BZgA has developed interactive offerings that address the audience in a special way: mobile exhibitions and join-in circuits that come to the visitors and are always organised in cooperation with local partners. They seek the dialog with the public and address all the senses.
BZgA offers the following mobile exhibitions and join-in circuits.
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Personal communication, or: targeted, one-on-one discussions
The mass-media communication offerings of BZgA’s AIDS education or drug prevention campaigns address a broad public. They convey fundamental messages and create a specific climate of opinion. However, communicating information in this way alone is not enough to bring about changes in attitudes and behaviour and stabilise them in the long term. Personal examination of the subject and of one’s own life and world, and confrontation with individual fears, needs, behavioural patterns and values, greatly improves the preventive effect and makes behavioural change possible in the first place. That is why BZgA developed its "personal communication education measures", which focus on direct personal address and dialogue.
Only personal examination of the subject, at best together with a discussion partner, leads to deeper understanding. Personal communication is the method for triggering and accompanying this process of examination. In practice, this means that a team of some 14 exhibition supervisors accompany BZgA’s LOVELIFE exhibition, while roughly five expert counsellors accompany the join-in circuits. They have all been trained in the specific subjects and in communication techniques. The expert counsellors answer questions and provide information, as well as encouraging discussions and getting people to talk to each other.
Decentralised organisation - so the exhibitions acquire a lasting effect
There are several reasons behind the concept of offering mobile exhibitions. Of course, BZgA wants to reach as many people as possible in this way and address them in their own setting. However, two other aspects are also very important:
Presentation at different locations means that numerous cooperation partners from the towns and regions can be involved. They are familiar with the local structures and have important contacts. With their presentations and their personal presence, the local partners are a key element of the exhibitions and, at the same time, guarantee continuation of the dialogue with the public. The visitors get information about the work of the local organisations and institutions, they can talk to their staff. This greatly reduces inhibitions about going to a counselling centre in case of need.
At the same time, collaboration with BZgA offers the cooperating agencies the opportunity to expand local prevention structures and optimise counselling offers. BZgA helps qualify the local expert counsellors by providing training. It communicates the latest specialist knowledge, offers training in personal communication, and provides ideas and support for future local work in a variety of ways.
Since several local cooperation partners are always involved, the joint organisation of the exhibition also contributes to networking the participating institutions. And something else is important, too: the exhibitions and join-in circuits are widely covered in the regional media. This means that the organisations and institutions become more familiar to the public, which strengthens their position in the public life of the town and the region.
