“Every project wants to fall apart and every project wants to be bad. They have two instincts that you’re always fighting against. Make it better. Hold it together.”
When Nina Jacobson said this on the Without Fail podcast she was describing her job as a film producer but THIS IS UNIVERSAL.
Every church event WANTS to fall apart. I used to think all I had to do to make a successful outreach was to put it on the calendar and post about it on social media. That might not be the dumbest thought I ever had but it’s up there (when I was little I thought I could trick my friends into thinking I was the star of Home Alone).
Think about it like your big event is actively working against you. That'll keep you on your toes. You can’t afford to assume anything. Volunteers will drop out, people won’t pay attention to social media and completely miss the announcements, and it’s probably going to rain.
I’m really bad about assuming too much. I assume people know things without me ever communicating them. I assume things are possible without checking ahead of time.
You have to make sure you have enough time to develop, plan, and prepare this event.
You need a team who can handle some of the responsibility because it’s easier for a big event monster to defeat you when you try to tackle it on your own. With a team you can attack from all sides.
If it’s the first year you’re doing this big outreach event, imagine it’s a baby. You wouldn’t throw some clothes into a baby's room and expect them to get dressed and ready on their own. You’ve got to be hands on. If you’ve been doing an event for 5 years, you can probably treat it like a 5 year old. They’re able to do a lot for themselves but they still need some supervision. If you’ve been doing the same event for 18 years, maybe it’s time to kick them out of the house and try something new.
Every event is trying to fall apart. If we go with the baby analogy, every event wants to poop its pants and throw up all over your nice clothes and ruin your plans.
If we believe in our event we’re willing to fight the good fight, get our hands dirty, and make sure it’s a success.
Want to make sure you believe in your event? Here are 3 questions to ask in the planning stage.