GETTING YOUR BANQUET MESSAGE
DOWN TO A FINE POINT
Tell me a story.
Don’t tell me all of the stories. Tell the right story and tell it well!
I’ve found this encouragement, instruction, pro tip—call it whatever you like—to be more than helpful as we continue to work through the Banquet Project in the Northwest Division, alongside the Field Events team at the Service Center. We continue to discover ways that Areas can produce consistent, excellent fundraisers. This one statement is significant: tell the right story and tell it well.
In the interest of honoring your guests and to be a good steward of your stakeholder’s time, don’t miss this! Tell them what their supporting. Make it clear. Keep it simple. Identify a problem or a void and tell them how Young Life in your community is solving the problem or filling the void.
Please don’t lose their interest by over-telling the story.
As a staff person or volunteer leader, you give and receive to this mission in remarkable ways! I’m certain that you could tell all sorts of amazing stories. Believe me, each of those stories have value. Yet, telling a single story and telling it well may be our greatest challenge in our fundraising efforts today.
Could you tell me in one clear statement what you’re expecting me to know at the end of your fundraising event?
When you plan a banquet, auction, 5k, skeet shoot, game night, or whatever else, are you considering this question: what is the one story that I’m telling my guests?
Let’s imagine for a moment that one day you get home in the evening and decide to make a large pot of soup. It’s a good soup and there’s lots of it! Then, you just sit around and wait for your friends to show up and eat it…right? NO! You’ve never done that. When you prepare a meal for your friends, you invite them over first; then you’re careful to think about what they like or if they have dietary restrictions. You’ll consider how many are coming and what time of day it is; you’ll prepare a table or a picnic; you’ll buy wine or lemonade. Whatever you produce, it will be completely dependent on who will be there.
Can we give that same attention to our Banquets? What if your entire banquet plan began with “who’s coming?” Begin every part of your strategy with that filter. What have they seen/heard in our community recently? What drives their passion? How are they currently connected to our ministry? What will offend them? What problems exist in their lives and how can Young Life help solve them? What burns in their gut and makes them stand up and cheer?!
It’s likely that, of everyone at your Banquet, you care the most about the mission of Young Life. Think about that reality for a second. You eat, breathe, and sleep Young Life. I think we owe it to your guest to give them one, clear story to grasp.
Tell them the right story and tell it well.
Like every good recipe for a meal, our fundraiser should include elements or ingredients that come together to make one great thing. Your MC, Program Team, Kid Testimony, Committee Member, Auctioneer, Speaker, and whomever else gets on that stage to share will honor your guests if they blend their messages together to tell one story.
Here are two videos that author and founder or Story Brand, Donald Miller published recently to support this concept:
Written by: Blake Raney (blakeraney@gmail.com)