[00:00:00] Intro: Welcome to the EquipCast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. Designed to help leaders to transform their cultures, to embody the pastoral vision, to be one church, encountering Jesus, equipping disciples, and living mercy. 

Jim: Hey everybody, welcome to the EquipCast Coach's Corner, where we break down important topics to equip you and your team for mission, in your family, your church.
My name is Jim Jansen, and today I'm going to talk to you about why our events don't work. We've all been there, right? The Lord has put something on your heart. Maybe it's a personal need to grow or change, or maybe it's as a leader in a parish or a ministry, and you see the need, and you know that something needs to be done to address it, so we plan an event.
And we work hard, because, you know, that's what we do. And we promote it, and [00:01:00] it goes great, because we're good at planning events. But three days, three weeks, three months, and three years later, not much has changed. Why don't our events work? I mean, more than just getting people there. Why don't they have impact?
Why don't they make a difference? Well, I'm going to give you five quick tips to help ensure that the events in your life, in your family, your parish, or your ministry make a difference. Okay, number one. The 40-20-40 rule. I'll say it again. It's the 40 20 40 rule. This is how your time gets divided in planning, executing, and following up with your event.
You see, 40 percent of our time is spent planning the event. Think about a family vacation or maybe a parish mission. You spend almost as much time preparing, packing, reserving facilities. [00:02:00] traveling, uh, or in the case of a parish mission, coordinating that, advertising, we spend 40 percent of our time preparing for the event.
Then 20 percent actually on vacation or at the parish mission, like that day, setting up chairs, etc. And then we should spend 40% in follow up. When we do it well, both the time spent in preparation and the time spent in follow up are actually double of what actually happens at the event. The problem is most of us don't leave some gas in the tank for the follow up, right?
Think about family vacations. Oftentimes, family vacations are an amazing moment to connect with each other that our lives are so busy where we're living past each other, and we have these beautiful moments on a family vacation. Leave space to unpack so you're not hurried after the vacation and leave space for the ongoing conversation with your team.
Like when you actually connect for just [00:03:00] a moment on the vacation. Make a concrete next step that, hey, Sundays, let's always go for a walk together, because this feels good to be connected. Or in the case of a parish mission, right, how are people supposed to actually apply what they heard? Does your community offer any next step, any communal help in that application?
It's important for us to have a plan for follow up. So, if you follow the 40 20 40 rule, 40 percent in preparation, 20 percent actually at the event, and 40 percent in follow up. That goes a long way to ensuring that our events are fruitful. Since we're at it, right, let's, let's talk about, I mentioned the next step.
You should always plan for, number two, plan for the now what. Meaning, every event must have a clear, so, now what. A clear, concrete next step in mind. Now, that might be different for different people. But suggesting [00:04:00] a concrete next step is helpful. People can adapt if it's not quite the right next step for them.
But it's far better to offer a clear next step than to offer no next step at all. This, by the way, is why a clear path of discipleship is so powerful for a parish. A parish that has a plan for making and maturing disciples, which is what a clear path of discipleship is, always knows what their next steps are for people at various stages of the spiritual journey.
So, if you have a simple and clear next step to help people grow and mature as disciples in a clear path, your event can always plug people into the right next step for them. Number three, design your event with the end in mind. Design your event with the end in mind. And by this, I mean, you want to know, do you want people to walk away with feeling something, with a conviction?
Or do you want them to walk away with a new skill? The teachers in the group, the [00:05:00] educators, will love this, right? There's a simple acronym, to
help you remember when you're trying to foster some sort of conviction or some sort of awareness. For example, maybe a special event on the dangers of human trafficking and how people can respond to that. That's an All Students Will FEEL event. You're trying to Arouse a conviction and an awareness. That is different than a ASSBAT event.
A S S B A T All students will be able to, right? All students should be able to. Where you're trying to teach a skill. You're trying to teach people how to facilitate a small group. How to be more effective at managing social media for their team. Et cetera, et cetera. You want to know, when you begin to plan your event, you want to design it with the end in mind.
Are we trying to foster a conviction, or are [00:06:00] we trying to teach a skill? Alright, number four, cancel the competition. This isn't cancel culture. What I mean by this is people have too, too full of schedules. So, if you have, sometimes we're our own worst enemy, we are the competition. All the other meetings and events that we ask for in terms of time during a week.
Even if you get somebody to come, if you dissipate their energy as a parent or as a parishioner, you're still not being helpful. Consider canceling the other things that you ask for in your ministry or in your parish or in your family to make space. It highlights the importance of this event, and it makes sure that there's energy available for people to take their next step.
And for you, to provide follow up. So, in a parish, this might look like cancelling the regular religious education that happens on Wednesday nights, or, heretical proposal, cancelling the [00:07:00] sports for that week or that weekend, cancelling regular meetings. Consider cancelling anything but mass in order to make space for people to attend and have margin in their lives.
The last thing people need is for us to make their lives more busy. Okay, for a family, right? In our family, we cancel our regular devotions, like the rosary and other different prayer devotions that we do as a family, for special seasonal devotions, like the Stations of the Cross in Lent. When we do the Stations of the Cross in Lent, we stop some of the other things we're doing to highlight it and to make space, so we don't wear ourselves or our children out.
Finally. Number five, childcare. If you want people who have children to come to your event, you have to provide childcare. Right? The alternative is separating families and spouses. Our culture does enough of that. That's the last thing we want to do as parishes and as ministries. [00:08:00] Even if your event is free, it may not actually be free if people have to pay for pizza and a babysitter.
We could do a whole conversation on how do you provide childcare effectively. Please follow the safe environment guidelines and ratios and use empty nesters and teenagers who need service hours to help make your event accessible to people who have children at home. These simple five techniques or little tips can make a huge difference in making your event fruitful.
Follow the 40-20-40 rule. Get as much time in follow up as you have for preparation. Plan for the now what. So that people know they're clear next step. Design your event with the end in mind. Are you trying to foster conviction or teach a skill? Cancel the competition. People already have too full a schedule.
So, consider canceling something else so you don't have to ask more than people can handle for any given week. And finally, consider offering childcare. These five tips [00:09:00] could make a big difference in making your event more than just a moment, but something that actually affects real change. Allow me to pray for you.
Oh Lord, I, I think of your servant, St. Paul. Um, that guy knew how to use events in his work. He gave sermons, he drew people together, but he also established communities that nurtured and followed up, watered and grew the seeds that he planted. Lord, we ask that you would have mercy on us, that you would teach us again, uh, how to do events and special moments and occasions, uh, that would indeed, uh, draw people closer to you, uh, that it would bear fruit in their life.
Uh, and give glory to you. Amen. All right, everybody. I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can respond back in the chat at Equip.ArchOmaha.org. Again [00:10:00] that's the chat box at Equip.ArchOmaha.org. Thanks for listening.