One factor that seems to make an event work well is choosing some activity that the local Jewish twentysomething community already wants to do, like outdoor activities (this varies seasonally, of course) and eating together. When we discussed the July prompt, it seemed pretty clear to us that while it's wonderful to attract a lot of people to an event, including new people, the number of attendees alone is hardly the reason an event is successful.
Our May and June kayaking trips are good examples of fun, seasonal events that got people out into the city, kept them active, and included a strong social element. (People went out in two-seater kayaks, which allowed for one-on-one bonding, and then we all had dinner together at Agua Verde, the Mexican restaurant that rents out the kayaks.) We had one kayak participant from Orange County who made it clear that we were successful. She was visiting Seattle and wanted to hang out with young Jewish adults, and she said that she wasn't really religious. She thought that kayaking was a great way to be with the community without the “how observant are you?” element.
Some people came just for the dinner, but most of the participants kayaked, and we got a range of people, from the naturally outdoorsy (Nicole) to the stubbornly indoorsy (Neal). While there wasn't anything specifically Jewish about the activity, any event that helps our community bond in such a fun, easy way can only enhance those times, such as the two Moishe House Shabbat dinners each month, when we DO gather Jewishly.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
June 2009, MHDC
Hey big dreamers... so the prompt this month was to discuss what makes a moishe event a good event. It's a difficult question because I don't believe there is one answer. We have a number of events with different aims. Our shabbats are very large, ranging from 40 to 75 guests. I have much different goals for large events like these then I do for smaller events. In a large event, I feel it is most important to pace yourself as a host, and to make sure that all of the house stuff is being taken care of. For me, a successful large shabbat has more to do with the successful cooperation of all four of our house members than success has to do with the number of people who show up at our events. Here's the rub, if it feels to one house member that at a large shabbat dinner they are doing more work than other house members, then we build tension in our house. And frankly, that tension effects the way we do business. We often have trouble innitiating house work at large events, which leaves us as a group stressed out. Therefore, as odd as it seems, our ability to handle the work of a large event determines whether I think the event was a success or not.
I am a much bigger fan of our smaller events than i am of our larger events. The main reason for this is that I think the true work of our house is taken care of in our smaller events. One reason is that the community likely to show up at our smaller events are more dedicated to the idea of a Jewish community. The folk that show at our larger events are more likely to care about meeting someone, or even (to be more cynical) to go to a Jewish event in order to satisfy their mother or father's wishes. At smaller events we are able to cultivate actual relationships between ourselves and our community members. We are able to learn more about our members, and figure out what programs they might like to see happen. We also often have people or couples meet other people or couples at our smaller events. For this reason, at a smaller event, say 10-15 non moishe house members, a successful event is one where we have set up an environment in which people can cultivate friendships (and maybe more). For instance, we recently took a trip to Georgetown to go kayaking. It took a lot of organizing. We had to find a place with enough boats, we had to find a place to meet everyone, and we had to do it all at 9:45 in the morning because there weren't any boat houses that had reservations. Anyway, I forget if it was 10 or 12 people who showed up. And it was a whole lot of fun, but the great thing was that people were swapping partners in boats, getting to know people they hadn't ever met before, and having a great time doing it. In turn, as the organizer I could sit back, go boat to boat and say hi, but mostly after the organizing the event ran itself.
I am a much bigger fan of our smaller events than i am of our larger events. The main reason for this is that I think the true work of our house is taken care of in our smaller events. One reason is that the community likely to show up at our smaller events are more dedicated to the idea of a Jewish community. The folk that show at our larger events are more likely to care about meeting someone, or even (to be more cynical) to go to a Jewish event in order to satisfy their mother or father's wishes. At smaller events we are able to cultivate actual relationships between ourselves and our community members. We are able to learn more about our members, and figure out what programs they might like to see happen. We also often have people or couples meet other people or couples at our smaller events. For this reason, at a smaller event, say 10-15 non moishe house members, a successful event is one where we have set up an environment in which people can cultivate friendships (and maybe more). For instance, we recently took a trip to Georgetown to go kayaking. It took a lot of organizing. We had to find a place with enough boats, we had to find a place to meet everyone, and we had to do it all at 9:45 in the morning because there weren't any boat houses that had reservations. Anyway, I forget if it was 10 or 12 people who showed up. And it was a whole lot of fun, but the great thing was that people were swapping partners in boats, getting to know people they hadn't ever met before, and having a great time doing it. In turn, as the organizer I could sit back, go boat to boat and say hi, but mostly after the organizing the event ran itself.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
"S- U-C-C-E-S-S..! ..Thats the way we spell Success!" ;)
Please take some time to discuss what makes a successful Moishe House event. Is it the amount of people who attended? Is it the depth of experience for the participants? Use a recent event that you feel was a success to illustrate your measure of a successful Moishe House event and the process your house went through that led it to be successful.
Many things play a role when considering what factors make an event successful. Although attendance numbers are important (to a certain degree), we do not feel that it is the most important piece of the "successful" puzzle.
We must consider... Moishe House's purpose is to bring the young-adult Jewish community closer together and get them to truly want to be involved... When comparing an event with 20 people that had an "okay" time but left with no real desire to attend another event... to one with a total of 6 people that had a great time and could not wait for the next MH event... it seems obvious that the 2nd event is the successful one because our main goal/purpose was fulfilled. We try to concentrate on making sure that people take away only the best and most positive experiences/feelings of the actual event, our Moishe House, and the entire organization as a whole. Although the first event had greater attendance, it did not help in reaching our goal and could actually hinder us from doing so. We all know Jewish people love to talk :) so word of mouth is very important.. It is much better to have 6 people saying wonderful things about us, then to have 20 people saying not so wonderful things about us and ultimately hindering other people from attending a future event. For these reasons and many more, we feel that the most important factor of a successful event are the relationships we help build and the experiences we help to create for our Jewish community.
Our Shabbat dinners have been a true success in accomplishing the above criteria. Although it takes a lot of work, preparation, frustration, and concentration :) ,the end result makes everything well worth it. We make sure that everyone is involved in the event in some way, which makes them feel wanted and shows them we care that they are present. Each month, the attendance at our Shabbat dinners increase as more and more people become aware of what we are and what we do...and we hope that this becomes a constant trend!
Many things play a role when considering what factors make an event successful. Although attendance numbers are important (to a certain degree), we do not feel that it is the most important piece of the "successful" puzzle.
We must consider... Moishe House's purpose is to bring the young-adult Jewish community closer together and get them to truly want to be involved... When comparing an event with 20 people that had an "okay" time but left with no real desire to attend another event... to one with a total of 6 people that had a great time and could not wait for the next MH event... it seems obvious that the 2nd event is the successful one because our main goal/purpose was fulfilled. We try to concentrate on making sure that people take away only the best and most positive experiences/feelings of the actual event, our Moishe House, and the entire organization as a whole. Although the first event had greater attendance, it did not help in reaching our goal and could actually hinder us from doing so. We all know Jewish people love to talk :) so word of mouth is very important.. It is much better to have 6 people saying wonderful things about us, then to have 20 people saying not so wonderful things about us and ultimately hindering other people from attending a future event. For these reasons and many more, we feel that the most important factor of a successful event are the relationships we help build and the experiences we help to create for our Jewish community.
Our Shabbat dinners have been a true success in accomplishing the above criteria. Although it takes a lot of work, preparation, frustration, and concentration :) ,the end result makes everything well worth it. We make sure that everyone is involved in the event in some way, which makes them feel wanted and shows them we care that they are present. Each month, the attendance at our Shabbat dinners increase as more and more people become aware of what we are and what we do...and we hope that this becomes a constant trend!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday was SO. GOOD.
In thinking about what makes a Moishe House event successful, there are two questions to consider: what makes an event in general successful, and – embedded within that – what makes a Moishe House event in particular successful. What makes an event in general successful naturally depends on the goal of the event; but as a self-proclaimed experience designer, I gravitate towards a metric based on the quality of experience. In other words, if without solicitation, attendees express having had a new, spectacular, comforting, delightful, or otherwise enjoyable experience, I’d consider the event successful. And all of the above we’ve proudly heard in response to events at the Moishe House in Providence! I think my favorite feedback has been from our blind events – the blind feast and dancers in the dark – in response to which I heard, “Wow, I’ve never experienced anything like this before” (blind feast) and got the above message written on my Facebook wall (dancers in the dark).
As for a Moishe House event, besides being a successful event in general which gives its attendees a high-quality experience, it should somehow further Moishe’s mission as I understand it, to cultivate and maintain the young adult Jewish community, and act as somewhat of an ambassador of the young adult Jewish community to the young adult community in general. During the month of June, as Nathaniel (my co-host) and many other members of our community have been traveling, I thought we’d get higher attendance if I hosted events out in the community, rather than invite the community into our home. So I hosted a climbing night at the Rhode Island rock gym, Kabbalasana (yoga with a Jewish spirituality twist – pun intended) at the Motion Center, and salsa dancing at Olives. As a result, attendees ended up being mostly new and mostly non-Jewish, and as a further result, I gave them an introduction to what Moishe is all about. Attendees were intrigued with this model of cultivating and maintaining community, and at each event, my monolog evolved into more of a dialogue. So, besides the high quality of the events themselves, I’d consider our June events successful in the sense of furthering the Moishe mission, by introducing newbies and non-Jews to Moishe in an engaging way, and ending up with a few new friend requests! Oh and this definitely makes me wanna do a little Moishe sphiel at the beginning of all our events in the future…
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
MH Boston -- A Successful Event
Jeremy has asked us to recount a recent event that we consider successful, and to describe what we think made it so.
Zvi of MHSS mentioned in his post that he thinks a good measure of success is, "Does the event add to the sustainability of this particular MH?" I like this line of thought, and I want to try and elaborate on Zvi's sustainability concept a little bit more.
For us here in Boston, sustainability has to do with a number of key points:
1. Are we facilitating relationships between members of our community such that the success of our community is not dependent upon any one housemate (or, really, even upon any of the housemates in the long run)?
2. Are we creating structures that give people real ownership over the community so that they feel like it reflects their values and that they can make change within it?
3. Are we responding to the energy of our community members so that we shift and grow as we develop together, rather than staying static? Are we ensuring that the community remains a fun, warm, and welcoming place through our willingness to avoid putting form before function, or -- to put it another way -- are we adopting to new people and new energy in a dynamic way?
We are building community in an intentional way, and even though that is work, it needs to be fun work that makes our community members feel engaged and positive from start to finish.
Thus, for us a perfect example of a successful event is the community retreat we went on this past weekend (June 19-21) up in the southern New Hampshire woods. We had about 50 community members join us for the weekend, and key to our success was the investment our community members had in the weekend.
Four non-housemates worked with me to plan the weekend. About a dozen non-housemates led workshops, ranging from spiritual ecology to learning Shabbat zmirot to network organizing. And just as much as we planned workshops, we made sure to give people the opportunity for both formal and informal fun. We did a ropes course as a group and had organized games, but neither were required, and there was plenty of relaxed time for boating, swimming, hanging out, etc.
We came out of the weekend with a bunch of amazing feedback for our Transition Team, as well as our current and new housemates, and plenty of community members committed (or re-committed) themselves to ongoing projects, too. Beyond that, people strengthened their relationships to one another and envisioned, together, a collective future for our growing community.
So in the end, I offer this lesson from the weekend: while it was productive and capacity-building through the actual work we did, that was not the most important piece. The most important piece, rather, was simply giving people the opportunity to do that fun work together in a safe, meaningful, and joyous place.
It turns out that the journey itself was, in fact, the destination.
Zvi of MHSS mentioned in his post that he thinks a good measure of success is, "Does the event add to the sustainability of this particular MH?" I like this line of thought, and I want to try and elaborate on Zvi's sustainability concept a little bit more.
For us here in Boston, sustainability has to do with a number of key points:
1. Are we facilitating relationships between members of our community such that the success of our community is not dependent upon any one housemate (or, really, even upon any of the housemates in the long run)?
2. Are we creating structures that give people real ownership over the community so that they feel like it reflects their values and that they can make change within it?
3. Are we responding to the energy of our community members so that we shift and grow as we develop together, rather than staying static? Are we ensuring that the community remains a fun, warm, and welcoming place through our willingness to avoid putting form before function, or -- to put it another way -- are we adopting to new people and new energy in a dynamic way?
We are building community in an intentional way, and even though that is work, it needs to be fun work that makes our community members feel engaged and positive from start to finish.
Thus, for us a perfect example of a successful event is the community retreat we went on this past weekend (June 19-21) up in the southern New Hampshire woods. We had about 50 community members join us for the weekend, and key to our success was the investment our community members had in the weekend.
Four non-housemates worked with me to plan the weekend. About a dozen non-housemates led workshops, ranging from spiritual ecology to learning Shabbat zmirot to network organizing. And just as much as we planned workshops, we made sure to give people the opportunity for both formal and informal fun. We did a ropes course as a group and had organized games, but neither were required, and there was plenty of relaxed time for boating, swimming, hanging out, etc.
We came out of the weekend with a bunch of amazing feedback for our Transition Team, as well as our current and new housemates, and plenty of community members committed (or re-committed) themselves to ongoing projects, too. Beyond that, people strengthened their relationships to one another and envisioned, together, a collective future for our growing community.
So in the end, I offer this lesson from the weekend: while it was productive and capacity-building through the actual work we did, that was not the most important piece. The most important piece, rather, was simply giving people the opportunity to do that fun work together in a safe, meaningful, and joyous place.
It turns out that the journey itself was, in fact, the destination.
What makes a successful Moishe House event?
A successful event is more than just a headcount. Good events leave lasting impressions, build relationships and help engage participants in a Jewish community. One example of this kind of event was our Shavuot Sundaes on Sunday event. Attendees had varying levels of knowledge about Shavuot- some knew exactly what it was, and others had never heard of it before.
Our event was centered around something accessible, and that most people enjoy: Eating ice cream. We bought several flavors of ice cream and toppings, and let people create their own sundae. People who were unfamiliar with Shavuot were immediately curious about a holiday that involved eating ice cream, which gave those who knew an opportunity to briefly explain its significance, and why people eat dairy on Shavuot. Those who were interested in talking more about Shavuot had the opportunity to do so; those who were not interested ate ice cream and talked about whatever they wanted. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and even those who were not really interested in Shavuot left with a basic understanding of its significance.
Because this event was centered around a holiday, the planning process was very simply: We checked our calendar for a date that we thought would be convenient for everyone, and then bought ice cream. We made sure not to make it sound "religious," because that seems to make non-practicing Jews hesitant about attending.
Our event was centered around something accessible, and that most people enjoy: Eating ice cream. We bought several flavors of ice cream and toppings, and let people create their own sundae. People who were unfamiliar with Shavuot were immediately curious about a holiday that involved eating ice cream, which gave those who knew an opportunity to briefly explain its significance, and why people eat dairy on Shavuot. Those who were interested in talking more about Shavuot had the opportunity to do so; those who were not interested ate ice cream and talked about whatever they wanted. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and even those who were not really interested in Shavuot left with a basic understanding of its significance.
Because this event was centered around a holiday, the planning process was very simply: We checked our calendar for a date that we thought would be convenient for everyone, and then bought ice cream. We made sure not to make it sound "religious," because that seems to make non-practicing Jews hesitant about attending.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
June Blog MHSS
ala Zvi Bellin
We are writing about successful events.
Each event has a success meter of its own. A wild party should be measured in wildness and a mussar group in intimacy and personal reflection. Focusing on numbers all the time is missing the point of community building. More people does not mean more community. Perhaps we should measure in sustainability, does the event add to sustainability of this particular MH and maybe even the larger MH Universe. I like this measuring stick for now. Feels very green. It does feel nice to get a large group over for shabbat or to have a full house for a party, and who wouldn't feel kind of silly throwing a party for 2 people. I guess we do what we can and put in the energy that makes sense for each event. If an event is iffy we try to get 5 people committed first and then say we will do the event. That gives us some assurance that the event will begin with a bit of momentum.
A recent successful event was a Shabbat morning egal minyan that we held in the house. The community was invested in the planning at the start. We had a perfect amount of people, we filled the space, but it was comfortable for people to pray. We made excellent food and guests brought some things to eat too. We sang, we drank a bit, we had young couple with a child, and I think we provided a space for people to really dig into their Jewish experience. Halleluyah!
Peace to all!
Zvi
We are writing about successful events.
Each event has a success meter of its own. A wild party should be measured in wildness and a mussar group in intimacy and personal reflection. Focusing on numbers all the time is missing the point of community building. More people does not mean more community. Perhaps we should measure in sustainability, does the event add to sustainability of this particular MH and maybe even the larger MH Universe. I like this measuring stick for now. Feels very green. It does feel nice to get a large group over for shabbat or to have a full house for a party, and who wouldn't feel kind of silly throwing a party for 2 people. I guess we do what we can and put in the energy that makes sense for each event. If an event is iffy we try to get 5 people committed first and then say we will do the event. That gives us some assurance that the event will begin with a bit of momentum.
A recent successful event was a Shabbat morning egal minyan that we held in the house. The community was invested in the planning at the start. We had a perfect amount of people, we filled the space, but it was comfortable for people to pray. We made excellent food and guests brought some things to eat too. We sang, we drank a bit, we had young couple with a child, and I think we provided a space for people to really dig into their Jewish experience. Halleluyah!
Peace to all!
Zvi
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