Welcome to the LDPC Chair Resource Hub
Virginia 811 is committed to helping promote Local Damage Prevention Committee (LDPC) meetings and ensuring stakeholders stay informed and engaged. This dedicated hub is designed to streamline communication, provide essential resources, and support you in planning and promoting your meetings effectively. By working together and leveraging these resources, we can maximize participation and strengthen our outreach efforts.
Explore these available resources and stay up to date with the latest support for your LDPC meetings.
Ready to schedule your next LDPC meeting?
Use the LDPC meeting form to submit all the necessary details and ensure your meeting gets promoted effectively.
Promoting LDPC Meetings on Your Channels
While Virginia 811 actively promotes these events, your involvement helps expand reach and increase participation. Sharing meeting details through your channels is key to boosting awareness and attendance.
Here’s How You Can Help:
Collaboration Between Chairpersons and Virginia 811 Liaisons:
For effective meeting promotion, chairpersons should be working closely with their Virginia 811 liaison in their efforts to promote and communicate about LDPC meetings. It is important to maintain open communication leading up to the meeting to gauge and compare the efforts being made to promote the meeting outside of the regular channels. This collaboration will help ensure that all avenues are being explored for maximum outreach and engagement for each meeting.
Email, Newsblasts, and Event Calendars:
Include the meeting details in your regular emails, newsblasts, calendar listings, or send dedicated emails to your contacts, using the QR code or a direct link to the meeting’s listing. Highlight the importance of attendance and collaboration in spreading the word.
Encourage Stakeholders to Sign Up for LDPC Meeting Notifications:
Direct stakeholders to the regional or statewide LDPC notification opt-in registration on the LDPC Meetings page of the Virginia 811 website, so they receive timely updates about upcoming meetings.
Share on Social Media:
Share the meeting details, including dates, times, and the link to the Virginia 811 Events Calendar, on your social media platforms. Be sure to include relevant hashtags like #LDPC or #DamagePrevention to expand the reach. Posting regularly and encouraging your followers to share further enhances visibility.
Use the QR Code:
A QR code linking to each meeting’s listing on the Virginia 811 Event Calendar is available on the meeting event page. Simply right-click the QR code to download or copy it. This code is a great tool for print materials, emails, and social media posts, offering a quick and easy way for people to access all meeting details with just a scan. It also makes sharing meeting details and boosting participation, especially in the field, even easier.
Encourage Participation through Messaging:
When promoting LDPC meetings, remind your followers or contacts of the value these meetings bring to the damage prevention community. A call-to-action like “Join us to make a difference in local damage prevention!” can help boost engagement.
Word of Mouth:
Share the event with colleagues, contractors, and stakeholders directly. Personal recommendations are a powerful tool for encouraging attendance.
LDPC CHAIRPERSON FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Meeting Notification and Promotion Process:
Virginia 811 promotes LDPC meetings through a structured notification process to ensure stakeholders receive timely and relevant information. These include the following efforts:
Creation of Meeting Registration Forms
Once an LDPC meeting is submitted, Virginia 811 creates a registration form for the event. This form includes a state map highlighting the LDPC region where the meeting will take place, along with the meeting details provided by the chairperson.
Events Calendar Listing
A calendar event listing is created on the Virginia 811 Events Calendar. The listing features:
- The highlighted region on the state map
- All submitted meeting details
- A registration link
- QR code for the event for easy sharing across various channels
Meeting Promotion
LDPC meetings are promoted across all Virginia 811 communication channels leading up to the event, including:
- Member Email Communications: Sent at least bi-weekly to Virginia 811 members.
- Statewide LDPC Opt-In Notifications: Emails sent each time a new LDPC meeting is added statewide.
- Social Media Promotion: Posts on Virginia 811’s Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, generally shared weekly for all active meetings.
- Public Advisory Committee Mentions: LDPC meetings highlighted during PAC meetings.
- Outreach & Presentations: Featured in Virginia 811 presentations and outreach efforts, both locally and statewide.
- Targeted Email Reminders: Sent at key intervals leading up to meetings for the respective region.
Virginia 811 LDPC Email Notifications
Virginia 811 uses VA811TheDirt@VA811.com to send out all meeting notifications or “e-blasts.”
Virginia 811 sends email notifications regarding LDPC meetings to several key groups:
- Members receive statewide meeting information for all active meetings in their bi-weekly emails.
- Statewide LDPC opt-in requestors are notified whenever a new meeting is added to the schedule.
- Regional LDPC opt-in requestors receive targeted emails leading up to the event, as well as individuals who have submitted locate requests within the relevant regional zip code area.
- Statewide stakeholders identified as “Excavators” are informed of the LDPC meeting schedule whenever special training opportunities are offered statewide. However, these emails do not have an associated zip code – which is required for regional LDPC meeting notifications – so they cannot be migrated to LDPC regional notification lists. Therefore, it’s essential to encourage the use of the regional or statewide LDPC notification opt-in feature whenever possible to ensure these individuals receive the appropriate notifications for LDPC meetings in their area.
Yes, targeted email lists are used to reach email addresses associated with LDPC meeting regions. The email addresses included on the targeted regional LDPC meeting list consist of:
- Individuals who have opted in for LDPC notifications for that region and provided an email address.
- Targeted email lists are generated for LDPC meeting notifications based on the data we capture from locate requests.
However, there are a few key limitations about our targeted email lists to keep in mind (this does not include our opt-in feature):
- We only capture the ZIP code associated with the mailing address of the person submitting the locate request. This means the email address on file could belong to the person submitting the request, but it could also be for a colleague, supervisor, field contact, or even a general company email.
- Many companies use generic catch-all email addresses, which may not reach the intended person.
- The ZIP code we capture is tied to the mailing address of the excavator, but excavators often work in multiple ZIP codes outside of their office location, meaning the captured ZIP code does not necessarily represent the area where the work is being done.
We filter by ZIP code and type of excavator, but due to these limitations, we are not able to capture every individual working in a specific region unless they are tied to a locate request with that particular mailing address ZIP code.
NOTE: Targeted email addresses are collected in accordance with Virginia 811’s privacy policies and our email platform’s policies.
Weekly targeted emails are sent at strategic intervals leading up to the meeting, with notifications sent no less than two weeks and no more than three weeks before the event. A follow-up email is sent to non-openers within a few days of the primary email, ensuring that all recipients receive multiple timely reminders and have the opportunity to plan their attendance.
Troubleshooting LDPC Meeting Email Notifications & Alternative Access:
There are several possible reasons why individuals may not receive email notifications from VA811TheDirt@VA811.com. One common issue is that company firewalls or email filters can block these messages, preventing them from being delivered. Additionally, emails may end up in the spam or junk folder. We recommend individuals check these folders and ensure that emails from VA811TheDirt@VA811.com are not being blocked by firewall or email filters.
Recipients may be able to adjust their settings to mark emails from VA811TheDirt@VA811.com as a trusted sender. However, since each email system is different, we cannot provide specific instructions for this, and some organizations’ email security standards may not allow it altogether.
It’s also possible that individuals are not actually on the requested email list for their preferred region, or they may have typed the wrong email address when originally opting in. If someone believes they should be receiving notifications but are not, they should verify their subscription status by utilizing the newly added opt-in registration on the LDPC meeting page on the Virginia 811 website HERE. Registering multiple times is perfectly fine and will not result in duplicate emails being sent to the same address.
Individuals who do not receive notifications due to their organization’s email firewalls or other reasons can always visit the Virginia 811 Events Calendar to stay informed about scheduled LDPC meetings. Simply filter the calendar by month and type “LDPC” in the search bar. This will generate a list of all current LDPC meetings scheduled for that month, displaying both the designated region name and the county or city where the meeting will take place.
RSVP Requests & Event Planning Assistance:
Virginia 811 prioritizes the confidentiality and security of all participant information. Due to our privacy policies on email collection, RSVP responses cannot be sent directly to outside parties. However, you may request RSVP counts from your regional Virginia 811 liaison to assist with event planning and logistics.
Yes, if you need the RSVP count for an upcoming meeting, you can request this information from your regional Virginia 811 liaison to assist with event planning and logistics. Please reach out to them directly and they will be happy to provide the information as promptly as possible.