Unleash Your Potential Without Unleashing a Lot of Money

Unleash your potential, without unleashing a bunch of dollars.

There’s no doubt church conferences are best utilized when an entire team of staff and volunteers are able to attend together. But how in the world can you convince your staff and your volunteers to lay out hundreds of dollars each, and multiple days off to attend a conference?

Unleash may be the answer for you.

Unleash may be the best value for the dollar of any conference around, particularly for teams seeking to experience a church conference together. In fact, for what a normal conference costs, you can take a team of about 5. And because the conference is a one day event, volunteers are all the more likely to be able to afford the time.

At the conference, slated for Thursday, March 4 2010, you will get an inside look at how Perry Noble and his team have navigated extraordinary growth in a small population base and a short amount of time. In only 10 years, Perry’s church, Newspring has grown to four sites, and 10,000 in weekly attendance; – all in and around the town of Anderson, SC. Newspring may have a bigger population dominance than any other church in the country, and the insights gained from them will help you and your team go to a new level of effectiveness.

I talked to Perry yesterday about the conference, and asked him why he started it. He said,

“After my first trip to a really cool church conference, I came back frustrated that I hadn’t taken a whole team with me. So once we were able, I figured we should offer a similar conference that would rock your world and be affordable.”

Mission accomplished. At $39 and a one day commitment, this is a value worth investing in.

I’ll be there, and I may bring a team. Will you?

Let me tell you bout a Story

Bout a man named Ben.

 

If you haven’t heard of Story, you need to know about it.

 

Yesterday, I highlighted Catalyst as the single best investment of training dollars out there.

 

Today, I’m going out on a limb, but it’s a pretty strong one.

 

I believe Story  is going to be a must attend event. Held in Chicago for the first time this year, I’m sure it will be first class, and a high value add for communicators of the Gospel. Why?

Because at the end of the day, all that we do in church rises and falls on the weekend, and the weekend rises and falls on our ability to tell the Story. You can have it all together in your other ministries, but if the Story isn’t told, it’s all for naught. The best money a church leader can spend on training may be their training in telling the Story

Why plug an event with no proven track record? Easy….Ben Arment 

Ben played a key role with Catalyst for years, and is now making this his first attempt on his own. So who gets behind a first year event in the worst year economy in our lives?

More than a couple of good speakers and storytellers, including,

• Donald Miller
• Nancy Beach
• Dave Gibbons
• Stacy Spencer
• Ed Young
• Mike Foster
• Chris Seay

 

Workshops with film makers and producers, an intimate setting (seating will be limited), and some of the best storytellers in the biz should make this a great investment of money.

I asked Ben to tell me why people should come to this event when dollars are so limited. His response?

“Story is not for everybody. If you’re asking yourself this question, it’s probably not for you.”

STORY is slated for Thursday, October 28-29, 2009, at the beautiful Paramount Theater near Chicago. I’ll be there. Will you?

What to do if you have little or no training dollars

 

Training budgets in churches have been over the last 12 months at a rate I’ve never seen. But training is a must. So how do you train on little or no money?

 

Maybe you don’t have to have money….

If you have no money, then perhaps you should consider attending via Twitter. Following conferences virtually has muis benefits, as pointed out in a great post by Will Mancini last week. Conferences are using Twitter, online links, and chat rooms to let people attend who cannot be there. What do you think? Can you attend a conference virtually and gain substantial benefits?

 

If you have a little money, or can beg for it, here’s where you need to be…

Each day this week, I’ll be highlighting a top training event. In a countercultural move, I’m starting my countdown of top training events with the #1 event I know:

Catalyst

In my online poll last week, Catalyst was the clear winner, taking over 34% of the vote (more results to come throughout the week).

 

Why?

If you haven’t been, Catalyst ranks in my books as a great buy because of the experience. While some conferences are just as good online, or via DVD’s bought afterward, Catalyst is a must attend event. From the literal red carpet treatment on Day One, to the unpredictable stage interruptions of Lanny, you just can’t beat the on site experience of this event. Nevermind the networking, the content, and the resources that are available.

I asked conference point man Brad Lomenick why this year would be a must attend event. He said,

 

“I’m really excited about this year’s event. This is our Ten Year Anniversary of Catalyst this October. Because of that, we’ve put together the best lineup of speakers ever, in my opinion. And with the ten year anniversary we’ll be celebrating and highlighting some great moments from past Catalyst experiences. At the same time, we are going to focus on what the next ten years hold- and what we can accomplish as individual leaders and as the entire Catalyst community.

Our theme is On Your Mark, and really getting in line with what God has for you next. I can’t wait.”

 

Nearly every client I help find staff through FaithSearch  is involved, speaking at, or attending Catalyst. I’ll be there. And if you don’t like the event, find me there. I’ll buy your ticket…actually I’ll just buy you a cup of coffee.

It’s my favorite and most valued event of the year.

What’s yours?

 

Why You Should Have More Money For Training

In a season where every dollar in a budget is fought for and must be defended, how can you talk about increasing training budgets?

The response to my post about training dollars has been much bigger than I had predicted. I’ve received emails and even phone calls from people who know they need to either ask for training dollars or defend their training budgets to boards or committees.

Nobody expressed a desire to cut their training budgets. But few were able to articulate why they should keep their budgets, nevermind increasing them.

Here are three great reasons for continuing and even increasing training budgets

1. Training dollars retain your top talent. Studies have clearly shown that top talented people see training dollars as a clear signal that they will be valued, and that the church is willing to invest in their growth. Conversely, cutting training dollars sends a message that talent (and talent development) is expendable.
2. Training dollars recruit other talent. Attending conferences is the second best way to meet candidates and talented folks (#1 is hiring a search firm….). Same reasons as above, but in spades. Even more, it sends a message to potential employees. More times than I can recall, I’ve been asked by top candidates, “If I go to work there, what will they do to help me grow?
3. Training dollars show a commitment to the long haul. A top talent manager in the UK recently spoke to this point, “If you want to cut a leg off your organisation for short-term gain, then cut back on training. If you want your organisation to continue to flourish during an economic cut-back, maintain training standards and levels.

What reasons can you think of?

Later this week, I’ll share a list of ways you can maximize your training dollars. And next week, I’ll talk about the results of the poll listed below, and profile a different training event each day that I believe will provide a real return on your training investment.

 

Keep voting, and keep the conversation going!

 

Help Me Decide Where to Spend Training Dollars

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m spending the week asking the question:

 

“What is the most effective way for church staffers to spend training money?”

I’d love for you to weigh in and let me know your vote for best most worthwhile conference to spend your money on. Take the poll, and watch for my feedback in the coming week.

The Most Common Budget Cut I See

What’s the number 1 budget cut going on among churches these days?

As I travel visit with and talk to leaders of our largest and brightest churches through my work at FaithSearch, one area of cuts keeps coming up:
Training budgets.

Personnel Today recently reported that of all companies they surveyed, only 2% expected a training budget increase in the coming 12 months. If that’s what is happening in the corporate world, you can make a pretty safe bet that it will be mirrored in the not for profit and church world.

It seems that nearly church I know has had to think and rethink their budgets in light of the economic downturn, and one place that continues to get trimmed is the money available for staffers to attend training events, conferences, and the like

As an aside, I find it a bit ironic that many of the folks I know who are cutting training budgets are also people who argue that a public health care system will lead to less training among doctors, and lower quality health care in our country. I believe that “the staff that isn’t learning, isn’t growing,” And most of the churches I work with believe that as well. If you need some good reasons to keep the training dollars up, go to the Personnel Today article I mentioned above.

However, I understand the need for pragmatic and careful expense control in this area until things settle and turn for the better economically.  Thinking on this has led me to a great question:

 

“What (if any) conferences are worth the money?”

 

Particularly in a period when training dollars are scarce and internet connectivity is cheap, conferences better be worth the money, and provide a real Return on Investment for the church and staffer attending.

Throughout the week, I’ll be highlighting what I believe to be the best investments of training dollars for the rest of 2009. I’d love your thoughts, comments, and input.

So I would a couple of questions to you: Are conferences beneficial to church staffers? If so, what conferences would you recommend for the balance of the year and why?

Post your thoughts, and let’s have a conversation.