Questions to Ask Yourself to Help Plan a Women's Ministry Event

Even though I work primarily with student ministry, our church has many ministries that are thriving! Our women's ministry is continuing to grow, and I am so humbled to watch such amazing team of women who are beyond creative, dynamically talented work. They are shaping the way Knoxville views church by putting on such amazingly intentional events. I am not in charge of this ministry, nor am I in the meetings that shape this event, but from time-to-time I do get asked to be a part of the crew that is able to help execute brilliant ideas to help make event happen. I've taken a few mental notes the past couple of years, and here are some things you might want to know when planning...

​The first thing you need to do before anything else is figure out the heart of the event, or the purpose. Ask yourself these kinds of questions: what do I want these ladies to learn? What is the purpose of getting together? What do I want my ladies to leave with? Is this an event for a single small group, or will this be an event a bunch of small groups can attend together? In discovering the purpose you will be able to address who you will attend, and after that you'll be able to realistically guesstimate the number of ladies who will attend your event. Then you will be able to determine the day/time of the event. And there you can continue to plan. 
After you've decided on your event's purpose, size, and day and time -- it's time to talk with your team and figure out the rest of the details by answering these questions...
- What will the timeline of the event look like? Will it start at 7 and be an hour, or will it be a conference-style event that lasts 3 hours? Now that you have a timeline, What will be the ~ flow ~ of the event? Who will help keep this flow... perhaps you need a host? Where will your people go from start to finish?
- Walk through your event and pretend you're someone attending and ask yourself, what is there to do? Where do I go, and at what time will I go from one place to another? Will I be sitting the whole time? 
- According to the time of day, will you have to serve food and beverages? If so, what is appropriate to serve with the season and time of year, the aesthetic of the event, and what fits with your budget?
- Speaking of budget, will this event need to cost anything? If so, how will you collect sign-ups and money? Will it only be online or will you take cash? Who will take cash and when? Will this event get full or will you be able to pay day of the event?
- Will there be worship? Is it a worship night? How long and where will it fit into your programming? What songs will you be singing, and which songs help the spiritual point you want to drive home?
- Will I need volunteers? How many volunteers do I need?What will they be doing? How will I get their info in order to reach out to them? 
- Will I need childcare at the event? Who can coordinate this? How can I let my attenders know about childcare?
- What other support (i.e. tech, music, hospitality, childcare, music, security, clean up crew, etc.) will I need and how can I coordinate this?
- What will this aesthetically look like? From the graphic, to the food display -- from the layout of the room to the greeting signs in the parking lot... what mood and ambiance do I want to set and what is my budget to get there? 
- Who will speak at this event? Will they need to be screened? What makes them qualified to communicate to this specific set of women for this allotted amount of time?
- Do I have a "special element"? AKA something creative that will help communicate the purpose of this event? Do I have something that will differentiate this event to help it be intentional and memorable?
- How will I communicate for this event and how am I going to promote? Do I need to make my own graphic or do I need to plan to have my graphics person create a graphic? Will I need to use social media and how often? Do I need to email or call ladies to promote for this event? If so, where do I get information and when should I start contacting them?

As you can tell, there are an infinite number of questions you and your team can ask, but questions are great and needed. The more you plan beforehand, the more you're able to communicate out to others. And the more you communicate out beforehand, the more help you'll be able to have to execute your event. I only know this because I am a product of great communication from our women's ministry team!