Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.

What to do when you’ve been asked to lead a conference or training session, part four

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Some final tips to help your presentation be all it can be.
Some final tips to help your presentation be all it can be.

Ed. note: In Part One and Part Two Gayle covered the important foundational challenges in putting together your material for leading a conference or training session. Part Three covered putting the presentation together--and step-by-step Gayle will help you do that successfully. This final part ends with some invaluable personal advice.

What to wear?
Appearance plays an important part in how the audience perceives you. Assessments may be accurate or completely off base, but they will be made. To think otherwise is to be into major denial.

Clothes provide a strong non-verbal message. Two good guidelines for presenters:

• Dress up a notch. A jacket always gives a skirt or pants and blouse a touch of authority.

• “Wear” your profession. Dress for the role you are filling. You are a Christian professional in a role of leadership to other Christian professionals.

Clothes can make statements. A woman presenter expresses thoughtful listening as she gracefully puts her hands in her skirt pockets. She shows a move to informality by removing her jacket during a small group discussion time. A wise presenter chooses footwear allowing her to keep her mind on her work not on her tootsies.

Now is also a good time to review your hair style and makeup. Usually it is not a good idea to make drastic changes to your appearance just before your  presentation; to do so may only serve to make you self-conscious. Subtle changes are often confidence builders though, so have a good haircut and spruce up your makeup. [Read more...]

Challenges to all church communicators from Catholicism Inc.

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We all have much to learn from the current changes taking place in the Catholic church.
We all have much to learn from the current changes taking place in the Catholic church.

An op-ed article in The New York Times, "Catholicism Inc." by Bill Keller not only challenges the Catholic Church with some suggestions for change during this time of transition between popes, but it inspired me to make some communication suggestions for all churches, based on his ideas. What follows are quotes from the article, and then communication applications suggested by the quotes:

Catholicism is mostly a service industry . . . .  and its deliverables have stood the test of millenniums: instruction in how to live a good life, sacraments to consecrate major milestones, comfort in times of distress, the cleansing therapy of confession, penance and absolution, a sense of place in the universal order and the promise of a celestial payoff. . . . .There is still a robust market for the faith. The problem — evident in the waning confidence of the customers as well as the rising market share of evangelical start-ups . . . is with the management.

Communication application: Though we might use different terms to describe the benefits of our individual churches, a common denominator is that our gracious Creator has met every need of the human soul now and for eternity in the freely offered salvation provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, or as he says, "The fundamental problems are not in the catalog."

He goes on to lay the cause for the problems with the management of our churches and church communications are a key part of that.  If the core message of salvation is not getting across to your audience, if new people aren't coming to know Jesus as Savior and growing to mature disciples, if they are not sharing the good news with their friends, practicing their spiritual gifts, and being salt and light in their world, the problem is not with the culture or media or lack of time or the crippling demands of the modern world—the problem is with us, the managers, the communicators. We have to take responsibility  for what is happening our church if the message we preach and teach (or assume we do) isn't a reality in changing lives before we can make necessary changes. [Read more...]

What to do when you’ve been asked to lead a conference or training session, part three

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With all the preparation done, here's how to put it all together.
With the preparation done, here's how to put it all together.

Ed. note: In Part One and Part Two Gayle covered all the important foundational challenges in putting together your material for leading a conference or training session. Now for the real work of putting the presentation together--and step-by-step Gayle will help you do that successfully.

Composing your presentation

Putting material together effectively is by far the most challenging part of any presentation. Therefore, never commit to leading a conference about something you don’t really know or care about. You will likely not pay the price in preparation on such a topic. As a result, both you and your audience will get short-changed.

The skill of presentation allows a great deal of freedom for the creative process. You will eventually develop your own particular blueprint for putting together your conferences. Include at least these basic steps.

• Identify your specific goal. What exactly do you want those attending your conference to gain from the experience? To be most effective, make sure that everything involved in your presentation is compatible with your goal.

• Gather facts. Start with what you know firsthand. Add information from current media. Get input from as many reliable references as possible; keep detailed notes regarding your sources. Never overlook the obvious. The information you think everyone already knows may be precisely what many need to hear for the first time or as a reminder.

• Develop ideas on how to present your facts. Anecdotes, illustrations, or even appropriate jokes will give impact to a point you want to make. Whenever possible, demonstrate. Showing how is always better than just telling how. [Read more...]

What to do when you’ve been asked to lead a conference or training session, part two

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With the tips here you'll project a professional image with your presentation.
With the tips here you'll project a professional image with your presentation.

Ed. note: this is Part Two of invaluable advice if you've been asked to lead a training session or conference for church office professionals. For Part One, CLICK HERE. There is one more part coming.

Those important first words

If you are leading a small group, your first responsibility may be to introduce yourself. Have your first few minutes down pat. Tell your name and a few of the relevant facts of your background in order to establish your credentials.

Sally is into her two minutes of decision making here. Your introductory remarks need to be interesting and to the point. A personal tie in with the conference itself, perhaps your experience when you first attended, is a good opener.

If you do have someone to introduce you, he or she will give your name and something of your background. Be gracious in acknowledging your introduction. Thank the person by name when you come to the platform. Then move directly to that relevant anecdote that leads into your presentation.

Novice speakers are generally advised not to use humor in their introductions, but if that’s you and you are comfortable with it, by all means feel free to give it a try. I find humor a marvelous teacher and use it often in seminars and presentations. But don’t wing it. Prepare. Be sure the humor is relevant to your topic. Your primary purpose is to train, not to entertain.

What not to say

Your introductory remarks should get you off to a positive start. Toward that end, here are some things to avoid.

• Excuses. For anything. Especially for your nervousness or for your inexperience. You may want to offer an apology if your voice is bad that day or the printed materials ran short or whatever. But if an apology—not an excuse—is necessary, offer it once and move on. [Read more...]

What to do when you’ve been asked to lead a conference or training session, part one

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If you've been asked to lead a conference, here are some tips to help you do it well.
If you've been asked to lead a conference, here are some tips to help you do it well.

Your professional association is having its annual workshop. You have been asked to lead one of the training conferences.

What a nice complement! Someone believes what you have to say will be interesting, helpful, informative, or inspirational—perhaps all of the above. You are delighted. You accept. The date goes on your calendar; it seems very far away. You tell yourself you have lots of time to prepare. After all, you have been asked to present a topic you know about. (if the subject is one you don’t know about, decline the invitation—or suggest a more familiar topic.) How tough can this be?

The answer begs another question, “How effective do you want to be?” Delivering a successful presentation takes effort. It absolutely can be tough. But you can do it. [Read more...]