In Luke 14:28-30, Jesus is conveying the importance of counting the cost of truly following Him. He uses the illustration of the planning and budgeting that takes place before an individual begins a building project. Perhaps this really struck a chord with me because I was not a great planner. I cringe at this passage because I can see myself as a little Bible cartoon illustration with a brick in one hand and a trowel dripping with cement in the other as I stare befuddled up at my lopsided tower that lacks about 75 bricks. Oops! While I am not a planner by nature, I am a completer so this image really, really bothers me!

Our Lord is speaking about discipleship, but I like this illustration as a picture of planning, and it lines up with the decently and order concept we find in Scripture.
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” I Corinthians 14:40
Even in creation, while Almighty God could have crammed it all into one day, He took His time and in perfectly planned order used His creative nature over a longer period of time.

Leaders plan so that they can complete and so that they can complete well. So plan we must, and plan you can! (Ok. That sounded a little Dr. Seussy, so let’s just get right to it!)

1. Schedule a Meeting to Get the Big Picture Together
While I may work on an entire event with a large group of women, it does not begin that way. The very first thing I will do is schedule a meeting with one lady- sometimes two- to get the main things decided on. I might have gathered ideas from other women that I bring with me into this meeting. I may bring reviews of compiled surveys or comments from a past event, but I really just need one other voice who understands our goal to help me make decisions.

This meeting will be 2-3 hours, and honestly, it is my favorite part. This is more relaxed than the following meetings and usually includes snacks to stimulate our creative minds! This is where we get to dream a little! Here is where we get brainstorm, laugh at the crazy ideas that would never work, talk about the things we tried that were just complete flops, relish the past victories that were spot on, and commiserate over the frustration of whether or not to provide childcare.

Here are the types of things that must be decided before we leave this meeting:
*What is the main thing we want to accomplish in this event?
*How many people should we reasonably plan for?
*How long will this event be?
*Will you need childcare? If so, who will do it and will we pay them or take donations at the door? What ages will childcare be for?
*Will you have food? If so, will it be catered, pot-lucked, or will you send attendees out to grab their own quick lunch?
*How much will you budget for this event? What price will tickets need to be? (At Southern Hills, we also are blessed to have our executive pastor review our budgets and ticket prices with us to ensure that they all measure out. This is extremely helpful.)

Remember, you don’t have to have everything decided to the smallest detail, just the necessary big stuff- enough to move forward with announcements, budgets, and timelines.

2. Schedule your Deadlines
The next step is to print off a 3 month calendar. So if the event is end of September, I’ll print off a calendar of July, August, and September and staple them together. Crude, I know, but this is what works for me. I’ll reference my calendar on my computer, but it is cluttered with counseling appointments, staff meetings, and ball practices. Having this little clean paper calendar feels simple and easy to read to me, and makes it easy to pencil in deadlines.

I will begin with the event itself and work backwards. Add when you’ll need your speaker’s notes by if you will be printing them up. Add the date on which you plan to print your programs. Add the date by which you must order any personalized items such as pens for this event. Having this all on your calendar not only keeps you on track, but also makes it easy on your brain when you begin communicating with your speaker, team leaders, and volunteers to give them guidelines for when you will need things from them.

Tip: Schedule things Ahead of their Actual Deadline

When scheduling, it is advisable to schedule things ahead of the real deadline. It might only take two weeks for me to get pens ordered, stamped, and shipped to me, but I will schedule this a month and a half in advance. That way if I or the company runs behind, we are still ok. The same with printing up materials yourself. It is astonishing how often a printer will suddenly run out of ink or decide to misfeed all day long- ain’t nobody got time for this! You don’t need that kind of stress so ease things for yourself by giving plenty of wiggle room.

Do as much beforehand as you possibly can. I know that for a Friday event that uses our church auditorium, I will not be able to begin setup until after Wednesday evening small groups. That means that I will need as much time on Thursday and Friday for moving tables, decorating, not to mention last minute promotion and hosting an out of town speaker. So, I will do my best to have those days as open as possible to make things smoother. Stage decor, centerpieces, and more can be completed beforehand and simply waiting to be moved into their places.

3. Schedule Meetings with Your Team Leaders
We’ll talk about who you are looking for and how to find them in the next blog, but for now realize that for every person to whom you will delegate an area to – whether it is music, décor, program, promotion, food, whatever- you will have to meet with them to ensure success.

Meetings take time. And for those of us who are doers, meetings can be the most frustrating parts of our week. I get it! This time could be spent working on a project by yourself and getting it done, but all you did was sit and talk. I promise you this will allow your ministry to have a better result in the end. You are not “spending” your time on a project- you are “investing” your time into something more valuable and that will yield better results. More about this next time, but for now remember people are more important than projects.

Meet for the first time in person. The meeting does not always have to be a long one and can often be set right before or after a church service. When I met with the lady who was running décor, for example, we took about an hour to go over the entire conference from what ticket design would look like to actually walking through the entire program so she could picture what the set up would need to be. After that, most of our communication was through email or texting, but there is something about being face to face and collaborating together that will give your the clear communication and camaraderie that you need.

4. Schedule Practices
Anything that will be done on the platform must have a run-through. If a lady is singing a special or sharing a testimony- she will need to practice!
Now, it doesn’t have to be formal or intimidating, but practice we must. So I schedule on my calendar anything that I will be overseeing in program that needs a practice. (Anything delegated to a team leader will be given to them to schedule. For example, I didn’t have to set music rehearsal up, because the lady leading the music team will do that. That was already have been given to her as part of her responsibility that we discussed at our meeting.)

We have something we call “5 in 5”, which is basically a lady sharing 5 ideas about a topic in less than 5 minutes. When I ask ladies to participate in this, I include that they must be able to attend a practice the Sunday evening before our event. If they are unable to attend that practice, I let them know we will be unable to use them for this event, but perhaps they can share a 5 in 5 at another event in the future. At the practice, we will meet an hour before church so each lady can present her 5 in 5 while holding a dead mic, and just in general, get the jitters out. This gives me an opportunity to give them some clear instructions about how to present, make suggestions to their presentations, tell them when in the program to get their mic. from my assistant, and to ensure their presentation is within the time limit.

Once I contact the ladies and assign their topics, I email them a sample of what their presentation should look like when written out. I give them two other dates: the date they need to email me their 5 ideas written out and the date and time we will practice these.

Tip: Schedule Reminders for Those Involved

After I send an email informing someone of when something is due, I send reminder texts and emails. I do have a secret weapon. Our church records system allows you to set a text or email to go out on a later date. So as soon as I communicate deadlines to my volunteers, I set text and email reminders to go out a day or two before things are due. And voila! It’s done without me having to remember it. I even send those texts to myself- cause we all need reminders, don’t we? Without my computer system sending these reminders out, I would have to add a note on my paper calendar a day or two before something is due to send a text or email manually.

There are three essential elements in Leading an Event: Placement, People, and Promotion. Today’s blog dealt with placement of things- getting them in order. What other things have you found helpful in scheduling? What secrets do you have to make scheduling work for you?