Origins

I was working a sound board the other day. A biodeisel forum down in South Seattle. My job was done; speakers were up and running, the mics worked but as I sat there I realized that I was bored. Not because I couldn't hear the speakers, not because the issue was unimportant or irrelevant. There were just a few problems. The event had not been marketed very well as the audience was slim and the sponsor booths sparse. More crucial was the fact that the event did not have anything to say or do that the audience could not have stayed at home in their underwear and looked up on the internet. If you're going to ask people to give up 5 hours on a Saturday morning, maybe find childcare, definitely cut into a day off, you have to give them more of a reason than "it's good for you." Why should people care about your issue? Why should they stick around? It's great you have a good keynote speaker but I didn't find her terribly inspiring. I should have left the conference resolved to build a biodeisel still or donate to a non-profit canola crushing plant or something. Instead I resolved to go home and write a blog on how your event doesn't have to suck.
Picture this -Seattle Biodeisel Forum. You show up and get to participate in making some biodeisel. Your kids get to ride around the block in the mobile crushing truck. The speakers are lively, inspired, and know how to use a microphone. There is a reason to get up a bit early and invite your friends. You get free coffee. I'd go to that. And maybe I'd actually learn something. Maybe I'd walk out of there knowing how I could help right now.
I don't mean to pick on the Biodeisel Forum. It was only the latest in a long string of boring events I've worked. But people, it doesn't have to be this way. Target marketing, interactive demos, slideshows, raffles. It doesn't have to be boring to be good for you and just because it's boring doesn't mean it is good for you. Non-profit events can be exciting. It's not magic.