THE TEAM YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Start planning and publicizing at least three to six months in advance and set your date as quick as possible while trying to minimize date conflicts with other events. See Getting Started for a checklist to help you plan your event. The checklist will include some of the items that will drive your budget as well. Volunteers can take more than one of the functions listed below but the more the merrier to spread the wealth.

A men’s group, bible study group, adult Sunday School class, etc. might provide your core group of key leaders. Your team can be organized in endless variations and some people will likely have multiple roles. Organize your team around the elements you want to build into your event (see Format/Features section). The event coordinator should make extensive use of checklists and due dates. To get volunteers to help on the various committees, have a pastor make an announcement during your worship service about the event and the need for volunteers. The announcement should direct the congregation to visit a “sign-up” table outside the sanctuary after the service. The sign-up table will have sign-up sheets for each major committee you want to form. Here are some potential job descriptions for your committee heads/key volunteers:

Event Coordinator (EC): The EC develops the vision, purpose, and desired outreach results of the event and coordinates with church staff as necessary (especially for budget requests). The EC recruits volunteers and gets them started with clear direction. The EC has regular contact and meetings with key volunteers to check progress, identify and solve problems, and make decisions. Meetings open with prayer, have an agenda, assign action items to specific people, follow-up on previously assigned action items, disseminate information, and get group input to make decisions. The EC should be enthusiastic. The EC visits other car events with other team members and volunteers to get them thinking about ideas and requirements from the perspectives of their assignments. The EC should also monitor the weather forecast and pray for a rainless day. The EC is the single point of contact. The EC’s name and phone number goes on your flyers and advertising as a point of contact for car owners, car clubs, potential vendors and sponsors, etc. to call and ask questions. The EC develops a schedule of events (registration times, judging times, doorprize giveaway times, announcement and interview times, etc.) and ensures all necessary people are aware of the event. The EC walks around during the event and ensures everything is going smooth. The EC may want to have one or two floaters in accompaniment in case something needs to be fixed, fetched, etc. Depending on how busy the schedule of events is, the EC may want to have one or more event schedules posted on a chalkboard or markerboard set up on easels on the grounds. Printed event schedules could also be included in goody bags.

Master of Ceremonies (MC): The MC makes announcements about upcoming activities planned for the event (e.g. doorprize giveaways, band introductions, etc.), interviews car owners about their cars, invites the public in attendance to other outreach events, interviews someone representing the charity or non-profit organization your event may be in support of, etc. The MC should also periodically thank all guests for being there, thank the car owners for bringing out their cars, and thank sponsors and volunteers.

Mingler Officer (MO): The MO recruits outgoing people (male and female/various ages) to talk to the car owners and guests at your event. The minglers do not have to be car experts. They just need to be willing to talk to people. The mingler team (5-10 persons) strives to have a short conversation with all of the people in Category 2 to make them feel welcome. They will be busy and hopefully have opportunities to turn conversations to spiritual matters. Note: I tried a church information booth staffed by volunteers who would talk to visitors and hand out printed information about the church but the booth was ignored by the crowd. Thus, I’ve become a believer in including information in the goody bags and having minglers as two forms of “active” rather than “passive” interaction with guests.

Publicity Officer (PO): The PO will need lots of helpers. The PO plans all of the publicity efforts from pages 7 and 8 above and recruits people to carry them out. The primary publicity efforts are passing out flyers at other car show events and contacting car clubs. The PO can also be responsible for arranging the development and printing of hundreds (if not thousands) of flyers. The PO therefore may want to recruit someone skilled in graphic arts within the congregation. The PO should recruit a photographer to take lots of photos during the event. After the event, the PO could submit a couple of photos and a short story for the local newspaper to print.

Photographer (PhO): The PhO takes lots of pictures. Digital is preferred so that they can be easily uploaded to websites and e-mailed. Pictures should include those of each car owner with their car, general crowd and parking lot shots that show your turnout, and shots of your volunteers and key workers in action. The PhO should know the schedule of events to make sure shots of key activities are captured. After the event, car owner photos are e-mailed to the car owners and other pics are uploaded to your website. These pics will help advertise next year’s event.

Dash Plaque Officer (DPO): The DPO arranges the design and production of at least 100 dash plaques and ensures they get placed in the goody bags for distribution to the car owners during registration. The design should also be used on flyers (but don’t hold up passing out flyers while a design is being developed). The design can also be used on commemorative t-shirts if you decide to sell them. See #5 in Annex 4 for more dash plaque information.

Logistics Officer (LO): The LO has several miscellaneous duties that will require many volunteers. They can include signs (to the event, parking signs, bathroom signs, etc.), banners, parking plans, power and water for the food booths and vendors as required, port-a-potties, sound system set-up, table/chair/canopy set-up, trash can placements, tear-down and clean-up, game layout, etc. Set-up should begin a few hours before your registration time. Some setup can occur the day before the event. The LO can also work closely with the EC to determine where to locate games, the band stage, registration table, etc. so that there is a good flow for parking, registering, etc. The LO may need to recruit parking porters wearing orange vests or other distinctive “staff” clothing to direct cars as they arrive.

Entertainment Officer (EO): The EO coordinates music, a Master of Ceremonies (MC), childrens’ games, and other activities you plan to have at your event.

Food Officer (FO): The FO organizes the food booths and/or food vendors. The FO recruits volunteers as necessary, set-up and tear-down support, arranges for the food and drinks to be purchased, organizes supplies such as grills/charcoal/ice chests, The FO ensures proper city and/or county permits are in place for both church sponsored food service and/or food vendors.

Doorprize Officer (DO): The DO recruits people to solicit doorprizes from local businesses and arranges the procedures for doorprize tickets, drawings, and timings of giveaways. The DO should spread out the giveaways so that people don’t leave after they are all gone. Some prizes will probably be “better” than others, so those should be saved for last. The DO may want to coordinate with the MC to ask a child to volunteer to draw from a hat at each giveaway.

Awards Officer (AO): For judged shows, the AO designs the award categories, arranges the selection and purchase of the awards (plaques, trophies, mini-gas pumps, etc.), how the awards will be presented (by the MC, by the EC, by the Pastor, etc.), and the timing for the award presentations after judging is complete. The AO also determines the judging procedures. “Participant Judging” is recommended so that no questions about fairness or judges’ expertise arise. During planning, the AO should narrow the choices before meetings and make recommendations in the meetings.