The biggest, or at least second biggest, Sunday of the year is over. It’s time to kick our feet up, relax, take a vacation, and get a good night’s sleep…Easter is over. Or is it?
You have spent the last several months prepping for this big Sunday event, where guests fill up your sanctuary, and children sparkle in their new Sunday best. I completely understand that you are tired from the extra services and the hard work involved in making this event happen. But now is the time to optimize things for next year.
Conduct a Review
What went well? Were there more events like Easter Egg Hunts, Easter Bunny Visits, Fish Fry Visitors, etc. Did you gain new guests at your services on Sunday?
Capitalize on those items with step by step guides of what you did that made the event a success. Recruit your volunteers for next year, so they can start the planning process earlier and not feel as rushed. Send out thank you cards to the guests that joined you and invite them back for another service and event in a few weeks.
What didn’t go well? Did you plan an event, but nobody came? Write up plans to better promote the event next year, or check community calendars to see what conflicted this year. Did you have lots of guests, but not collect their contact information or give them a list of other upcoming events?
Open the review to not only members of your Easter Committees, but to members of the congregation. They will see things from a different perspective and may catch things you missed, or that they didn’t fully understand the purpose of having. Notes that will impact the event, and their attendance, next year.
Plan for Success
Take all the little items you want to do differently next year and write them down. Immediately after the event is the best time to debrief and make notes on things to change. Then go back and look at those notes in a few weeks and add to them. Long term thinking about the event will bring up new ideas that will be forgotten if you don’t update your notes.
Finally, start your planning before the December holiday rush (at least to the point of Save the Date Cards to be handed out at those services).
For more information on our FREE services and how Guide Book Publishing can help promote events like Easter to your members, visit our website at http://www.guidebookpublishing.com/publications.html.