It’s Not Over til It’s Over
Your calendar is full and particularly the summer ministry calendar (and the spring, fall, and holiday seasons too!) How do you end an event? When is it done? How do you wrap it up?
At CentriKid, we never consider a week of camp “done” until we do a handful of very intentional things. Here are 4 keys to wrapping up an event:
- Encourage. We love to celebrate a job well done. There are hugs and pats on the back for all involved. We will talk about ministry success, problems that were solved, and high points (large and small) from the week.
- Evaluate. We believe that there are always things we can improve on. In evaluation, we will take time to share ideas for improvement that come from the staff and we always take the feedback from group leader listening sessions. There are always a number of things we can improve and changes we can implement week to week. It is important to evaluate soon after your event while things are fresh on your minds. Remember – evaluation isn’t talking about just the bad things, nor is it a time to get discouraged.
- Execute better next time. Encouraging and evaluating are only exercises unless you make specific, actionable plans for next time. Some events are repeated monthly, yearly, etc… Others are one-time events but it’s still important to finish that event with a time to debrief what happened. There are transferrable principles that you can carry over to other things you do later on.
- Make it Fun. Meeting to wrap up an event doesn’t have to bore people or make it super formal. Just gather the key leaders and get their feedback. There are fun and creative ways to gather feedback, but this can even be done over a meal after the event wraps up.
Share your tips with us on the CentriKid Facebook page for how you wrap up an event and how you make evaluation fun.
