Marie Flora is Radical Hospitality & Event Director at Ginghamsburg Church. She presented a workshop on Orchestrating Excellent Events at the Change the World Conference.
Marie handles all the hospitality aspects at the church. She coordinates the servants (volunteers – Ginghamsburg doesn’t use the term volunteers, all are servants) who help with hospitality. Servants are essential to providing a quality visitor experience.
Here’s an example of how servants are treated at Ginghamsburg by Marie. This is a confirmation postcard sent to people who signed up to serve in various roles for the conference I attended. One of the Ginghamsburg slogans encountered at the conference was “God doesn’t do suck." Everything is done with a level of excellence and professionalism.
Here are Marie’s elements of a successful event:
- Attendance
- Feedback
- Energy level
- Returnees
- New faces
- Level of outreach
- Amazing atmosphere
- Excitement
- Servant support
What do you need to do to put on your event?
1. identify your vision for the event.
2. Determine the budget for the event and who needs to approve it.
3. Plan the marketing strategy…how do I get people to my event?
Who is the target audience and how do you reach them?
4. Determine the key ministry leaders leaders that will be essential support for the event and how the need to be involved.
5. Identify servant (volunteers) needs. Determine what you need to provide to your servant support for them to be able to serve (and help you) effectively.
6. Determine method of servant recruitment.
7. Identify a point person for the following support pieces:
Food
Coffee
Decor
Media
Set up/break down and details
8. Identify team leaders for each unique component of the event.
9. Determine signage needs. Remember – signs point the way. People show or demonstrate the way.
10. Determine if there will be any special features of components such as live music, inflatables, car show, etc
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