It’s time to get the week started with my weekly round up of the latest and greatest in church communication, fun links, news, and more!
All posts tagged conferences
Don’t Suffer from Overly-Conferenced Syndrome
On the eve of Catalyst, I have a confession to make: I’m suffering from O.C.S. … Overly-Conferenced Syndrome.
In the last year alone I’ve attended over 15 different conferences. That’s a lot of content, ideas, travel, and days away from work… not to mention the cost associated with jetting around the country.
Thankfully, I’ve learned some ways to manage my O.C.S., and have some ideas to share on how to make conferences [including Catalyst!] a valuable experience:
The “Hallway” Conversations
While the content shared onstage at conferences is immensely valuable, I often find one of the best parts of conferences are the conversations and connections that happen in the hallways. Between sessions or during break times, you have a great opportunity to interact with new people, meet people you follow on Twitter in real life, and make new connections. There’s endless opportunity to expand your network if you’re willing to do the work and engage in a conversation. Some of the key people who have been a huge part of my life and professional development over the past few years were people I first met in the hallways at a conference.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
I’m honestly not the most outgoing person in the world. I’m usually the guy in the back of the room checking my email or twitter at a large social gathering. If you really want to make the most of a conference experience and meet new people, get out of your comfort zone… meet people! If you recognize someone, say hello… put yourself out there, you never know who you’ll meet.
Social Media Enhances the Experience
Social media has forever changed the conference-going experience. Even if you’re not able to attend a conference in-person, following the hashtag on twitter [#CAT11 for Catalyst!] enables you to keep up with the experience, get sound bytes from the speakers and lets you hear what people are saying about their experience. If you are at a conference in-person, social media lets you see who’s there, provides an opportunity to find new people to follow, and lets you know who to look for in the hallways. Social media provides a great, steady stream of content and information and I really can’t imagine going to a conference without it!
Leave the Note-taking to the Experts
Most conferences are creating blogging teams, enlisting the help of note-takers [like me!] who focus on capturing and sharing the content. Don’t worry about being at every single session or hassle with taking notes for yourself. Just sit, listen, absorb and write down the thought that sticks out to you the most or that sparks a new idea. You can always go back to the interwebs to get a recap or notes from the sessions.
Meetups, Tweet-ups, and Side Events
Again, if you are socially engaged there are endless meetups, tweeet-ups, and special side events that happen at most conferences these days. Don’t miss the opportunity to get some freebies and meet new people. Like the hallway conversations, side events are always a great part of the conference-going experience. If you’re at Catalyst on Wednesday night, be sure to check out the Bloggers Meetup. I’ll be there and it’s always a great time to connect with other bloggers.
Be Present
Going along with the theme of Catalyst this year… be present. Don’t think you know it all or have heard it all before… you haven’t. Don’t let distractions from work or your inbox take your attention away from the content and ideas being shared. Focus. God has a reason for you being there, even if your boss or your staff team dragged you along. I believe there’s something God wants to speak to all of us. Who knows what He may show you, who’s path you will cross, or what connection may be made? Even with all of the distractions that come at a conference, focus your mind and your heart. Listen for God’s voice. Be present.
So all of that to say…
… I really do think conferences are valuable experience and are worth the time and investment. You’ll not only get some new ideas but, if you are willing to push yourself out of your comfort zone, you’ll also make some new connections. Both are invaluable and worth it.
If you are headed to Catalyst…
Find me and say, “hey!” I’d love to connect with you.
I’ll be serving as an official blogger for Catalyst this year alongside some of the pros. Follow me on twitter or follow this blog for my notes from each session. I also have something new up my sleeve that I’ll be excited to share with you on Friday! Stay tuned.
If you’re not able to be a Catalyst…
…don’t suffer from Cata-lust. Follow the action here on my blog or on twitter and definitely be sure to check out Catalyst Backstage, a live-stream from Catalyst, broadcasting Wednesday-Friday, bringing you interviews and great content from Catalyst. It’s the next best thing to actually being there in person.
What about you?
How do you feel about conferences?
What’s your favorite conference or conference experience?
If you’re heading to Catalyst, what are you most excited or expectant for? Who are you looking forward to connecting with while you’re there?
How Do You Measure Success?
Church conference season is upon us.
Now, if you know me, you know I love me some conferences. I think they provide a unique opportunity to gain some inspiration and make new connections. They make a great excuse to travel.
At Christian conferences when you’re introducing yourself, it’s fairly common to say what church you serve at, what you do there, and more commonly than not, how big the church is. And, if applicable, how many campuses or satellite locations your church has. Now, the numbers part is always said casually, but let’s be honest… the numbers impress [most of] us.
In our fun little subculture, the numbers game is a measurement of “success.”
“I serve at The-Church-You’ve Heard-Of, we’re a church of about 10,000 on the weekend and we have 3 satellite locations,” sounds much more impressive than, “I serve at The-Church-You’ve-Never-Heard-Of, we run about 800 on the weekend.”
I got lost in that trap for awhile.
I’m not saying megachurches are bad, the fact they are mega means they must be doing something right [most of the time]. But I do think when it comes to how we measure success, our metrics can be a bit off.
What about the church of 800 in a town of 8,000? What about the church that is under the radar but is known in their community for doing a tremendous amount of good? Again, not bashing megachurches, but I think we pay attention to size and don’t look at impact and influence as a measurement of success.
I actually went to a conference once where you had to indicate the size of your church when you registered and were then assigned a color-coded name badge so you could “network” with other people who served in churches that were similar to yours. Cool idea but it seemed like a big competition or bragging right.
Personally, I’d rather learn from a pastor or leader that’s leading a church of a few hundred in a community of few thousand than a pastor of a church of 10,000 in a city of a few million people. Both are doing great things, but I think to be reaching a greater portion of your population says something… and it’s something I want to hear. Again, I love megachurch leaders… I’m just sayin’.
This morning I saw on twitter that the church I first served at, Riverside Community Church in Peoria, IL, made the front page of their city’s newspaper for a week-long missions outreach they are doing bringing hundreds of teenagers into the inner-city to better the community.
Riverside started Dream Center Peoria and has united area churches in their community to create something that the city can’t ignore. They do numerous programs and outreaches throughout the year and have gotten people outside of the church and in the community involved. They are truly helping to unite people to change a city.
Riverside, along with 4 other churches in the community, also does something pretty remarkable to show unity among churches across racial and denominational boundaries. For the last couple of years the pastors of the 4 area churches took the idea of LifeChurch.tv’s “One Prayer,” but did it locally by switching pulpits. For four weeks, each of the four pastors went on tour, vacating their own pulpits and went to speak at the other churches. How cool is that? I don’t know of many stories where a group of pastors in a community would be willing to go and share the pulpit with other pastors who, in some cases, don’t share the same set of beliefs or theology.
Riverside even recorded a live worship album that’s available on iTunes. I think it’s fantastic. You should check it out.
When I worked at Riverside I would be a bit shy about introducing myself at conferences. I worked for an averaged-sized church in an average-sized town in Illinois. But you know what? They are making a huge impact. And, had it not been for my work experience there, I would have never ended up where I am today… not that I’ve come very far.
I’m not saying all this to promote Riverside, but just to highlight my point… they are doing some great things and they are under the radar. I think their story needs to be heard… and John King, the lead pastor, is one of the most remarkable pastors I’ve served with in ministry. He needs to write a book and lead leaders.
I’m realizing now, much later, that I should have been more proud of my church and the work they are doing.
So, as you go about networking, going to tweetups or MeetUps, be careful about how you measure success. Don’t let the numbers fool you. And, if you feel like an underdog, you’re not. Size is size. It’s numbers. Your church is doing something unique and you need to be proud to share that story.
Measure success by the depth of the impact a church is making in a community and by life change, not by the number of people in seats on a weekend.
My Top 5 Reasons Why You Need to Be at Cultivate
Cultivate is happening at Park in a little over a month from now. There’s been lots of buzz about it and I know with churches cutting budgets you have to be wise about which conferences/seminars you attend this year. So here’s my Top 5 Reasons Why You Need to Be at Cultivate.
I’m more and more convinced that if you are at all wondering how the church should engage with social media, the web, and are wondering what the future of church communications looks like, you need to be here. Period.
Here’s 5 reasons why…
1. We have too many conferences; this is going to be a conversation.
Conferences are invaluable experiences, and I’m a self proclaimed “conference junkie,” but at some point I think we need to not just sit and listen, we need to speak up and engage. Cultivate will be centered on conversation. Facilitators will take a few minutes to throw out some ideas, but the rest of conversation is driven by questions texted in by audience. The round tables will be awesome so people can be working together as a team to explore ideas
2. Small is the new big.
There won’t be thousands of people here. It’s going to be a small group of people and it will offer you face time with some of the leading minds in the church communications world that you would honestly not find at larger conferences. You’ll be able to engage with facilitators. Also, it’s not just people in churchdom. We’ll have several people from the marketplace leading discussions as well. We’ll have people from 37signals, iStock Photo, an award-winning brand firm, marketing experts, and social media gurus. Plus, there’s lots of names you may not heard of that are doing some pretty innovative stuff. You will also be able to customize your day based on the topics you’re most interested in.
3. It’s one day and it’s cheap.
We’re going to have a marathon of day, but it’s just that. One day. Even if your budgets are shot, Chicago is a transportation hub and I guarantee no matter where you are traveling from you can find a cheap flight. You could catch a red eye to Chicago early Tuesday morning, catch the train into the city, get to Park, be here all day and catch a late night flight out. No hotel fees. No rental cars. No parking. (Of course, it would be awesome for you to check out Story while you’re here, but even if you can make it for a day, it’s worth it.)
4. You’ll get to have lunch with people who you want to have conversations with.
Instead of turning you loose or giving you a boxed lunch and doing the whole awkward, “is there room at this table?” drill, we’re going to set up different lunches for you to go and have lunch with people you want to talk with. If you’re into social media we’ll have a lunch set up up with Cynthia Ware and other social media gurus. Want to talk web? Drew Goodmanson, Kent Shaffer, and Tony Steward will be talking web. Church communications? Come hang with Kem Meyer, me and others.
5. You’ll get to check out Park.
Now, I know I’m a bit partial, but I think there are some pretty cool and unique things going on at Park. Since we’re hosting it, you’ll get to see and hear what it’s all about and get a chance to experience life and church in the city!
BONUS :: No one is making any money off of this. Any profit we make will be split between the Center for Church Communication and Blood:WaterMission. Pretty sweet, huh?
So there’s my schpeel.
If you need more reasons, let me know… or if you need me to talk to whoever oversees your budget, I’d be happy to talk to them too.
I really believe Cultivate is going to spark some very important conversations and I think anyone that can be here needs to get here and be a part of it!
