Rob's Blog Post - The Backyard Bard

How to host a great Backyard Bard storytelling event

We are always greatly encouraged when churches do a fantastic job of hosting a Backyard Bard storytelling. I thought that I would list a few of the elements which go towards making a great event. There are so many that have run outstanding events, but I'll focus on one in particular as a case study, Luke at All Saints Oatley West on May 9^th this year.

Enthusiasm

The rector Dr. Stephen Anderson, contacted me in January about coming later in the year and from that and future correspondence, it was clear that they were enthusiastic about it as an event. This is the fundamental principle which makes or breaks a Backyard Bard event. If the group hosting the event is excited about it then the details will fall into place and it will be fantastic. The opposite extreme is for a church to merely think they are doing us a favour by loaning us the use of their facilities (I'm glad to say that's rarely if ever been my experience). We see ourselves as working in partnership with churches and Christian groups. We provide the content which the church can use as a major event on it's calendar as part of its overall strategy.

Point person & Team

On the lead up to the storytelling, a member of the church named Katie made contact with me. She was the head of a team of church people to organise the event. We were in good communication before and after the event and made organising all the details a delight. For me this was ideal. Often the minister of a church doesn't have the freedom to dedicate the time to organising the event that it needs and so giving the responsibility to a team of people in the congregation whose job it was to make it a great night works perfectly.

Promotional Material

Katie was in touch with me early about promotional material. This particular church decided to download the graphics from the website and print postcards themselves with information about their particular event on the back. This is precisely why we have everything available on our website for you to use as you see best.

They invited newcomers

The whole church got behind the event and invited their friends and family. One lady brought 6-7 friends along.
This is what Dr Anderson said in a follow-up article on the Sydney Anglican website:
"Locals weren’t put off by the Jesus focus of the event, and even if they didn’t come, good conversations arose from the invitations."
"Tactically, our primary rationale for staging events through this year is to give people new things to talk about as we forge new connections"
"Some commented that this was the easiest invitation to a church event they’d ever extended – and the event itself was equally non-threatening.”

The Setup of the Venue was Fantastic

They set up the hall of the church with tables so that it had a cafe feel. The tables looked beautiful with candles and even the lead up to the church was lit with candles. They provided a wonderful supper at the interval and it seemed like a pleasant and inviting environment. They had a team of helpers there early to set up. They provided lighting (because I didn't bring mine with me on the plane trip) and they used black material to give the hall a theatrical feel. On the tables were conversation starter cards with quotes from Napoleon, Billy Connolly, Gorbachev, Gandhi and others, on who they thought Jesus was, which was an excellent touch. As a result people felt comfortable to sit around the tables and chat for about an hour after the show. All this came from careful thought and a team of able people who wanted it to be the best night it could be.

They took care of me!

This may seem like a selfish thing to speak about, but performing is an incredibly tough physical activity and the quality of the performance depends dramatically on how the storyteller feels. They picked me up form the airport and took me early to the church so that I was comfortable with the performing space. They provided me dinner (very important!) and they had a team of people there getting things ready which meant that I didn't need to do chair arranging/heavy lifting/etc. before the show. They also took care of me afterwards by giving me accommodation for the following two nights and welcoming me at their church on the Sunday. They also paid the invoice early which mean that I didn't have to chase it up!

Prayer

Not only did the congregation pray about the storytelling leading up to the night, they had people committed to pray for the event whilst it was happening. The team of helpers came together to pray just before the storytelling began.

MC

The point-person Katie did a fantastic job as MC. This is an extremely important job because the MC sets the tone for the night. The MC needs to be warm and welcoming, clear about what the audience should expect for the event (especially in regards to the timing of the performance) and set a positive and enthusiastic tone about the show.

Follow-up

They ran a follow-up course from the evening based on John Dickson's Life of Jesus DVD. Dr. Anderson spoke about the course at the end of the interval and they showed a promotional clip for it. They had copies of Luke's Gospel to give away to anyone there. They also gave time at church the next day for the congregation to reflect on the storytelling and to talk about the ways God's Word impacted them.

All these elements came together to make a terrific night. I hope that it's been an encouragement to you and given you ideas for hosting one of our storytellings for your community.

Posted by Robert Turnbull on Monday 2:37 pm, August 31 2009 - Permalink

Categories: LukeStorytelling,