Last week my wife and I went to our favorite burger joint. It’s one of those “theme” restaurants with stuff hanging from the ceiling, a prancing horse that may or may not have ever ridden a carousel, and occasionally, a balloon guy who tries to be funny but mostly just frightens small children.
This place makes hamburgers so juicy you need to shower when you’re done. They have “bottomless fries” … enough to make my cardiologist cry.
They also have live music… kind of… but they only know one song. It’s a unique composition intended to honor someone on their birthday, performed by a mostly college-something wait-staff with more energy than talent.
It starts with loud clapping and the lead “singer” calling out for everyone to join in. Join in? Everybody has a mouth full of hamburger and nobody knows the words (which includes the name of the restaurant even though it doesn’t really fit).
As the entertainers rounded the corner and approached their target, first one, then another noticed that something was terribly wrong. They were most of the way through the song when the singing and clapping suddenly fizzled. The intended recipient of all this attention was missing.
The little girl had gone to the little girls room.
The staff disbursed and kind of hung their heads as they returned to more pressing needs like topping off water glasses and re-filling baskets of fries. A few minutes later it started again, presumably after a spy discreetly took attendance at the corner table. As they passed us for the second time in 15 minutes, we heard one of the singers mutter only half-convincingly: “This is not a drill.”
Did you ever throw a party and nobody came?
How about when you launched a new small group or held a leader training event? You spend hours dusting places no one can see, testing a lint remover’s effectiveness on dog hair, and trying out a new desert recipe (from the bakery at Costco). Zero-hour comes and goes. Nobody shows. Then one, or two. Sometimes you’ll get a last minute call offering up a lame excuse. “It was the only night we had to wash the cat” or “Our Tivo is on the fritz and we really needed to see the semi-finals of “Dancing With the Stars.” Right.
What is the secret of having an event no one wants to miss?
- Preparation. When people show up they should be instantly aware that you spent time getting ready for them.
- Surprises. Give them something to talk about.
- Value. Give them something practical that they can use.
In the next post, I’ll throw out some ideas that have worked at Willow Creek. What works for you?
