Caring for your speaker and your CU Guests (CUGs) well is an expression of love for Jesus and his people. It’s also a way to honour people with recognition that they are giving up time to be with you.
Before the Events Week
Make sure that you communicate well with your speaker and CUGs. If they're arriving from elsewhere, think about what would be helpful for CUGs to know as they arrive in a new city:
- Where they will stay
- A bit about the context they are coming into — the CU and the university
- What they will be involved in doing
- A schedule for the week
- Anything they might need to bring
When they arrive
If possible, arrange for the speakers and CU Guests to arrive the day before the Events Week begins, so that everyone is ready to go from the first morning.
Make a welcome pack for your speakers and CUGs, including:
- a map of campus.
- some ideas for what they can do in their free time (e.g. sports centres and places to visit in your town).
- useful phone numbers of people in the CU.
- a diary showing them what they will be doing through the week, including who they will be having meals with.
- some chocolate! — let them know that they are loved!
At some point — either the day before the start or on the first morning - it is helpful to have a meeting with the CUGs, speaker(s) and planning team. Introduce everyone, explain again the plan for the week and give people the opportunity to ask any questions they have. It will also be really helpful if you can give them a brief tour of campus, showing them the venues of planned events, good coffee shops, etc.
During the Week
It is helpful to have a meeting each day where the speaker(s), CUGs and planning team can meet together. In this, you could:
- Feed back encouragements to each other.
- Share any practical things that can be improved on from the previous day.
- Have a short encouragement from the Bible (your speaker or Staff Worker may be willing to lead this)
- Go through feedback forms. The idea is that a CUG either helps a CU student follow up with their friend, or they try to link someone they have met with a member of the CU.
- Pray together.
After the week
Don’t forget to say thank you — give or send a card to each speaker and CUG, signed by the planning team. You may not be paying / covering travel expenses of the CUGs but a gift to show your appreciation can go a long way!
Make sure to send a small thank-you gift and travel expenses to your speaker(s).
Things To Do
- Communicate. Go out of your way to communicate well with the speaker and CUGs.
- Welcome Pack. Put together a welcome pack for CUGs.
- Meeting. Decide when the speaker and CUGs will meet with the planning team during the week.