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One of the things that can break up the semester well is bringing in a guest speaker. Most speakers are excited for the opportunity to influence and encourage college students, but if we don’t do a good job hosting them they can leave feeling like they weren’t appreciated.
As someone who has traveled and spoken a number of different places, here are some quick tips on how to host guest speakers.
Arrival:
Make sure you or someone you choose is ready to meet them at the door and welcome them. That person should be prepared to stay with them throughout the meeting and provide anything they need (water, a place to put their notes, show them where the restroom is, etc.).
You’ll want to communicate clearly about how to find the place you’re meeting. Whether you email them a campus map or, better yet, designate a spot to meet them on the outskirts of the campus. If they get lost your meeting will run late or they may never make it!
Production Communication:
I’ve talked before about how you should have a well organized meeting rundown each week. If you do that then you can communicate it to your guest speaker at least 4-5 days before your meeting.
This will give them an idea of what’s coming up before them, how long they should speak for and how they should plan to end their sermon based on if there will be a song, altar ministry, small group discussion time, etc. This will also give them an opportunity to let you know if they have any media needs (something that can be really frustrating to troubleshoot on the day of).
Atmosphere:
Sometimes managing the energy in the room can be one of the most difficult things to figure out. This is especially challenging because it’s more intuitive than anything else. While we don’t need to be gimmicky, students are much more likely to stay engaged after a long day of classes if the energy level is raised before the guest speaker gets up to share.
When you have a smaller crowd (smaller than most churches) sometimes you have to play a game, show a funny video or have something fun to do to generate energy.
Honorarium:
Before you jump to thinking about how you don’t have money for this make sure you read all the suggestions I’m about to give. Not all groups have the ability to give an honorarium. That’s completely understandable, but for those who do get a budget from the school it would be nice to plan honorariums into it. Even if you can’t budget a lot for this just compensating for their travel expenses is helpful.
However, if you don’t have the money available there are other ways to thank someone for coming. Maybe give them a flash drive of free BASIC resources. You could give them a BASIC branded water bottle or t-shirt. They might really enjoy getting a school mug or t-shirt instead.
Either way, make sure you at least write up a thank you card and give it to them before they leave. They have taken their time to be with you and a simple gesture goes a long way.
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