We, as the church, face a unique challenge. Many secular events have a very specific, easily recognizable market. However, as Christians, we have been given the commission to share our message with “the world.” So, how do you market events to a wide audience?

Perhaps you have formed your own answer to this question. My longstanding belief is that we each have a part to play in the greater mission. That is, we each identify our most natural connections as they relate to our own strengths, tendencies, aversions, and associations, and those types of connections become our most relatable audience or cause. This is the beauty of the collective body: we all can play a different drum while still striking the same rhythm and heartbeat.

If you don’t know what audience you or your church appeals to, now is a good time to think more about it. What type of people are you trying to reach? Picture your ideal attendees, then get specific. Where do they live? Where were they born? What are they wearing? What are they doing right now? Who do they spend time with? Where do they spend their time and money?

Understanding your audience’s demographics and psychographics—personality traits, values, attitudes, interests, lifestyles, and preferences—can be incredibly valuable to creating a successful event.

WHY AUDIENCE RESEARCH MATTERS

The value of understanding the needs and attitudes of your audience is that this will help you create events that are attractive and enjoyable to that particular group. To build an appealing event, it is vital to build your empathetic skills to forecast and meet the needs of your audience in a practical way. Ultimately, every event you hold should fill a need in the market. By identifying and understanding these needs, you can craft experiences that attract more attendees, making them feel comfortable and continue to come back.

Some useful questions to consider when reaching your audience are:

• What is the age range of your ideal attendees?

• What generation does your event most appeal to?

• What other types of events would your audience be interested in attending?

• What are their pain points, and how can your event address them?

• How does your audience prefer to learn, connect, or interact?

• What are their motivating factors (i.e. Are they looking for social connection, spiritual growth, enhanced personal well-being, or education?)

GENERATIONAL RESEARCH: A CRITICAL KEY TO SUCCESS

When it comes to better understanding your audience, it can be valuable when trying to reach a Western-born audience to explore the demographic and psychographic insights offered by studying typical generational values.

Here is some general information to get started in understanding the blanket characteristics of each generation, according to generational studies:

Baby Boomers (age 58-76 in 2024) are often hard-working and can be idealistic, aggressive, confident and career-minded. They typically enjoy teamwork and value efficient, loyal, focused, accurate and thorough meetings. Boomers are tech-savvy, but they often prefer human interaction over technology. Many are focused on their health and retirement planning.

Generation X (age 44-58 in 2024) can be independent and self-reliant, probably because, as children, they were the least nurtured and least supervised of all the generations. They place a high value on education and value efficiency, autonomy, and transparency. They often want meetings to be efficient, timely and educational.

Millennials, or Generation Y (ages 25-43 in 2024), were typically more nurtured and supervised as children than the generations before them. They grew up in an extremely scheduled environment. Today, they can place a high value on experiences and advancing their lifestyle. They like games and are tech-savvy. They are generally charitable and entrepreneurial and want to make a positive impact in the world.

Generation Z (ages 10-24 in 2024) is the first fully digital generation and is growing up in a world of technology and constant connection. They often value diversity, authenticity, and self-expression. This group is social-media-savvy, and they typically look for brands and causes that align with their values, including social justice, sustainability, inclusivity, and mental health advocacy.

Research like this can help provide insight into communication trends and strategies as they adjust to trends and culture.

CRAFTING MULTI-GENERATIONAL EVENTS

It is possible to appeal to more than one generation at a time, but targeting multiple groups means you’ll need to account for different needs, preferences, and communication styles. It might involve using a mix of traditional and digital media or having breakout sessions that cater to different age groups.

This, of course, increases the complexity of your event, which is where project management tools and systems, like Asana and this Event Management Plan Document, can help support event planning complexities.

However, if your resources are limited, you may want to apply the KISS principle. Keeping it simple involves focusing on the most critical target audience or segment and creating event marketing and design that appeals to that one group, focusing on delivering with excellence.

If you are trying to reach a generation other than your own, it can be beneficial to do additional research to learn how they think. Resources like Hemorrhaging Faith and Meet Generation Z are excellent aids for understanding Millennials and Gen Z. You may also surround yourself with leaders from your target audience and listen to what they have to say.

GENERATIONAL DIVERSITY AT MINISTERS GATHERING

Creating a multi-generational range among attendees has been a big success of our Ministers Gathering event at the ABNWT District.

This past year, at our 2024 event, we were blown away by the now equal representation of Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z attendees at this event (see graphs below). This change towards an even representation has taken place over the past few years and is a shift from our historical figures. We are ecstatic about witnessing the engagement and momentum building within each generation represented. We believe that inspiring strength and resilience grow when we gather together and uplift each other in support of a cause that is greater than us—that is why the Ministers Gathering is such a special event.

CONCLUSION

Creating events that attract a broader audience starts by understanding who your audience is and what they’re interested in. Knowing how to connect with a broad audience requires research, knowledge, empathy, and communication. When you know more about the people you aim to serve, you unlock the knowledge needed to serve them better.

At Ministers Gathering, we’ve seen firsthand how intentionally building our generational diversity can create events that foster greater connection, growth, and unity. If you haven’t yet attended Ministers Gathering, we’d love for you to join us this February (registration opened Nov 15).

The world and the way that people communicate keep changing rapidly, but there is assurance in knowing there is immanent potential when people gather together. As you research, re-evaluate, and strategize in the coming days, may you find greater joy and inspiration in providing these imperative points of connection for your community.

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