How do I make the most out of a concert?

Creating a great concert event for a church or ministryYou’ve decided to have a concert at your church. You’ve hired a great musician with an amazing message to share, you’ve made an announcement in church, and you think you’re set to go.Then the night comes, and ten people show; those ten dedicated people that come to anything you ask.The artist seems discouraged but still does her best.  All eleven of you in the audience enjoy the concert and message, but you can’t help but think of certain other people you wish could have heard it.You talk about the event later to those people, and hear all the reasons why they weren’t there. Some didn’t know. Others were already doing something else that night.Suddenly you realize that your event was competing with everything else there is to do that night.  Was there a well-known sports game on TV?  Was there a festival happening downtown?  Did people have to get up early for work or church the next morning?  Even if the answer to these questions was no, there were still movies, gatherings, and other entertainment competing with the event.There is a lot that goes into creating a great event that people attend and grow from.  I’ve been on both the planning and the booking end, and I’ve been involved in excellent and poor events.  I hope to give you some insight into what I’ve learned.PromotionWhile some conflicts are unavoidable, if the event is something you believe would help people and that they’d enjoy, you need to do everything you can to promote it.  With how busy people tend to be these days, one announcement is just not going to cut it.  Do everything you can to get the word out: announcements encouraging people to bring their friends/family, posters and flyers, bulletin inserts, social media events, and sending out a press releases and public service announcements to local newspapers/television/radio.Do not just say it’s a concert.  Promote it as a great night of ministry and entertainment.  (However if you’re using it as an outreach, you may want to limit the churchy words in PSAs and Press Releases, as they tend to scare off religion-phobic people.)  Share the style of music, what you know of the artist’s story, and what he/she will bring ministry-wise to the event.  Explain all of the entertainment and ministry portions of the event.  Make sure that the date, time, place, and cost are made clear.  Above all, help people to understand why it would be better to come to your event than go to anything else in the world (besides the physical return of Jesus) that night.CommunicationMost musicians have some type of message that they are trying to convey.  This is especially true for Christians who are artists.  They want to entertain, but not JUST entertain.  Make sure that you understand the mission of the artists, and communicate with them to help them meet YOUR mission as a church leader.  Working together in this way can help turn a fun event into a ministry success.It is also imperative that you communicate all of the details about the event ahead of time with the artist.  Make sure both of you have clear expectations on: mission, place, set-up times, length, event components, event promotion, ticket sales (or not), all people involved in the event, payment, band merchandise, and sound system requirements.BookingIt is usually best to have more than one thing in an event.  This makes it extra-interesting and more likely to attract a crowd.  Think creatively.  At the very least you can have multiple musicians playing in the event.  You may also consider Christ-centered comedians, speakers, justice-advocates, dance ministries, live worship painters, and more. It may be good to communicate with other area churches to see if they know of anybody that they could recommend.  Often you don’t need to go outside of your city or state to find excellent ministries in these areas!Some churches put on festivals with games and food.  This is one way to involve an artist in your ministry, but you do need to consider that in this type of event the artist will be mostly background entertainment.  This is fine, but if you think their message is strong enough for you to want the church to really listen in, you may consider having the artist back for a more focused type of event.  This is when it would be good to have multiple artists or any of the ideas discussed in the previous paragraph.Make sure when you book an artist, you are ready to make sure they get paid for what they do.  I wrote another blog post on why artists should be paid and how to make sure it happens, so I won’t go into that here.Response PlanOnce you and your artists have agreed on a goal for the vent, come up with a response plan.  Besides having a fun time, what do you want attendees to walk away thinking about?If you want a spiritual response, make that clear and have people who are ready to pray with and minister to people.  You may even consider having Bibles or other helpful materials available for people to take home with them.If you want people to be called to action, make that clear, and give them concrete ways to act NOW.  You may have tables with ways to get involved in the church, ministry opportunities, or certain missions.  You can take donations for a certain organization, or have sign-ups available for volunteering.Sound SystemI once was booked at a venue that just had speakers.  No soundboard, no monitors, no microphones, and no cables.  We arrived and quickly realized there was no way for us to play.  Thankfully I had a friend who had a sound system, but he was a half hour away.  I called him and he rushed out there as soon as he could, with all of his heavy equipment piled in the back of his car.  We started a couple hours late, which was ridiculous.I say this with a smile on my face.  If you have no idea what the artist is talking about when he/she says they need 5 inputs, a DI-box, and reverb on their vocals: please do everyone a favor and let the artist speak ahead of time with someone at your church who knows sound!  If nobody knows sound well enough at your church to run a concert, make sure you get a volunteer, or allow the artist to send someone weeks ahead of time to check out the system.  It can make or break an event.On a similar note, have you ever heard someone speak through a microphone that makes them sound muffled, or makes a woman sound like a man?  Have you heard a good singer try to sing who can’t hear the instruments, and he/she ends up being off-pitch? Good equipment and good sound technicians are ESSENTIAL to any concert.  A horrible sound system or untrained sound person can ruin an event.  This is not an exaggeration.  Make sure you have a knowledgeable sound tech who will be there to help the band set up, run a sound check, tweak the sound during the whole event, and tear down properly.Involving VolunteersPlanning an excellent event takes a lot of time and effort.  I recommend getting people involved who wouldn’t mind helping.  Volunteers can help it run smoothly and make it extra special.  You may even consider people with specific gifting or skills to put in charge of each of these areas; because of that I also included descriptions of the type of people that may be good at these positions.  Depending on the type of concert, each of these may not be needed.  It's important to communicate with the artist and volunteers ahead of time, so you're not overwhelmed the day of the event!Here are some ideas:

1. Event leader (probably you) – should be willing to lead, serve, and delegate tasks
2. Lead promoters – should be excited about the event and clear communicators
3. Ticket sales – should be organized and friendly
4. “MC” (Master of Ceremonies) – should be confident, sincere, and able to speak concisely and with clarity
5. Set-up & Tear-down – should be respectful and willing to serve and listen to the leaders
6. Food & drink (for sale, or replenishing free refreshments) – should value cleanliness and organization
7. Helping at the artists’ merchandise tables – should be organized, good at math and/or technology, and extremely trustworthy
8. Sound Technician – must be a specialist in this area, and should care about the event and artist, and be willing to serve humbly
9. Errand runner (make sure the artists and the volunteers have everything they need) – should be good at taking initiative, organized, and willing to check in with and help everyone throughout the night
10. Ministry & Prayer Teams – should be mature in the faith, and have a heart ready to listen and seek the Lord with a person
11. Response – should be friendly and passionate about getting people involved in helping

I hope this helps you get a clearer picture of how to put on an excellent event.  Feel free to contact me (stefaniepottermusic@gmail.com) with any questions you have.  I’m happy to help!Should we Pay a Musician?