The enrichment meeting principle

In our ward, we have a history of wonderful enrichment meetings. Sue is our counselor over enrichment and Cindy is the homemaking leader. Between those two, every enrichment meeting we have is great. There are invitations, tasting tables, fancy food, decorations. If anything can be done to make them more successful, they have done it. And the women respond by attending. No matter the topic for the meeting, the sisters know there will be good company, good food, and a good time. I'll call it the enrichment meeting principle - people respond to preparation. When they can tell you have put time and effort into the planning, they know it will be worth their time to attend.

In the department, several years ago we started having senior dinners for those who are graduating. The graduates bring their spouses/partners (at some nominal charge) and get a small token of appreciation. I planned the dinner for the first several years, but it was taken over by another for the last four or five years. Last year, it had descended to an all time low: dinner at a restaurant known for poor service and mediocre food, baseball caps (with a USU logo) as a 'gift' from the department, and a few games. There were less than fifteen people total (including faculty) who showed up last year.

This year, I offered to take the dinner on again. We went to the new Iron Gate Grill (which was wonderful!), invited the spouses for free (foregoing any gifts to make up the difference in expense), and moved the dinner a littler earlier in the month. Using Survey Monkey (my new favorite software product), I used Michelle's idea for doing Family Feud as a game. The graduating seniors were emailed a survey to answer such questions as "Who is the most feared professor?", "Why did you come to USU?" and "Which professor is most likely to excel at Rock Band?" We sent out numerous reminders about the dinner, and asked for a "save the date" count, so we could have a rough estimate as to who was coming. I created another survey and asked each senior to select an award for each of the graduating seniors. The awards were things like "The Baryshnikov award for dancing around the issues," "The Houdini Award for being able to escape from any bind", and "the Loch Ness Award for the worker least likely to be found". With Renee's help, I made up cute certificates with their names and the title of their award and printed them on cardstock. We had printed name tags with a cap and gown as a background. We had OVER SIXTY come to the dinner. Only one who said they would come failed to show. The Family Feud game was a hit, and they loved the awards. It really turned out fun.

Afterward as someone was thanking me for a job well done, he said, "Having it early in the month really worked to increase the attendance." I was speechless. Having it early really worked? You don't think it had anything to do with the reminders, the surveys which piqued interest, knowing they would be receiving an award? Obviously, he knows nothing of the enrichment meeting principle - people respond to preparation.

I guess I AM learning something from my service in Relief Society!