Communication Nation: Mapping the future of conferences

What is the future of conferences? What is the future of church services? The current model for conferences and church is to provide information. Do people really need more information? Most information is already available 24/7 on the Internet. Is there a new purpose for people to gather? Dave Gray at Xplane pointed out a visual map of the future of conferences that was created by Eileen Clegg at Visual Insight. You can click on the image to hear dialogue around the ideas. Here are some thoughts that were discussed:

-Increasingly, people will go to a conference for a new purpose. No longer will people be looking for a conference to collect information. The purpose for a conference of the future will be to co-create new information.

-In order to keep everyone engaged in the conference experience, a conference of the future will give people many options happening simultaneously so that no one has the same experience. This was described as a 30 ring circus.

-“Learning is a process not an event.” Conferences have traditionally been an event. What would a conference look like if it was a process?

-Visuals are a great way to capture emergent learning.

-Innovation is at a new intersection of ideas rather than new ideas running in parallel.

-Staying in silos inhibits innovation. Conferences need outsiders and even "heretics" to enable fresh thinking.

Sermon Tips From Someone Who Is Not a Preacher

Why should a preacher take the advice from someone who is not a preacher? The same reason why companies pay big bucks for consumers to give them feedback on their highly researched product. The same reason why politicians make major changes to their campaign based on opinion polls. Here are some thoughts:

Don’t give me all the answers, give me questions – I have more answers than I know what to do with. Give me some questions. Questions last longer because I have to engage my mind.

Don’t give me information, give me stories – "We must fight the temptation to skip directly to the 'tips' and leave out the story says Chip and Dan Heath in their book “Made to Stick.” Jesus either taught through a story or a quick challenge. The beauty of a story is that it meets people wherever they are in their spiritual journey. “'Thou shalt not' is soon forgotten, but 'Once upon a time' lasts forever.” -Philip Pullman

Don’t give me a perfect sermon, make mistakes and lose your place – After hearing perfectly executed voice-over powerpoint presentations that a computer could give, it’s refreshing to hear an authentic message with spontaneity, errors, oops, interruptions, laughs, etc. A close friend of mine, Matt Brouwer, told me that he would mess up on purpose when he was leading worship just to get people out of the Sunday service monotony. Try it sometime.

Don’t tell me what, until you’ve told me why – People are created with the need to know the why. What’s the question that kids ask their parents the most? Answer: “Why?”

Don’t get so caught up in your notes that you leave out emotion and passion - "The goal of making messages 'emotional' is to make people care. Feelings inspire people to act." -Chip and Dan Heath

Don’t make it easy, but make it simple – Life and Christianity cannot often be described as easy. Life happens. However, that doesn’t mean that a sermon should be complex. Keep your message simple and challenging. Jesus said, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor.” That’s a simple message, but not easy.

The book recommendation and some of these thoughts came from Tony Morgan's blog, check his blog posts on the subject. Click here and here.

Dave's Secrets for Great Team-Based Leadership

I just read an article by Dave Ferguson that I highly recommend every church leader to read. These 4 secrets are truly part of the foundation for any next generation church. Here are some highlights:

“The Secret about the Cause – We are committed to the cause first and each other second.”
• “Our policy is not to make a policy. Policy is what happens when we can’t get people to do what we want them to do because people are not championing a clear cause.”
• “We are willing to die for the cause.”
• “Why do men always remember athletic teams or army platoons as the place where they experienced the most genuine community? Answer: because a clear cause created community. The cause of winning a game created a team. The cause of defeating a common enemy created a team.”

“The Secret about Community – We don’t know when we are working and when we are playing.”
• Do you love what you are doing in the church? If you don’t, find something else or get out.

“The Secret About Chaos – We may look crazy to you, but there is a method to our madness.”
• "Highly Collaborative AND Very Competitive"
• "Very Compassionate AND Comfortable with Conflict"
• "Loves Spontaneity AND Wants Accountability"

“The Secret About Creating Culture – We REALLY are going to change the world.”
• “When people get wind of that kind of opportunity, tremendous sacrifices become normal.”

Making the Idea Stick

We tend to spend a lot of time thinking about how to make messages more contagious - how to reach as many people as possible with our products or ideas. But the hard part of communication is often figuring out how to make sure a message doesn't go in one ear and out the other. Stickiness means that message makes an impact. You can't get it out of your head. - Malcolm Gladwell in his book "The Tipping Point."

I think Malcolm Gladwell must have attended a tent revival in his youth where the whole town got saved every time the evangelist came to town. What makes an idea stick? When do people "stick around" and get plugged into a church?