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How do you connect?

May 4, 2009 in Communication, Lead 0

The Couch, originally uploaded by Cienega Soon.

After talking with Human3rror or John Saddington, at the Blogger’s Lounge at the Orange Conference, I’ve realized that I haven’t put as much thought into how I connect with people as I should. I love to think that I am pretty good at making connections and then pointing them a direction that will give them the help that they need. But I’ve realized that we put up a ton of barriers for them to connect with us. I’ll give you some examples:

  • What do you have on your blog that will make 1st timers want to say?
  • What slows your blog down enough that people can’t wait long enough to see your “life changing” content?
  • What meaningful resources do you provide for people that they want to jump over the barriers?

In B School we talked a ton about Barriers to Entry. As a church, as a ministry, as a blogger, there are tons of barriers to entry are you aware of them?

And I’ll leave you with this thought: If you had a picture of your connection style is it a couch or a chair? Do you invite people to sit with you and connect and chill or do you make it seem as though you are on an island…

O so nervous

May 1, 2009 in Communication, Lead 4

photo-5

It’s crazy to be young and in the spot that I’m in. I thought it was crazy before to be working at the church that I get to work with… But this is crazier. I am with all these bloggers and they are crazy awesome. I’m just trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible and then throw out a joke

hehehe… yeh…. (not as funny as I thought) heh, heh, heh, (I give up…) O you know that process :)

It’s been really awesome though. Thanks for everything Bloggers!

Networking tips…

April 28, 2009 in Communication, Resources 0

networking

Now I’m not an expert but I like people so I will offer some insight and tips for those who are going to the Orange Conference:

  1. Meet, greet, smile and talk with as many people as possible
  2. The worst conversation that you will have, is the one you choose not to have.
  3. Try and connect with others in the breakouts, they are peeps w/ similar interests.
  4. Come to the bloggers lounge even if you are not a tech savvy peep. It will be a networking petri dish.
  5. God created us for a relationship, it makes sense for us to cultivate relationships w/ others.
  6. Grow w/ your team during this time. We did & will.
  7. Prepare questions… you have them, find a person that might can answer them.
  8. Bring business cards. That is what they are for after all

Just a few tips for you guys.
Remember the contest!It’s for an autographed copy of Reggie Joiner’s unreleased book called “Think Orange”

Question of the Week

April 25, 2009 in Communication 1

I have been working on a few things for the upcoming Orange Conference in Atlanta and you should see a video with a contest for a special book in the next few days.

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But until then here is the question for you to ponder. If people could leave your business/church/ministry/organization with one word to describe their experience what would it be?

Fill in this blank: WoW that place (church/business/etc.) was _______

Can’t wait to see the comments!

Here’s a book idea for you!

April 20, 2009 in Communication, Life 0

Team Work Poster

So I just wanted to throw this out there because I found this statistic this weekend. The Boston Celtics have won the NBA’s championship 17 times… That ismore than any other team has ever won that title.

They have never had anyone lead the league in scoring…

Funny that in a sport that thrives on individual accomplishment and every bottom feeder team is trying to acquire the next superstar that the team with the most championships has never, I repeat never, had a player lead the league in scoring. Think about that this morning!

Give em what they need…

April 8, 2009 in Communication, Lead 0

Yeah I’ve been getting lazy around jcisonline.com but the reality is that I’m just plain busy with Easter and planning for the most spectacular of summer events:  Adventure Week 2009 But I found an incredibly thought provoking post from my boss over at nedgable.com

On a sidenote, I am loving the fact that my boss twitters and blogs. Chalk one up for the youngin’ Anyways back on topic. And it reminded me of a great little lesson that I learned in my days at the ol U of M campus.

“You don’t get to decide what people like, they do”

It’s a reality. Companies that succeed, exceed customer expectations, not their own. They figure out what people want and then give it to them. How many of you shop at a store where you hate their clothes??? That’s what I thought. Simple idea but difficult concept. Here’s what you have to do:

  • Have a worthwhile product or service
  • Fulfill a need
  • Exceed expectations

This past week at BrookwoodKiDs we did a series called “More Than a Story” (another sidenote: Perry our Pastor wrote a book called The Story and is doing a series called “The Story”) The Story in main service and More than a Story in kidmin. +1 for kidmin hahaha!

So back to our series in BrookwoodKiDs, we reached kids where they were more than usual. We used a clip from Ice Age to illustrate sacrifice, Upcoming Animated Kids Movie Trailers for Preshow, and an Audio game from recent kids movie characters all in one Sunday. The result: Our kids were engaged and more in tune with what was going on because we engaged them in their arena where they are experts. They wanted to know the takeaway for seeing some more movies. It was awesome! We had the thing that they need which is Jesus and we fulfilled and exceeded their expectations.

Overall great Sunday. Thanks for reading and by the way for someone who knows what people want and gives them Jesus in a great way check out this blog. He does this better than most people I know.

Medium vs. Message

April 2, 2009 in Communication 0

I haven’t really written a Marketing post in awhile. And after watching this video this week. It got me to thinking about the age old question of the Medium vs. the Message.


Rob Bell Interviews Shane Hipps About Technology from Deadly Viper on Vimeo.

Now after this video you probably understand a bit more but here are the definitions of both.

Media-The various mass media that can be employed to carry advertising messages to potential audiences or target markets for products, services, organizations, or ideas.

Message-The visual and/or auditory information prepared by an advertiser to inform and/or persuade an audience regarding a product, organization, or idea.

These definitons are provided by the AMA and can be found here in the Marketing Dictionary.

Now I’m probably not the best person to address this topic. I have never worked in an advertising agency and the only marketing experience that I have I was taught in school, so please take all of this with a grain of salt. Also know that I have only this video to go off of on the information provided in Shane Hipps new book.

While I understand Shane’s point of view that the medium is the message I disagree but not totally. Alot of my disagreement results in the definition of the two words. The medium most certainly provides information. Most people wouldn’t even think of that. But it does. The best example is that Beer ads would more than likely be a terrible idea on radio because the idea of partying, celebrating, half-naked people can’t adequately be expressed on the radio.

However, I would argue that this transfer of the message is in itself, part of the message. Generally, the way that you come up with the media is after you figure out the purpose of your message and thus the message you want to give. Basically the job of the medium is to deliver the message. It does provide information but is not the message.

It would be like saying you are going to teach on video.

Ok what are you going to teach on?

Video…

hmmm

For the one of the shortest simplest ways to explain it go here on one of my favorite sites and check out this post. Church Marketing Sucks

But there are differing opinions out there. So what say you? Are they one and the same?

Times… they are a changing

March 7, 2009 in Communication, Lead 0

So I have spent so much time on blog design and coding and fixing and stuff like that and have neglected posting a little bit.

I have spent so much time this week talking about change in both student ministry and children’s minsitry that I thought it would be a disservice if I didn’t post some of my thoughts.

This will be part 1 of this series of posts that I have and it has to do with our culture.

A few observations about kids and teens in this culture:

Time is becoming more important than things:

Time is an asset that hasn’t always been important to the 8-19 bracket. However, now products are tied with an experience. Webkins, Pokemon, Bakugan, and the newest trends in gaming: Home for PS3 and the new Xbox 360 dashboard experience all involve an experience tied with products. Creating takehomes with the program is something that is essential for all programming.

Increase in digital media awareness:

In the past thriving business men and women were at the apex of the technology breakthroughs. Now kids and teens can produce content with just a laptop and a personality. Connections are more prevalent than they were in the past ten years. Kids and teens are spending more and more time with the computer and the internet and are having information and entertainment everywhere at their fingertips.

Skepticism is prevalent:

This is a nationwide trend and is the biggest contributing factor in advertising right now. Trust is the most important asset that a company can have. Transparency and Openess are becoming increasingly more important to consumers than flashy features and numerous options and customization.

Home is the new Downtown:

Online experiences continue to grow in popularity. Families are staying home to watch movies rather than go to the theater. Online communities are taking the place of real life social interactions. And the family is staying at home in order to save some dough.

So with all of these things considered how are kids and teens viewing ministry? What are they looking for? How do they feel they can contribute? What skills should we focus on and try to develop for the future of ministry?

Finally got Email subscription working!

March 5, 2009 in Communication, Tech 0

I finally got email subscription working… I know you are all excited. You can now hit the button up at the top. That is what you should do in order to keep up with what is going on with jcisonline.com!

Thanks for reading and contributing!

Marketing….*gasp*

February 24, 2009 in Communication, Family Ministry 0

Seth Godin, of incredible blogging fame, recently wrote an article about something I vividly remember from my education at the University of Memphis. Is Marketing Evil?

Seth talked said this

“Marketing is powerful when it sells a product to someone who discovers more joy or more productivity because he bought it. Marketing is magic when it elects someone who changes the community for the better.“

Does Marketing Scare You?

Does Marketing Scare You?

It’s what we always talked about. If you can satisfy a need that the consumer has then you are doing a great thing. It’s why I loved marketing so much in high school and it’s why it’s still a passion of mine. However, the word sale, sell, commercial, salesman, and advertising are usually viewed with a look like this kid.

Especially in the church. We are totally afraid to do exactly what Seth talks about.

Give people an opportunity to change the community for the better.

Things I hear in the church are “they are too busy. They have a really full schedule. They have a lot on their plate.”

We are calling them to impact themselves and others around them for the better and yet we feel afraid, timid, or in some cases guilty for calling people to go the extra mile. So today, change. For you, those you work with and for the community and the world. It’s time to make a difference.

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