4 Principles to Get People to Come to Your Meetings
Picture this. You have an awesome volunteer meeting planned. You’ve spent weeks or months putting all the pieces together. You have food, childcare, printouts, and slides. You’ve been talking about the meeting for weeks. You even got your pastor to announce it from the stage!
But when you talk about it to the people who it’s designed for, they’re non-committal. They’re not excited, maybe even apathetic. You find yourself in a panic, thinking that no one is going to come.
I’ve learned from my years of ministry that the only thing worse than no one coming to your event is when one person comes. Then you have to try to explain to them why no one else came.
It’s a difficult tension to manage for sure. But there are a few things that I’ve learned to keep the panic down, the meetings effective, and most importantly, well-attended.
1. You’ll never have 100% attendance
That can be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s true. The larger the group, the harder it will be to get everyone there at the same time and place. Some will be sick. Some will have family obligations. Some will have prior engagements. Some won’t come no matter what you do.
So, instead of focusing on everyone who’s not there, focus on the ones who are. Try to create the best experience for them. (More on this in a minute) If they have a good time, they’ll talk to their friends about the meeting and say the golden words, “You should come next time!”
Music to my ears.
For the people who didn’t come, be gracious and understanding. I always send out notes of what we talked about so they can be in the loop. Sometimes, I’ll record the meeting and share that as well. However, in my experience, few will watch it. So, if you don’t have this ability or expertise, just settle for the notes. They won’t get the full experience, but at least they can’t claim you never told them.
2. Pick a Good Time
Sometimes your meetings are poorly attended, because you’ve put them at a bad time. Saturday morning may seem like a great time because everyone is off, but you may be looking at a mostly empty room. Same goes for Tuesday evening.
I suggest picking a time around your current service times. After service on Sunday or before Wednesday night are usually best. If you have multiple services, that can become tricky. But just like you won’t 100% participation, you won’t find the perfect time either. Pick a time that works best for you and your team and go with it. If you have a reputation of good meetings, people will adjust their schedules accordingly.
3. Focus on the 3 Essentials
Part of your meeting success relies on the success of your previous meeting. If your last meeting was boring and went too long, you’re going to have a hard time getting people to show up for your next one.
I write more about it in this post, but every meeting needs to have 3 essentials.
Learn something
Eat something
Laugh at Something
No matter what your meeting is about you need to have those three things. The eat something can be adjusted. You don’t need a charcuterie board for your 10-minute stand-up meeting. But if you’re meeting for 30 minutes or longer or around meal time, you better feed your people.
Most of my meeting budget goes to food. It takes time and money, but it’s worth it.
Similarly, your people need to laugh. It can be a fun ice breaker, you can crack a joke or just move around. It doesn’t really matter. The meeting needs to be dynamic, not just you standing in front talking the entire time. That’ll put them asleep and never want to come back.
If you’re not fun. Find someone who is and incorporate them in the planning. They can even lead that segment. I’m telling you, it will make the meeting far more meaningful, and people will want to come back.
4. Space out your meetings
Sometimes you can have too many meetings. As a person who loves meetings, I feel like this is impossible. But there are plenty of people who believe every meeting should be an email. As a leader, you want to find the place in between.
If you have too many meetings, your volunteers will develop meeting fatigue and stop coming. Have too few and your vision will leak so much you’ll lose control of your people. You need to find a balance based on the type of meeting and what you want to accomplish.
Since every meeting is different, I can’t say you should follow a particular schedule. But here is the meeting rhythm that works best for me and my volunteers.
Preservice meeting – weekly, no more than 15 minutes
Leadership team meetings – monthly, up to 90 minutes, should include a meal
All volunteer meetings/trainings – Annually/Bi-annually, up to 120 minutes, should include a meal and childcare
Parent meetings – Annually/as needed, 30 to 60 minutes, should include a meal and childcare
I think volunteer meetings are essential for the health of your ministry. But you have to do them right. Unlike the business world you can’t make people come. They are choosing to serve, and they can choose not to come.
It’s your job as a leader to cast a compelling vision so they see the value of attendance. Then, make the meeting worth their while. People will give you grace for a bad meeting once, but few will go beyond that. Once you build a reputation of great meetings, you’ll see your attendance go up. and you won’t have to live in a panic 15 minutes before start time. That makes it all worth it!
