5 Tips for Turning a Meeting into a Party

No one wants to attend ANOTHER boring meeting, and your volunteers are no different! Using just a few simple and applicable ideas, you can host trainings that volunteers actually WANT to attend. Whether it’s an annual volunteer training or your weekly volunteer meeting, here are five tips for turning your meetings into a party!

1. Don’t call it a “meeting.” You probably aren’t super excited about attending meetings, and your volunteers aren’t either. Whether you call it a training session, a convention, a conference, a summit, a rally, or even a gathering, what you call your training event will subliminally influence a volunteer’s attitude about attending.
2. Offer food (even if it’s just a brownie bite). It’s a great way to show appreciation for your volunteers from the very beginning. If you feed them, they will come.
3. Give your training a theme. We’re in children’s ministry, so this is right in our wheelhouse. Just like you would for a game night, a holiday event, or VBS, give your volunteer training a theme (think baseball, jungle-themed, superhero, storybook, underwater, Western, etc). Then carry that theme throughout the entire training – in the words you say, the graphics you use, the ideas you share, and the food you serve.
4. Hand out gifts. People often leave a party with a goody bag, so consider giving out a special appreciation gift at your training. When you give gifts BEFORE someone has even served in your ministry, it helps communicate that you value them not just as people who fill a slot in your volunteer roster but as people in the body of Christ. Find some of our volunteer appreciation gift ideas below!
   1. 24 Volunteer Appreciation Ideas (blog post)
   2. Volunteer Valentine Printable
   3. Christmas Volunteer Appreciation Bundle
   4. Chocolate Chip Cookie Volunteer Appreciation Tag
   5. Super Volunteer Gift Card Printable (freebie for DKM Subscribers)
   6. Pumpkin Spice Fall Volunteer Appreciation Printable (freebie for DKM Subscribers)
   7. Even more volunteer appreciation ideas! 
5. When you go to a party, you’re celebrating something; share the celebrations and wins from your ministry as encouragement. Show pictures of kids, special events, and Sunday mornings. Highlight wins within the ministry and point out growth you see in individual kids as well as the whole group. Record a video of a child sharing their testimony or ask a child to speak at your training and share their faith in person. Remind your volunteers that what they do has an eternal, personal impact on a child’s life and global effect on the future. Use this Sunday Celebrations journal to record the celebrations and the wins over a 5-year span!

What’s your next step? Put a date on the calendar for your next volunteer party & start planning with these 5 tips in mind!

Want help hosting your next volunteer training? Check out some of our top volunteer training resources here!