Kinnaman, the president of The Barna Group, delves into why so many young adults with a Christian background are disengaged with faith. He conducted in-depth research and interviewed 18- to 29-year-olds. From the results, he offers practical suggestions for church leaders to improve communication and encourage those who have left the church to return. Publishers Weekly called it “a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of Christianity.”

Habitudes for Communicators
By Dr. Tim Elmore

Available in January, the latest book in Elmore’s Habitudes series shares principles that form leadership habits and attitudes for good communication, especially between different generations. Each chapter contains discussion questions, personal application and practical suggestions. Elmore also leads 90-minute to full-day workshops on the topic.

See more Rejuvenate recommendations and suggest your own to add to our bookshelf.

Layout Changes
The changes mostly affect the organization of elements on the platforms. Some are minor (a simple name change) and others can throw users off (the profile box and news feed swapped sides on the web platform).

The new tabs at the top of the desktop site and on the bottom of the mobile site basically rename existing features, group some elements together and add functions.

Home–This tab is your news feed, or the tweets of everyone you are following. In some ways, the changes within the feed make the site more like Facebook: Photos or videos in a tweet now drop down directly below the tweet instead of opening in a new page or column. Replies, retweets and favorites are displayed with a tweet like comments and likes on a Facebook post. Before, retweets were good for your brand because they sent your message to more people, and now it’s even more beneficial because followers can see all the attention a tweet receives in one place.

Connect–Any activity about you appears on this page: replies, mentions, follows and list additions. The search field located at the top of the page is specifically to find and connect with other users. This tab is helpful to track activity about your account in one place.

Discover–This is the most enhanced section of the site, and possibly the most obvious section for Twitter to place promoted and paid content. The search field at the top is for people, keywords and hashtags. Stories, hashtags, people to follow and other search categories related to your account populate this page. This is where attendees can follow a hashtag for your event.

Me­–Your Twitter profile is much easier to access from the mobile site now since it has its own tab. It has the same functions, but in a cleaner, easier-to-find layout. Direct messages are also in this area, though it would probably make more sense to be on the Connect page. The web layout is not much different than the previous version.

New Features
Two new functions enhance Twitter’s presence on your website. Embeddable tweets allow you to post interactive tweets to your website. The live tweet has the same capability as it does on Twitter, which means viewers can reply, retweet, favorite or click on links within the post. Enhanced Twitter buttons added to your site allows users to share content and connect with others with one click. The new hashtag button auto-populates a tweet with the hashtag, ensuring followers are using the hashtag you want them to use to talk about you or join a conversation.

Enhanced profile pages are another way Twitter is taking on Facebook. The pages have only been rolled out for certain clients right now, but eventually brands will be able to customize their profiles. See examples of enlarged promoted tweets at the top of pages and custom headers at @AmericanExpress and @McDonalds.

Read other reviews and helpful hints about the new Twitter on Event Manager Blog, Fast Company and Mashable.

Don’t get too comfortable. Rumor has it that more changes are ahead, especially as the company continues to look for ways to monetize.

Some provide hands-on service opportunities in the host city. Catalyst, which drew 13,000 next-generation leaders to Atlanta Oct. 5-6, took giving back to a new level. In every one of the 10 main sessions, the spotlight was on an organization or individual leading the way in a certain area, and the Catalyst team used its resources to give first and ask attendees to follow. After Katie Davis, a 22-year-old with 13 adopted Ugandan children, spoke to the crowd, Catalyst Director Brad Lomenick announced Catalyst would send all of her children to school. Catalyst, Convoy of Hope and Venture Expeditions joined forces to raise money for tornado victims in Joplin, Mo., and cities across the Southeast through pledges made for 13 cyclists who rode from Joplin, Mo., to the conference in Atlanta. The goal was to raise $100,000 in addition to the diapers, canned goods, blankets and towels, and gift cards attendees brought to the conference. For more examples of organizations the conference gave to, visit the Catalyst website.

The grassroots campaign set the fundraising record for the young platform until former Nike creative director Scott Wilson raised $600,000 on the site to create an iPod Nano wristwatch in December. The film is based on Miller’s 2003 book, which shook the Christian world with his frank account of life in the secular Northwest after a childhood in the Bible Belt.

This year, Miller launched the Storyline Conference, an event that helps attendees define their life stories and their places in the larger context of God’s story.

Photo by Jonathan Frazier

Advocacy: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others
By John Daly

In his new book, Daly, a leadership expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, reveals the moves planners and other professionals can make at meetings and during negotiations to get what they want. A few of those tips include talking more, interrupting and getting people physically involved. He explains in detail how to master these moves to get others to listen to and respect you. Daly has published more than 100 scholarly articles, authored five books and is president of the National Communication Association. 

Art of Celebration Southern California: Inspiration and Ideas from Top Event Professionals
This coffee-table book goes inside some of Southern California’s most exclusive galas. More than 400 photographs are accompanied by tips and talk from the event planners of award shows like the Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes. Mindy Weiss, planner for Heidi Klum and Seal’s wedding, reveals what it’s like to be planners to the stars. Caterers, floral designers, venue proprietors, lighting experts and photographers share tricks of the trade. You may never have their budgets, but you can borrow their ideas.

Pittampalli is on a mission against the status quo. He’s not against meetings altogether; he’s opposed to mediocre meetings. “In modern organizations everywhere, meetings are the lever that allows coherent motion. Meetings are the way we make change.” His book, which is produced through Seth Godin’s Domino Project, suggests the rules that need to be broken to make internal meetings effective.

More on the Domino Project: Author, blogger, speaker, marketing expert and all-around forward-thinker, Seth Godin has teamed up with Amazon in an attempt to flip book publishing on its head. The Domino Project, based on the theory of the domino effect, combines powerful, high-quality ideas, direct distribution channels (e-books) and a purpose beyond the bottomline. A thought-provoking blog at thedominoproject.com and a growing assortment of e-books on a variety of topics show the potential of the theory.

The Better Way To Win

Connecting Not Competing For Success
By Linda Seger

Part business philosophy, part lifestyle paradigm, this book spins the case for “web thinking,” a metaphor based on the dual images of the spider web and the World Wide Web. An international speaker and script consultant, Seger uses the term to describe the movement from linear, competitive thinking to a collaborative model that relies on teamwork, flexibility and connections, citing examples from the world of movies and online games. Web thinking is now being used in virtually every discipline from biology to theology, according to Seger, who sets out to prove that it is not only more humane but also more likely to bring lasting success.

You Can’t Lead With Your Feet on the Desk
By Ed Fuller

Here’s another book from Marriott’s management team. As president and managing director of international lodging at Marriott International, Fuller clocked more than 10 million miles building relationships across cultures. With colorful anecdotes from his nearly 40-year history at Marriott, and earlier as a captain in the U.S. Army, Fuller explains how he navigated cultural nuances and language differences, unfamiliar geography and frustrating local bureaucracy. He demonstrates how building trust, shared values and personal relationships are the real currency of every culture. Today, in addition to his responsibilities at Marriott International, he serves in various leadership and advisory capacities on many educational, philanthropic and tourism boards.

Following the resolution of the U.S. budget debate, 69 percent of meeting professionals considered the U.S. Congress, the U.S. economy or the global economy as the most influential trend on meetings. Prior to the budget impasse, only 23 percent had these concerns.

While projections of future business did not change, meeting professionals around the world overwhelmingly indicated economic uncertainty as the most important factor influencing the meeting industry, replacing rising travel costs.

Other findings: Attendance levels remain higher than year-ago levels and spending per meeting continues to show slight growth. The greatest increases in U.S. events continue to be domestic corporate and domestic association for the sixth month in a row, despite the fact that rising airfares were seen as taking a negative toll on organizations planning long-distance travel.

Here are some of the responses to survey questions, which asked planners to compare conditions to a year ago:

How have your organization’s current overall meetings and events business conditions changed?

Greater than 10% better 14%

6 to 10% better 23%

1 to 5% better 30%

Flat (no overall change) 13%

1 to 5% worse 12%

6 to 10% worse  5%

Greater than 10% worse   3%

Describe your organization’s predictions of meeting and event-related business conditions over the next few months.

Greater than 10% better   9%

6 to 10% better  23% 

1 to 5% better 38%

Flat (no overall change) 15%

1 to 5% worse  9%

6 to 10% worse  4%

Greater than 10% worse   2%

To what extent have rising travel costs forced or caused you to change the way your business operates?

A significant extent   4%

A moderate extent 46%

No extent  50% 

Which client segment of your organization’s meeting and event-related business has seen the greatest increase in activity?

Domestic association  22%

International association   8%

Domestic corporate  44%

International corporate 16%

Government  5%

Other  5%

Which client segment has seen the greatest decrease in activity?

Domestic association 12%

International association 12%

Domestic corporate  21%

International corporate 15%

Government 33%

Other  7% 

How has your spending changed on meetings and events?

Greater than 10% increase  2%

6 to 10% increase  11%

1 to 5% increase  22%

Flat (no overall change) 42%

1 to 5% decrease 15%

6 to 10% decrease  5%

Greater than 10% decrease  3%

Source: MPI Business Barometer, August 2011