The 5 Crucial Elements of Event Communication

I visited a church recently which was promoting a women’s conference. There were posters hanging in the lobby, where there was also a special table where you could register for the conference. There was a flyer in the welcome package with the details about when and where it was and how much it costed. There was a video during the announcements and the conference was not only mentioned by the guy doing the announcements, but also by the speaker.

Yet they failed to make me want to book into the conference, despite the fact that the whole thing was aimed at women my age. You wanna know why? Despite all their efforts, they never communicated the ‘what’.

When you communicate an event, there are a few things you need to include to make sure your message comes across. The first one of these is the ‘what’. This church had communicated the name of the conference and the fact that it was for women, but other than that, I had no idea what it was about. Would there be singing? Workshops? Crafts? Would we just listen to speakers and if so, which speakers? What was the goal of the conference? After reading a flyer, seeing the posters, watching a video and hearing two announcements, I still didn’t have a clue. Not good.

If you want to communicate events effectively, here’s what you need to include:

1. What

What is the event? What will you do, what can people expect, what is the goal? State this explicitly, even when it’s an event that’s been done often. New people who haven’t been there before should be clear about what will happen. And don’t forget to use words that new Christians or non-Christians will understand!

Tip: Ask someone who doesn’t know the event to look at your flyer or brochure and ask them to tell you what they think the events entails.

2. When

It’s a beginner’s mistake and yet I’ve seen it happen way too often. Always, always check if the ‘when’ of the event is on the invitation, meaning the date.

Tip: I’ve found it helpful to include the day as well, so instead of writing ’14 November’, use ‘Monday 14 November’.

3. Where

It’s another one that’s easily forgotten, especially when churches have their own building and everything takes place there. That’s all very nice, but don’t you want new people to know where it is? Include the name of your church or building, the street and town and if  necessary the room the event is in.

Tip: A lot of people use navigation to find places, so including a zip code or GPS coordinates may be helpful.

4. Who

Make sure the targeted group is clear, who is the event for? ‘Teens’ can basically mean anyone between 12 and 20, so when you mean ‘middle schoolers’, be clear about that.

Tip: Decide if you want to target age (eg 12-16) or certain groups (high schoolers) to prevent the ‘wrong’ people from showing up. We made this mistake once when we stated an age on a flyer for our 16+ youth group and some 16-year olds from the teen group showed up. We should have made it clear the event was for the youth group.

5. Why

Whenever possible, try to include why people should come to your event. What’s in it for them? What will they miss out on if they don’t come? This can make a difference for teens who are still on the fence about coming or in attracting new students to your event.

Tip: If the ‘why’ isn’t clear, if you have trouble defining this, you may want to rethink the whole event. The why should be crystal clear to you and anyone involved in the organization.

6. How

This includes practical info on whether or not they need to sign up (and if you where and what the deadline is), what they need to bring, how much it costs (and how to pay).

Tip: Make it as easy as possible. You may be tempted to refer to a website of Facebook Page for more info, but that requires an extra step which will be a roadblock for some people. Whenever possible, just include all the info in one place to make it as easy as possible for students to come to the event.

Rachel Blom has been involved in youth ministry in different roles since 1999, both as a volunteer as on staff. She simply loves teens and students and can't imagine her life without them. In youth ministry, preaching and leadership are her two big passions. Her focus right now is providing daily practical training through www.YouthLeadersAcademy.com to help other youth leaders grow and serve better in youth ministry. She resides near Munich in the south of Germany with her husband and son. You can visit Rachel at www.YouthLeadersAcademy.com

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