With today’s megachurches and sizable congregations, the landscape of church-produced events goes far beyond the bake sales and bingo nights of yesteryear. Crowds numbering in the thousands, complicated logistics and an abundance of details can seem daunting to the inexperienced event planner. The good news: The keys to successful events are within your reach.

“Due to the fact that there are so many details that go into an event, we try to get as specific as possible with the way we define success,” says John Norton, director of the Biblical Health Institute Inc., which represents The New York Times best-selling health and wellness author Jordan Rubin. Norton recommends dividing events into three basic parts:

•Pre-Event:

This represents all the planning that will need to be done prior to the day(s) of the event.

•Event:

All of the preparation and details that need to be covered for the day(s) of the event.

•Post-Event:

The “back-end” work that must be done in order to successfully close out an event.

“Once we have divided it into these categories, we can better define what success will look like as we proceed with preparing for the event,” Norton shares. “We can more objectively identify strengths and weaknesses once these categories are analyzed individually – especially when considering that each event we produce will have unique characteristics that differentiate it from other events we have done. No two events are exactly the same, so it would make sense to build a planning process that accepts the variables that exist from one event to the next.”

Using the pre-event, event, and post-event method is a valuable means of creating a basic template for planning any event, keeping in mind that there is always the chance that additions or deletions of tasks may need to be made for each category.

Need help organizing? Download and print out these tables (PDF format): Event Budget, Event Checklist, Facilities Arrangements Part I, Facilities Arrangements Part II, Facilities Arrangements Part III