In light of the events of 2020 and the shutdown that isolated many of us, as well as the evolution of technology, The Life of a Single Mom® team wants to highlight some do’s and don’ts of virtual events and virtual single mom support group meetings. We’ve comprised a list of critical tips to host a virtual event. But first, let’s take a look at an in-person event and all the things necessary to hold a successful in-person event. This information will be paramount in creating your virtual content.
We’ve been hosting and participating in single moms events around the U.S., in some capacity or another, since 2007, so we’ve seen what works… and what doesn’t! There are a few non-negotiables at every single moms’ event and Bible study gathering. In short order, they are Food, Fellowship, Childcare, Effective Length & Structure, Organization, and Content. Each component requires thought, preparation, and putting oneself into the shoes of those we serve. Single moms often can’t attend events, when childcare hasn’t been considered. Family limitations or financial restraints may factor into their ability to secure their own sitter. Further, a meal is a practical, yet a necessary component of gathering single mothers (and many others, for that matter). The nuances of how the event is structured, the content of the Bible study, and the level of organization of every event and ministry meeting should all be considered. We’ve got lots to say on the matter of event planning. You can check out our free ebook HERE. Also, we’ve spent our entire ministry life (20+ years) in assisting churches and nonprofits on how to do an effective single moms’ support group or Bible study. You can get more details on that HERE.
Did you know that The Life of a Single Mom offers a step-by-step guide on getting your single mom’s group started? We have have special resources for planning your single moms virtual event. Over the past decade, we have been able to help launch or improve 2,000+ single mom groups around the nation. All of the knowledge that we have gained over the years has been poured into this kit and we want to help you! Starting with our Premium package, you receive our kit along with special curriculum for your mom and access to our very own Single Mom University, an online educational platform with 100+ parenting, financial, health & wellness, and ministry leader courses. To learn more about our kit, click HERE or email us at info@thelifeofasinglemom.com.
So what about virtual meetings? How? When? Where? What’s effective? How do we engage? Well, let’s start by saying we haven’t figured it all out yet! We’re still learning as we go. That said, we have hosted a number of virtual events this year and have had almost 10,000 people connect to them, so we’re hopeful these tips will serve you well!
- Consider doing both in-person and virtual options to accommodate multiple comfort levels. Even if the pandemic hadn’t happened, there is something to be said for offering both an in-person and an online option. As we consider our audience, single moms may be juggling multiple jobs and have just enough time to pop on and watch a portion of your Bible study or event, but not attend the entire thing. It may be that having both an in-person and virtual option opens the door for more ministry of single mothers, as they develop a comfort level and get to know your church or ministry. (Note: We obviously recommend you adhere to guidelines in existence for your church or community regarding gatherings of various sizes when considering any in-person event).
- Consider the formatting that works for you. Zoom, Facebook LIVE, Instagram LIVE, Webex, Conference Call, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Join.Me, Slack, Skype, Uber Conference, or even others. There are countless options on virtual gatherings, and to be frank, we’re not tech experts. We recommend you research each of the above and look at free to low-cost options with available features to help you navigate the needs that exist for your single moms’ group or event. Our staff is much like you. We have a level of expertise in single motherhood and employ those who do marketing, accounting, management, etc., but tech is not our forte. So from one non-techy to another, let us tell you what we do know. Facebook groups are probably the simplest and easiest way to host a small single moms’ group or Bible study. Benefits include: It is free. It is familiar to most. It requires very little in the way of set-up. It now allows for “Rooms” creation, where different subject matters can be created, such as small discussion groups. Zoom is another that we are intricately familiar with. Zoom is reasonably priced and can transition easily from meetings to webinars, which will be necessary for larger gatherings, such as events versus meetings. Further, they have several nuanced capabilities, including breakout rooms ideal for single mom discussion questions. They also have a good support team that can answer most of your questions.
- Plan. Organization is critical to the success of any event or meeting, virtual or not. However, the added pressure of background noise, effectively grabbing attendees’ attention, and lack of fellowship present when gathering in person creates obstacles that make planning necessary. Ask critical questions, such as: How can we engage attendees? Have we thought about noise? Have we thought about content? What are we trying to accomplish with this gathering? Do we have an action-plan for post-attendance follow up?
- Host smaller gatherings to learn. Don’t invite 500 single moms to a community-wide event if you haven’t explored several small gatherings first. This trial-and-error period will help develop what does and doesn’t work for your ministry, community, and team.
- Don’t wear noisy jewelry. Okay, seems like a small point, but not at all. The clinking of a bracelet, earrings, or necklace can be wildly distracting during an event when a microphone is the only connection you have with your audience. Be mindful of what you are wearing. Speaking of what you are wearing, also consider the angle of the lens you will be speaking from and ensure that your clothing is modest and complimentary to your church or ministry standards.
- Do a dry-run. Practice. Once all the details have been ironed out, we recommend one practice run, early on, to identify what you haven’t yet considered. Practice runs need to have both leaders and attendees in order to understand how both audiences are receiving their content. Then, do a second (and even third) practice run, as you have developed the content of the event or ministry, just to ensure all details have been secured and considered.
We may not be tech experts, but we can definitely help you troubleshoot what we can. Have questions about your set up? Maybe you have more questions about planning your virtual event. We are the single mom experts and can definitely help you! Click HERE and schedule your 30-minute phone consultation. (As an added bonus, each of our packages include consultations, so if you have a kit, contact us today to schedule your consultation!)
- Test for tech difficulties and have a plan B. Plan B options can include someone logging in from different location to take over leading the group, in case the primary leader has tech or internet difficulties, hosting the event at an alternate venue (such as hosting on Facebook, if Zoom isn’t working), and having multiple devices so that one can move from laptop to Ipad, to phone, when difficulties arise. Even with all the planning, you may still run into a snafu, but the better the plan B, the more smooth the transition.
- Address hackers. If you hold enough virtual events, you’ll eventually have some hackers. There can be hackers on almost any venue you choose that can infiltrate your event, and usually, their only goal, especially for a faith-based event, is to use potty-mouthed language and become a general nuisance. Having volunteers ready to address the issue by quickly silencing their capabilities and removing them from the gathering is critical. If you are the lead speaker/teacher, you cannot stop and address the issue and also effectively jump back into teaching, so have a team member ready and able to address that, if and when it happens.
- Watch outside noise and movement. Bumping a desk may cause your computer to shake, leaving a blurry screen for viewers. Shaking your knee under the table could cause the monitor to shake. Minimize outside distraction if at all possible. Assess what is going on inside your office or home to minimize noise from radio, television, screaming kids, and anything else you can control. For outside meetings, be aware that your minor breeze can sound like a roaring windstorm to viewers!
- Consider meeting frequency. If you are hosting a regular single moms’ Bible study in person, our ministry always recommends two times per month. There are many reasons for this that we detail in our ministry kit training and certification. However, in recent times of virtual meetings and online meeting “fatigue,” you may consider the frequency that works for you. Do single moms in your study want to gather more frequently to stay on track with their spiritual walk? Is once a month all you can handle personally right now?
- Open with fellowship & games. Like any good event, you really need an emcee, fellowship, and games. Yes, even if you are hosting a regular Bible study! (Note: You don’t have to over-complicate it, though. Simply ask one of your regular volunteers to greet, open in prayer, and host a fun game.) This will get the crowd engaged and hopefully spearhead participation and a few laughs. There are many websites for creative ice breaker games, so we recommend a simple web search for that. Door prizes are always an added bonus. Opening questions for fun Q&A could be things related to your ministry or church. How long have we been meeting with our single moms’ ministry? How many women normally attend our single moms’ groups? What day & time do we normally meet? What curriculum are we currently studying in our group? The key is to take time to get to know new attendees or acknowledge regular attenders and engage them in some sort of informal fellowship.
- Engage in a chat feature when possible. Speaking of fellowship, chat forums can work in various ways, depending on what venue you settled on for hosting your study or event. Chat can simply be comments beneath the Facebook live, the actual chat feature on Webex or Zoom webinars, or unmuting microphones in the event. Caution: Be sure to have this function in a way that is appropriate for your event size. For example, you likely would not want the unmuting ability for an event of 50+ people, but it would appropriate for a 20-person Bible study group.
- Utilize breakout rooms whenever possible for additional discussion. Again, contingent upon the venue you selected, breakout rooms or discussion forums are available in different ways. Zoom has a great breakout room that would work very similar to the in-person discussion breakout sessions we recommend in our training materials. This allows for small group study even when you are hosting larger virtual events or groups.
Looking for curriculum? Check out the TLSM shop for great books like Kids and the Single Mom HERE.
- Consider content being taught. Just as with in-person events, it’s essential to consider your audience and what content you are teaching the team for virtual events. Obviously, we surrender to the Holy Spirit first for guidance in this matter. That said, also look at the curriculum you’ve selected for studying for the semester. Is it specifically for single moms by single moms? Does the content address single mom challenges, such as parenting without an active father figure or financial woes that could be present in her home? These things matter when considering growth opportunities and how the material may resonate with the audience.
- Rotate speakers frequently to keep it fresh. Whether you rotate speakers and teachers inside one event or whether you rotate speakers at a variety of events, this is a must. Virtual events are challenging at keeping people’s attention when kids can be screaming in the background, or they are both watching and texting with friends. Keeping it fresh by offering varying voices, faces, and insight will help with attention and engagement.
- Keep everyone muted, except during games or open forum. Even when hosting small virtual events with 8-10 women, keep them muted during teaching time. Huge distractions come when hosting virtual events, so mass-mute everyone, and then they can unmute themselves when you open up discussion questions. (Hint: We allow discussion and icebreakers upfront, then mute everyone for the remainder of the event).
- Deliver an agenda in advance. People like to know what to expect, so circulate out a sample agenda. There’s flexibility within that agenda, but it will set an expectation of how long the attendee is committing to and content. Agendas can simply answer the who, what, when, where, how long, and what’s-in-it-for-me.
- Ask all video to be on. When people know you can see them, and they can see you, there is a different level of participation than when they have sound on, but video off. It is certainly optional, based on the event, but we highly recommend this as a standard best-practice to set that expectation before hosting a virtual event.
- Integrate additional speakers to do tasks to ensure engagement and participation. Speakers don’t necessarily have to simply be the keynote or main teacher. Varying speakers can be used to emcee (as previously mentioned), facilitate a game, facilitate door prizes, offer an opening prayer, or offer a word of encouragement or testimonial.
- Add a Q&A at the end. When possible, offer a question and answer session at the end of your event. This will help engage the audience and ensure that thoughts and questions have been answered, and each viewer took away what they needed.
- Keep meetings to approximately 45 minutes when online. Attention span wanes substantially, and people are weary of virtual events. That said, maximize your meeting time to include empowerment & encouragement, along with prayer and edification, as well as some fun. Any virtual events beyond the 45 minute marked should be led by them, such as with Q&A or extended prayer.
- Have an action plan. Give some next steps for your attendees, such as detailing upcoming events or meetings, homework, reading assignments for upcoming lessons, or action plans they can follow that pertain to content, such as writing Scripture, etc.
- Have a follow-up plan. What contact will you have with attendees after the event? Will they be added to a database for future invitations? Will there be a follow-up email, survey, or social media posts to debrief about the event? Will there be calls to thank them for attendance? In other words, if the goal of an event is long-term connection and fellowship, what plan do you have for long-term ministry and connection?
- Have a specific prayer time. Pray leading up to virtual events with a prayer team. Have a prayer team available to pray during the event and for any attendees after the event. Have a prayer team to make calls for those who may need additional prayer. In other words, bathe it prayer!
- Have fun. Be creative. Even with all the advice above, no one knows your crowd, your community, and your single moms like you do, so be creative. Enjoy the gathering. Don’t put undue pressure on yourself or those who serve with you. Sometimes, the most important component of the virtual event or group is simply being present with the attendees and letting them know that they are seen and loved.
Need additional information? We have you covered! Single Mom University is our platform that offers 100+ courses including parenting, finances, and health & wellness. Not only is it the perfect tool to use as curriculum for your single moms group, but there are classes created just for you, the ministry leader! Our suggestion? Check out Ministry Leader Basics which includes classes like: Planning a Successful Event, Fundraising for your Event, Troubleshooting Within Your Group, and 5 Strategies to Maximize Support for your Single Mom Ministry. To get started, click HERE to get enrolled. Click on your Ministry Leader Dashboard and click started today!
The Life of a Single Mom® is a national, faith-based, nonprofit that exists to see that no single mom walks alone. To date, the organization has worked with thousands of churches to start a single mom’s support group in cities throughout the U.S. and beyond, as well as having served more than one million single mothers with a variety of programs. Offering a large array of books, curriculum, training materials, online instructional videos, podcasts, newsletters, life skills education, and more, TLSM is one of the largest single mom organizations in the U.S. The robust selection of single mom programs focus on empowering single moms to grow spiritually, emotionally, financially, and parentally through Single Mom University®, Single Moms Across America, the National TLSM Single Moms Conference, boot camps, and a variety of other programs. For more information, visit thelifeofasinglemom.com..
