When planning, I love the details. But for some of you, the details are just a necessary part of the job, and it can be stressful at times to make sure everything is covered. I want to help make the details easier for you as you begin planning your events.
Last January I shared with you two important things to consider when planning a girls’ event (Let’s Plan). One of those things was the big elements and those come the details. So, let me share with you some questions to consider as you get started plus a few free resources to help you in your planning 😉. The focus will be on a weekend event but the questions I can help you when planning smaller events too.
Every year when I began planning the girls’ weekend, I would include our lady small group leaders. Being a planner, I always started with an initial meeting six months before the event. The event we did always fell in late fall and summer was so busy that I found it less stressful to meet before school got out.
When we met, I would try to discuss every element of the weekend from the theme down to the smallest activity. The top priorities were always main theme ideas, breakout session options, and big activities. I would take everything we discussed and our girls’ staff would make final decisions over the summer. Summer also included talking with girls in the ministry about what breakout sessions they would like to see at that year’s events. Once fall hit I had our main theme, breakout topics, and a clear direction of where we were going.
Details to consider…
Overall
Theme
What will the theme be?
What will your main verse be for the weekend?
Registration
When will registration open? When will it close?
Can students sign up on the night of the event?
Will there be sign-up incentives?
Will registration be online, in person, or both?
Promotion
What will your graphic be? Who will design it?
How will you promote it?
What will your promotion schedule look like?
Weekend Schedule
Will it be a Friday-Saturday or Friday-Sunday event?
What will the schedule look like?
Budget
What is your ministry budget for the event?
What will the students pay? Based on what they pay, what is your breakeven number?
How will your budget breakdown be?
BIG ELEMENTS
Main Sessions
How many?
Who will speak?
Will there be worship? Who will leader?
What scriptures will be focused on each session?
How will you facilitate a time of response? Who will counsel students who respond?
How will you open up? Will you have an MC? What interactive elements will there be?
I usually did three main sessions on Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon/evening.
Small Groups
How will you divide them up? How many per group?
Who will your small group leaders be? How many leaders per group?
Where will each small group meet?
Will the leaders be volunteers or paid?
When will you have a leaders meeting?
What will be in your leader’s guide?
I usually did my small groups by grade and kept each group to 8-10 girls. My leaders were volunteer college students or our Sunday morning small group leaders.
Breakout Sessions
How many will you have?
Will the girls be assigned breakouts or get to choose?
Will you have a middle school or high school-only session?
How many rounds of breakout sessions will there be?
What will the topics be?
Who will teach? (volunteers, paid girls’ ministry leaders, or a combination of both)
How long will each session be?
Will you give the curriculum to leaders or let them do their own?
Will you have an interactive element for each session?
My breakout leaders were a combination of paid girls’ ministry leaders in the area and adult volunteers from our church. I tried to have more breakouts than breakout times so that girls could choose which ones they wanted to attend. All my leaders were asked to include time for a fun activity that went along with what they taught. Some years I had middle school or high school only topics.
Specialty Activities
Will you do a late-night activity? Will there be snacks?
Will you do a themed lunch or dinner?
Do you want to have grade activities?
Do you want to include parents? (serving, donating food or supplies, etc.)
I usually had a fun Friday night late-night activity. Some of the girl’s favorites were karaoke night, fire pit roasting s’mores, and a foam pit party. The parents usually donated the snacks for that night. We also always had a theme lunch or dinner with a nice meal where the girls could dress up and take photos at our photo booth. Some of their favorites were the masquerade, decades, and pajama party. These meals were one of the ways I included fathers. They dressed up and served as waiters.
Free Time Activities
How long will your free time be?
Will your girls rotate activities?
Will they be free to do whatever activity they want?
What activities will you offer?
We did a variety of activities. Some years there were two options and we rotated everyone doing both. Some years there were several options and they got to pick. The big hits were puppies, karaoke, laser tag, video games, and a nap room.
Other questions to consider…
Will there be an event t-shirt? Who will print them? When do you need to have the final numbers in?
Is this an overnight event or an evening and all-day event? If overnight, what will lodging be? (retreat center, hotel, host home or at the church)
How will you handle any needed transportation?
What meals will be provided? Will someone cook them all? Will you cater?
Will you do giveaways/door prizes? Would you budget for them or have them donated?
What will you do for the safety and security of the participants? (Volunteers, paid police officers)
What are your emergency protocols? How will you communicate this to all your leadership?
Besides small group leaders, what other volunteer teams do you need? (Registration, Check-in, Security, Crowd Control, etc.)
This is not an exhaustive list but I hope that it gets you started or gives you some new things to think about as you plan. If you have any questions about event planning or would like some help with planning your next event, contact me. I do have some prepackaged girls’ ministry and mother/daughter events available that I can come in and do for you.
**All resources use two fonts - “All the Way to the Sun” and “Avenir Next Condensed”. The registration card and flyer templates have PSD and Word versions. Be sure to download any document before editing.
