Planning church events is no small feat—whether you’re organizing a bake sale, fundraiser, rummage sale, community event, food drive, or holiday celebration, there’s a lot that goes into putting on a successful event.
In order to feel confident going into your event, you know you need to prepare, but maybe you’re not quite sure where to start. Check out this simple five-step plan to help you wrangle events and go from stressed out to planned out!
Step One: Plan
The first step in your event planning is . . . planning! This is your chance to nail down all the important details:
- Date
- Time
- Audience (who the event is for)
- Goal
Don’t neglect this stage of the process. It’s easy to pick a date and time and move on, but taking the time to think about what your goals are for the event and who you should be marketing to allows you to do the following steps with more ease!
Step Two: Prepare
Now that you’ve nailed down the details, you’ll need to prepare for the event itself. You might be tempted to think that the planning phase takes care of the preparation, but there’s so much more to be done!
At this stage, you need to figure out how many volunteers you’ll need and recruit those volunteers, make promotional graphics for slides and social media, and write announcement text for your bulletin or email. If applicable, you’ll also need to purchase any food or supplies, communicate with any partners, and reserve your event location.
Step Three: Promote
Next, it’s time to promote the event! Since you’ve already done the legwork of planning and preparing, this step is fun—we hope!
Make sure to promote the event internally on your church calendar, social media accounts, and church announcements (verbal, email, and bulletin). If your event is community-focused, you might also want to hang up posters in local shops or make business cards or postcards to hand out.
If your event requires sign-ups, be sure to utilize a church management software that has the ability for your attendees to register for events, like Church360° Members. This allows you to accurately plan for the amount of food or supplies you’ll need.
Step Four: Day Of Event
Now’s the time to see how your hard work paid off! At the actual event, make sure your volunteers have everything they need, that programs are running smoothly, and that attendees are having fun. From setup to teardown, be sure to note any major successes or challenges, as you’ll need those insights in step five.
Step Five: Reflect
Lastly, you need to reflect on the event so you can improve for future events. Consider writing down what went well during the actual event and where you could use some improvement. For example, maybe your registration software worked great, but people couldn’t find the check-in table, so you know to make more signage next year.
Many churches neglect to debrief after an event because they are busy and on to the next event—but don’t skip this step! Not only will it make planning for future events easier, but it will also give your team time to appreciate the hard work and successes of the event!
Reduce your event-planning workload with free communications blueprints from Concordia Technology Solutions! These templated voice, text, and email messages will help you get the word out fast and efficiently.
