Last week, Courtney brought up a phrase that sounds like nails on a chalk board to any of us who have ever attended a planning meeting. "That's not the way we used to do it" or "We only do it this way". These phrases are generally so painful simply because they aren't uttered to protect the organization from repeating a mistake - then it would be "We tried that and _______ happened." Instead the phrase generally represents a stick-in-the-mud. The idea to change is brought about because a need is recognized or the current method is not effectively meeting a need. There is no sense in reinventing a round wheel nor is there sense in driving on a flat...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

I am the kind of person that is very pleased when a project turns out well, however I also have learned all of the things that could have made it great. When a similar project circles back around just doing well again is falling short in my opinion. No matter what the project, event, or 'thing' maybe, there is always room for improvement...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

The temptation for creating insider language is real for every industry and organization. But within organizations who's primary purpose is to take in new members insider language is detrimental to achieving the goal. Let's put 10 seconds on the clock... I bet you can come up with 5 acronyms and insider terms used in your church...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

It is difficult to improve unless you know what your guests want you to change. But getting good feedback is difficult, in fact I think that is why most people put evaluating anything off until the last second or skip it all together. But if you can't measure how well something is going you're shooting blind. Your ministry likely has limited resources and you probably can not afford to operate ineffectively both financially and ministry wise. People wont put up with ineffective ministry they're hungry or want to be hungry and if their needs aren't being met they will eventually have to go elsewhere...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

I love 30 Rock. Kennith the Page reminded his boss in one episode of the fact that, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." He goes on and the conversation takes its usual turn that makes for great comedy but doesn't help to prove my point...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Okay, so your Fall Event has just ended and it is now time to start planning your Summer Conference. Where should you start? An easy step, that will improve the transition into your next convention, would be to evaluate the event that you just completed. You can gather results in a variety of ways; reviewing the retreat during casual conversations with attendes, host a meeting with both planners and attendees to discuss the outcomes, reaching out for information using tweets and posts, or you can do my favorite of all, Surveys! I love designing the questions and crunching the numbers, I know it sounds dorky. ...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

As an event planner, all you hear about today is social media.  With the growth of social media, event planners have had to change the way they think about promoting their events.  Social media is a great way to market and promote your event.  But is also helpful with event evaluation and an opportunity to create new revenue...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Ok, your event was a success! Now what? Time to relax? Let's not think about what's next for a few weeks...Wrong! Many think now that the event is over, you don't have to think about it until next year. But that is the wrong way to think. People always want to know what is next. So why not let them know what events are coming up with your organization...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

There are so many things that go into an event when planning. The one thing many people forget is registration. A lot of planners don't think about the registration process because they are more worried about the "more important" things. But when you think about it, registration is kind of a big part of the event process. Without registration, you wouldn't know who and how many attended your event...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

No I'm not talking about my personal life... I'm talking about all those people who wanted you to plan an event for your church who wont sign up. Could anything be more disheartening for an event planner? Let's be real - as a planner you have to be a realist. You have to be careful. Your name is on the dotted line, you've committed the church's funds to pay for a venue and to pay for a speaker, and a band... AND you're responsible to be a good steward of all those resources. So you have reached the point of no return - either you cancel the event and save the funds to be used for something else or you take a leap and hope that the commit-o-phoebes will show up...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Your summer event just finished; you're start thinking of how to plan a winter retreat to compliment your summer event! An easy step, that will improve your next event, would be to evaluate the event that you just completed. You can gather results in a variety of ways. You might prefer to just ask questions face-to-face as you see those who attended in the church hall way. Another option might be to host a meeting to discuss the outcome of the retreat. Consider passing out a paper survey or you could have participants fill out there surveys online (just Google Survey Generator for help)...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment

Event planning can be exciting and nerve racking all at the same time. As an event planner you always want your event to be a success. But, that is not always how they turn out. I have had my share of events that haven't turned out exactly the way I had planned. And often, I believe that I have failed as an event planner. But I have to take a step back and look at the event as a whole and see where things went wrong...     Continue Reading | Leave Comment