Event: Annual three-day events—Catalyst East, Catalyst West and Catalyst Dallas—and regional Catalyst One Day conferences attract tens of thousands of young leaders to hear speakers, attend workshops, and be inspired to think and act unconventionally. An in-house team, consultants and a third-party design team brainstorm what issues are resonating with the church presently to come up with event themes. “We start coming around a word or a phrase, and then drill home into what’s going to invite people to come and be a part,” says Sally Heffner. In October, Catalyst East, held in Atlanta, debuted the theme, “Be Present.” It will be incorporated into the West Coast and Dallas events this spring.

Execution: “We begin with design—the website, emails, marketing—and then work with speakers down to the event level, directing the conversation around touch points on stage,” she says. At Catalyst East, pastors, authors and business leaders incorporated the “Be Present” theme into their presentations. “It really all has intention and purpose,” Heffner says. “It connects the dots, connects the entire experience.”

Injecting Humor: Conference organizers think of creative ways to bring the theme to life in fun ways. A contest during the event challenged two attendees to stay in large “Present Tents” on the arena floor for the entirety of the conference. Costumed bees ran around committing random acts like wrapping cars in the parking lot like presents. “The fun is meant to awaken creative thought,” Heffner says. “We might have just had a heavy, intense session, and [a light moment] can really clear the mind and shift gears before we dive back into a heavy subject. We operate better when we can step back and take a deep breath. A lot of times more ends up sticking.”

Challenges: “The curve is always moving, but we personally push ourselves to do our job well and with excellence,” says Heffner. “We push each other to raise the bar each time. What can we do to provide the best environment and the best experience for people who come and spend a day with us? It’s an everyday thing for us not just an event.”

Solution: “We are all involved in other things in and out of the church, and try to be aware of what other people are doing, and be aware of what’s going on now and tapping into what’s ahead,” she says. “We hope to come up with some creative, fun, maybe innovative thing—maybe working with an iPad or something someone has never been exposed to—and it might give nonprofits or churches ideas to do on their end. We like to get as many ideas out there as possible.”

Excellence: “We’re not striving to be on the front end,” she says. “We’re just striving to do our best, and use the resources we have. We see it as an opportunity to pour back into these leaders. We just see the work and ministry they’re doing, even nonprofit and lay leaders, and if we can model striving for excellence, we hope that carries over to them and their ministries. We don’t want to be the name behind it; we want to propel them to carry out the roles they’ve been called to.”

Advice: “Keep all elements (serious and/or fun) directly related to a theme. From start to finish, all the pieces should connect and have purpose,” she says. “And filter all decisions with the attendee in mind. Go through the program as if you were sitting in the seat.”

Inspiration: “The opportunity to serve alongside a team united in vision, and partner together in something that is awakening hearts, leaving lives inspired and changed,” she says.

| In Heffner’s Words |

When I’m on-site at an event… 

I can’t live without my Chapstick.
I communicate using an iPad.
I am most inspired by volunteers. A majority are past attendees who now partner in the vision so others can have the same experience they did—amazing people, incredible stories.
I most miss sleep.
I learn the most from our director, Brad Lomenick. He is a brilliant and incredible leader.

Event: The Mennonite Church’s biennial convention drew 6,500 attendees to Pittsburgh, Pa., July 4-9. The convention, which combines daily worship for youth and adults, workshops, adult business sessions and youth service projects, next meets in Phoenix in 2013 under a new planner. Glen Guyton, who has been with the organization for two years, has become the primary planner, transitioning into the position formerly served by Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, who was director of convention planning for the past five years.

Experience: As director of intercultural relations and director for constituent resources, Guyton already supervised the planning team. “We worked together a lot because I oversaw the intercultural relations part, making sure…we have racial diversity in the way we choose our speakers, seminar topics, the people that participate in worship.”

Preparation: Already entrenched in mitigating the intercultural challenges the Mennonites face meeting in Phoenix as well as the finances and contracts of the conventions, Guyton used the time before Pittsburgh 2011 to shadow Miller. “[I watched] her and her team, going through every detail that needs to happen to make the convention effective for us,” he says. “I met with every team member and covered all the minute details—transportation to volunteers to who’s going to make the name tags.”

Advice: “Make the old convention planner, if they did a good job, your best friend. Rachel still allows me to contact her and ask a few questions. I try to be respectful of her new role. Depend on the team already in place, listen to them, don’t come into a new position like a bull in a China shop. Tip-toe in, acclimate to the team and listen to the advice that’s there.”

What inspires you about your job?

“My job is about ministry and connecting with people, and that’s one of the things I really like about the convention. I was a youth pastor for 17 years; I love the youth convention part of the overall convention. Seeing the energy and excitement young people have at each worship service, and having a part in the spiritual development of young people keeps you moving forward and excited.”

What’s your best meetings resource?

I like my iPad. It allows me to stay connected on the road. I subscribe to some online convention planning magazines, and I browse through those in my free time.”

How do you relax? 

“I don’t relax! That’s the thing. I had so much energy and was so pumped up after the last convention, I came home, rearranged my office and cleaned out my garage. I think I had so much excitement built up inside of me, I had to burn it off by organizing my house.”

What’s a must-have when you travel?

“Vanilla room spray. Sometimes I stay with friends and you want your room to smell fresh.”

Planner: Bob Kaiser, Meeting Planner/Convention Site Negotiator, IFCA International

Event: The 82nd annual IFCA convention was held at the Drawbridge Inn in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., June 27-July 1, to be near the Creation Museum. Two evening general sessions featured keynote speaker Ken Ham, co-founder of the museum, and attendees spent a day touring the facility. More than 650 people attended the convention, and as many as 700 were in attendance for Ham’s presentations.

Success: “Registrations were up 57 percent,” Kaiser says. “Normal room nights usually have been around 800, and this year there were 1,088 room nights used. Normally, we serve 280-300 meals at seven different sittings, however this year we served over 2,400 at 6 sittings.” Kaiser attributes the success to the popularity of Creation Museum and Ken Ham. The museum did some outside marketing of Ken Ham’s speaking engagements at the convention.

Preparation: “We put a heavy emphasis on location for the conference, and the convention program, with Ken Ham, was emphasized in mailings.”

Going Forward: “We found that location does make a difference, as well as having the right speakers,” Kaiser says. “The board has asked for a study to be done, asking our members what excited them to want to attend. Prior to this past year, we have accepted our convention results without question. If the attendance was down or up, it was just taken as a normal part of the process. Now we are digging deeper to find out how we can maintain the momentum.”

Advice: “Get involved with the whole conference or convention, not only the rooms, meeting space, etc. Learn and challenge the entire program for results. Don’t stop at feeling good because you negotiated a good contract.”

More about Kaiser:

Biggest influence or mentor: “There have been many over the years. My faith means a lot to me though, so I can say with a confident and somewhat proud heart that Jesus Christ influences everything I do. I am representing Him in the field along with the ministry I represent, IFCA International. What people see in me is what they relate to Him and IFCA.”

Best resources for meetings: “I like to build solid relationships with CVBs. I think they are the best source of information and I have found that they try to know your organization and its needs. What makes it especially beneficial is a CVB that has someone who concentrates solely on the religious market. We are unique in our needs.”

How I got into the business: “Following 52 years in various executive positions in the retail food business, I was asked by my good friend, Dr. Les Lofquist, who is the executive director of IFCA International, if I would be interested in supporting the ministry by serving as their meeting planner/convention site negotiator. It was a nonpaid position, but came with many perks. When I retired from the business world, I felt led to take Dr. Lofquist’s offer and join the ministry team at IFCA.”

What I love about what I do: “The travel; building relationships within the field of hospitality; being able to use the business acumen I have gathered over the years in the business world and being able to relate them to the ministry; advancing the Kingdom in a different way.”

How I relax: “I do not answer phone calls or emails for a week.”

Must have when I travel: “My wife. She is my best friend and critic, and a great asset to the ministry. She gives me great input relative to needs of the female delegates and the Women’s Conference, which is a part of our annual convention.”

Recent Event: Q Portland, the fifth Q gathering, April 27-29 in Oregon

Attendees: 700 church leaders and congregation members

Speakers: 35 pastors, astrophysicists, educators, artists and other creatives who sparked discussion on the world at large and ideas that can be applied to the Christian community. They led 9-, 18- or 36-minute talks.

Biggest Challenge: “The act of curating,” Calgaro says. “Deciding who to have and who not to have—there are just so many people doing fascinating things in the world or who have something significant to share.”

Solution: Calgaro and his team used Compression Planning, developed by McNellis, to narrow down speakers. Using different colors and shapes to represent topics, the team looked at all the sessions together to see what was missing. “Using that system helps [us] look for something from a multi-dimensional and multiperspective view,” Calgaro says.

Innovation: Attendees sat at roundtables during sessions, but instead of choosing their own, seats were assigned to them. Assignments changed every session, and facilitators at each table asked questions to encourage discussion. “Our hope is to engage people at a different level so that the conversation can extend beyond the three days they’re together.”

Best advice for planners: During his early planning years at a college ministry, Calgaro sought out Tic Long, the president of Youth Specialties at the time. From Long he learned the value of talking with other faith-based planners, and observing and volunteering at events. Calgaro volunteered at Youth Specialties and other events while planning his own. “That was incredibly valuable…to be there and to see and ask questions, and to actually serve others,” he says. “It helps you to flex those muscles a bit, and it led to a lot of relationships.”

In Calgaro’s Words:

What are the best planning resources?
The McNellis Compression Planning tool, city visitor bureaus, Rejuvenate, the Internet, Google docs, and a new tool called the Creative Board made by the people who made ProPresenter that mimics the McNellis process.

What do you love about what you do?
I really enjoy people and I really enjoy learning, but I have this propensity to enjoy more when others are experiencing that, too. I get a deep satisfaction in connecting people with one another and connecting people with ideas.

How do you relax after an event?
When I was in Pittsburgh, after my event I would spend a week in New York City, walking around the city having good food. Also a friend of mine is an artist, who hosted an event every year [Encounter], and I’d go hang out [at the event]. It was kind of like a retreat for me.

What’s a must-have when you travel?
I definitely have to have a good micro-fine ink pen, Moleskin and my MacBook.

Event: This summer was our 225th recorded Annual Conference of the church. Each year the conference is held in a different city around the U.S. for four nights and five days that include business meetings, worship, workshops, meals and an exhibit hall.

Site Selection: First, we look at areas of the country where we have congregations located. We also seek places with the highest value for more modest costs. Because most attendees pay their own expenses out of pocket, they are looking for the lowest hotel and food costs possible.

Challenge: Our biggest challenge is offering a high-quality event for a limited budget. Keeping attendance up depends on finding price points that our constituency will find acceptable.

Solution: We haven’t completely solved it! However, I’ve been fortunate to find some venues for some of our conferences down the road that are a really good value. Sometimes it means going to a place during their slowest times in order to negotiate better hotel rates, etc.

Biggest Lesson: The most important lesson for me has been the importance of watching every detail in conference planning. There are so many various requests and I need to follow through on each and every detail. I keep endless lists and charts to try to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

Advice: Always try to find a “win-win” solution as you negotiate. Understanding the needs of the other party in a contract is as important as understanding your own needs.

IN DOUGLAS’ WORDS:

What are your best meeting resources?
Meeting with on-site people, especially CVB folks, talking with other meeting planners and events like Rejuvenate.

How did you get into the business?
I had directed our Youth Ministry office for 25 years and did a lot of event planning as a part of that, including our National Youth Conference every four years for as many as 4,800 youth.

What do you love about what you do?
I love seeing the whole event come together—when the attendees have arrived and are participating in all of the plans that have been worked on for months!

How do you relax (especially after an event)?
Long walks, reading books…staying away from people.

What’s a must-have when you travel?
Wi-Fi

DETAILS: Organized by the National Young Leadership branch of The Jewish Federations of North America, TribeFest was a first-time event for ages 22-40. More than 1,300 attendees from 84 of 157 federations came to Las Vegas for the three-day conference. TribeFest evolved from Washington Conference, a political and advocacy event held since the 1970s that developed into a social service event in New Orleans in 2009 and then a leadership conference in Boston in 2010. “When we started to look at what we were going to offer this year, we decided to roll all of them together,” Weinstein says. “An outreach event needed to reach new individuals from the next generation, so it needed to include all of the aspects—politics, environment, the arts, spirituality, our culture, everything.” To do that, JFNA reached out to 46 partner organizations from inside and outside the Jewish community covering a full range of interests to present at breakout sessions and were part of a trade show.

INNOVATION: The Big Show, TribeFest’s version of a trade show, had a lounge-type atmosphere with couches, lots of drapery, ’50s furniture and a photo booth. Attendees engaged with vendors and partner organizations during a cocktail hour and two evening concerts in the hall. “Rather than ugly pipe-and-drape, we made it its own event,” Weinstein says.

VEGAS: “General sessions, for the most part, lasted no longer than an hour. We know there are short attention spans, especially with this age group and being in Las Vegas,” Weinstein says. “We didn’t start any day until 10 a.m….so we weren’t battling the excitement of Las Vegas the next morning, and we finished all programming by 8 p.m., so we didn’t lose people.” The allure of Las Vegas was an attendance draw. “We know young adults don’t have a huge pot of cash they are looking to spend, so if they’re going to go somewhere, it has to be somewhere exciting.” Weinstein’s team made sure to keep the energy level high. They did away with talking heads, using only the “voice of God” to introduce speakers, and they played a lot of rock and hip-hop music to maintain the vibe.

FOLLOW-UP: Barcodes on attendees’ name badges were scanned at each breakout session so organizers could streamline follow-up with attendees based on which sessions they attended. “We braced ourselves and decided we would deal with [resistance] when it came,” Weinstein says. “A handful of people asked why we were doing it, but we were able to say, ‘We’re doing this for you so you don’t get mass emails,’ and they would say, ‘OK, please scan me.’”

Are you implementing innovative ideas at your conference? Let us know in the comment section below so we can share it with fellow planners through a case study.

Event: A global group of ministers interested in meeting and teaching technology for parishes and diocese gathered in Orlando Jan. 31-Feb. 3 for Interactive Connections. At the conference, ministers learned to integrate innovation and web-based technology into Catechetical ministry, or Catholic instruction, and faith formation of children through adults.

Co-location: The conference, which drew about 100 ministers representing schools, religious education offices and parishes, co-located with the Florida Educational Technology Conference. “That conference has been in operation for over 35 years,” says Cerveny. “It’s one of the best in the country when it comes to education technology, but the faith dimension is not talked about there.” The ministers met for two days before attending FETC, for which they were given a group price.

Change: IC is about changing mindsets, says Cerveny. It teaches ministers that they need to learn about technology and understand it’s important for communication and necessary when working with youth. “Exposing people to conferences like IC, let’s them hear about pastoral technology as well as walk into an exhibit hall that overwhelms them and learn to swim in a sea of technology.” Technology-savvy attendees are asked to be part of the educational team.

Venue: Cerveny chose the Doubletree by Hilton Orlando because of its Florida theme and $20 million renovation completed about three years earlier. “It’s a resort and has all kinds of options, a great conference center with an excellent AV department,” Cerveny says. “I needed a venue that had good tech support so I didn’t have to go running around looking for someone to do things.”

Technology: Planning a conference based on technology required Cerveny to make sure the meeting was fully equipped. She negotiated with the hotel to provide access for guest rooms, public areas and one meeting room, which had 12 laptops in it for a digital storytelling class.

Retention: Cerveny gets attendees to return by incorporating active members of the year-round community in the event. Two women returned to their Marietta, Ga., parish after attending last year’s event and recruited a committee of technology-minded members from their congregation. After hearing their story, Cerveny asked them to present to the group how they formed the committee and the results.

Community: The Interactive Connections community stays active year-round through a closed Ning group, or online community. “We encourage people to ask questions, share videos, interact with each other,” she says. “If an event is coming up we invite people. It’s interesting to watch. Some people are very comfortable with social networking, some are not, some contribute with comments.”

DETAILS: The annual conference is two and a half days of services, seminars and workshops for creative and performance church professionals. This year, it was held at Potter’s House Christian Fellowship in Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 17-19. It drew 9,000 attendees, the majority of which attended evening services open to the public. About 1,200 pastors, praise dancers, praise teams, music ministers and other artists registered in advance to attend day sessions and workshops. For those attendees, Hairston has used the same online registration system for the past five years. The system makes her job easier, but it’s still a technology new to some attendees.

BENEFITS: To register, attendees visit the Gospel Heritage site, which clearly outlines the process for them. “People can see the entire conference, pick and choose what they want to register for and get an instant confirmation,” says Hairston. “They can do it by themselves, at night, and they don’t have to wait until the office is open.” All the information is in one place, accessible to registrants whenever they want it.

CHALLENGES: “There are some people who are still reticent to use it and just want to talk to a person and be walked through every step,” Hairston says. “Five or 10 years ago they were very distrusting of doing things online; they didn’t want to use credit cards to pay for things.” And though she sees that changing, she still needs to have members of her staff available to help when calls come in from frustrated registrants. The system requires a unique email address for every registration, which sometimes causes issues.

SOLUTIONS: Hairston believes in customer service. She wants to have people on hand to answer questions. She’s also very proactive. “When we get a similar series of inquiries, we try to address them so we can head them off before other people have the same experience,” she says. She recommends posting common problems and their solutions on an FAQ page on the event site. She also makes sure online registrants are aware of the website’s security, which helps put them at ease.

ADVICE: Surround yourself with talented people you can trust. “I’m not really a meeting planner; I’m just a visionary who is anal,” Hairston says. She took on the planning for the organization to realign the conference with its original vision, but she has a different approach than most planners. “Most of the time, meeting planners take a concept and do all the nuts and bolts to make it come together,” she says. “I sit in the seat as the leader, but I put a lot of people around me who will handle different aspects of the event from top to bottom…They do it all from budget to implementation, so I’m able to multitask through them.”

EVENT: Thousands of young adults gathered at the Kansas City Convention Center for International House of Prayer’s Onething 2010, Dec. 28-31. IHOP-KC hosts multiple regional, national and international events a year for children, teens and young adults.

Photo by Shelley Paulson

REGISTRATION: All IHOP-KC conferences use iPods and iPads at registration. Collins uses Eventbrite to run the online registration program on the iPod. “Typically we have a couple of tables set up with Internet access and electrical outlets to keep charged up,” Collins says. “We have four to five people that check pre-registered attendees in and a couple lines for walk-ins.”

BENEFITS: The system helps attendees get through registration quickly. “So many people have access to a large database online and with so many handheld computers, it really helps things go smoothly,” she says. “You can sort by first name, last name, date registered and have tons of information literally in everyone’s hand.” The system is paperless and Eventbrite has additional helpful functions, Collins says.

CHALLENGES: Internet connection and keeping the iPods and iPads charged can be a problem. Collins advises planners using a similar system to make sure the devices stay charged because the system can reset if it dies. Cost can also be a factor when deciding to make a registration system high-tech.

In Collins’ Words:

When I’m planning events, I …

Can’t live without my laptop.

Communicate with my team.

Most miss prayer room.

Learn the most from Joanna Eitel, [my predecessor].

EVENT: Impact ’10, Impact Movement’s national conference for African-American college students, took place in Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 27-30. “The conference serves as a rallying point to mobilize leaders across the country” says Moore. More than 1,000 people attended the conference at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.

CHALLENGE: In addition to budget and staffing constraints (the core planning staff was down 35 percent from the previous conference in 2008), Impact ’10 broadcast its event live on the Internet for the first time. “It was clearly the most excellent experience for us, and also the biggest challenge in preparing for the conference,” Moore says. “Resources were not as rich as past years, but conference attendees still expect the same awesome experience from ’08.”

FUNDING: Moore first thought about doing the live stream because she’d heard charging a fee of about $50 could be good incremental revenue. “But my media consultant challenged me to trust the Lord to provide through a donor,” says Moore. “It’s about awareness for people who had never heard about Impact Movement, and this is the way to do that.” Moore found a donor who agreed the first time she asked.

NEEDS: The challenge ended up being the production behind the live stream. “We needed to produce, for all intents and purposes, a second conference for a second audience,” she says. The broadcast’s hosts, Rebecca Gilmer (pictured above interviewing an attendee) and Kenny Roberts, provided commentary of the live event and additional programming for the at-home audience. “It was a lot more intense than what we ever imagined,” Moore says. “It allowed us to pull in stories about the conference that were not possible on stage.” Moore had help from an on-site producer, Tia Willoughby, and a director, Adam Tillman-Young, who had experience directing music videos for Impact’s music ministry as well as other Christian and secular artists. “He had real experience and was a friend of the ministry, so he understood that we weren’t a TV station; we don’t do this regularly,” says Moore.

RESULTS: More than 9,000 people from more than 35 countries and every state in the U.S. tuned in. “It’s been our greatest desire for ministry partners and people who aren’t familiar with Impact to really see this is what it is,” Moore says. “Even if they don’t take part in seminars or anything outside the ballroom, it’s a snapshot. Parents see this is where they are sending their kids; it takes away the notion that people don’t care. People who are supporting someone to come see tangibly that they are investing in another to learn and ultimately change a life for eternity.”

UNEXPECTED PLANNER: After 14 years in corporate America, Moore came to Impact to plan the 2006 and 2008 conferences. “I believe my life has been used to organize and plan to develop visions and make them a reality,” she says. “They had a fantastic team in place who knew [what] needed to be done, and I could come in and give them new ideas and connecting points to accomplish them.”

ADVICE: “Create an experience where people meet God through the vision of the conference,” she says. “Without the audience, a meeting serves no purpose, so I try to be very sensitive to the audience experience and [what the planner hopes] the audience should take away.”