Goodwin receives an award for her years of service.

Thelma Goodwin says the role of church usher is similar to the role of meeting planner in many ways. An usher ensures perfect order is maintained at all times during a service. They prepare the church for guests by being the first to arrive and the last to leave and see that pens, literature and envelopes are available. Most importantly, a church usher helps make a service a success by putting a congregation in the right frame of mind to receive a message. Goodwin is a conference planner who was drawn to both planning and ushering.

“You’re sitting in church and you see some folks are singing,” says Goodwin, 60, who joined the Eastern Region Church Ushers Association in 1970. “You see the deacons praying and the deaconesses assisting with communion. You see the ushers in the background and you just sort of take to one thing or another and for me it was ushering.”

Goodwin was led to the ministry of ushering at the age of 18 and recruited into meeting planning at 51. Although her introduction to the respective services was very different, she says the calling was much the same. When her usher’s association requested she plan their annual conference, she rose to the challenge and has planned the event for nine consecutive years. Already familiar with planning events, Goodwin was well prepared to take on the responsibility of securing accommodations for conferences.

But in February 2010, Goodwin met a force she’d never encountered in her years of planning — snowmageddon, the nickname given to a snowstorm that crippled much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region. Nearly half of the 400 attendees at the 53rd Eastern Region Church Ushers Conference in Hartford, Conn., Feb. 5-6, were delayed returning home due to 90 centimeters of snow that blanketed the region. With the one-day delay, the original 383 total room nights booked turned into 450 and attendees grew restless.

How did the snowstorm affect your conference?
We knew before leaving Washington, D.C., that we could be stranded in Hartford. We saw the weather forecasts and planned for the possibility of it snowing in Hartford but the blizzard didn’t reach Connecticut. When we left Washington, D.C., there was so much snow on the ground and another foot fell while we were away. The news had predicted it and it came true. I went prepared to stay an extra day or so.

How many other attendees were delayed by the storm?
Half of us were delayed at least a day. Most people had flights that were supposed to depart on Sunday. By that Saturday we were informed that all flights had been canceled, not because of the weather in Hartford, but because the majority of us had traveled from Virginia on up to Delaware.

Did you have to deal with everyone’s questions and concerns?
It wasn’t too bad. When we had to extend room nights, I was only responsible for extending the reservations for the comp rooms for our officers and special guests. All of our attendees made their own room reservations in the contracted room block. When I got the details on rates before the conference, I sent the details to the state presidents who passed the information onto their members. Some states traveled as a group with a transportation chairperson who made all the arrangements for travel. That chairperson was responsible to go up to the desk and make arrangements for whatever their group needed.

Was it difficult to book the extra room nights?
I made the arrangements with the hotel and they were so accommodating. The Marriott Hartford Downtown just worked with us so well and extended our group rates throughout whatever period we needed. We weren’t able to come home on Sunday so we made the best of it. We put together a Super Bowl party and had a wonderful time. We just picked up a few things, ordered some pizzas, had some sodas and just all gathered and watched the game.

Why did your association decide to meet in Hartford?
We were fortunate enough to utilize the Marriott Hartford Downtown the first year it opened in 2006. We were one of the first groups to hold a conference there. We had such a wonderful experience due to the hotel and its wonderful staff and beautiful facilities. We also enjoyed working with Phyllis Anderson, the national sales manager at the Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau. She made sure we had everything we needed. Between Phyllis and the Marriott, everything went well.

Which Hartford attractions drew you to the destination?
As a group we generally don’t get much opportunity to tour cities. Some of the members venture out but generally with a two-day conference you don’t get a lot of time. So the destination’s attractions generally don’t factor into our decision-making. We look into information like transportation and proximity to airports and make it known to our members, but it does not factor into whether or not we select one facility over another.

The hotel facilities, meeting space and accommodations are the main factors that must meet our standards and desires. Then of course, once we ascertain that a destination has these things available we look at the cost. Sixty percent of our membership consists of senior citizens who are living on retirement incomes so reasonable rates for guest rooms are very important to us. Getting the meeting space complimentary also helps.

How did the Hartford CVB help?
It was wonderful. I contacted the CVB to see what materials they could provide the convention and they were very helpful and offered us bags and brochures. With the economy, the CVB couldn’t provide some of the items that we were able to receive in 2006. Last time the CVB was able to give us bags, pens and brochures. This time they were not able to give us pens but the CVB still helped us save. In other destinations we’ve had to order bags and pay to have our information printed on them. But the Hartford CVB saved us by letting us use their bags. The CVB actually delivered the materials to the hotel and we didn’t have to wait or anything.

What was the conference agenda?
The meeting was basically a business meeting. We had different offices report like the national board of directors. We planned for the upcoming national convention. We also solicited ideas for the organization on the state and regional levels and we looked for ways to improve.

The deadline to register for the conference was Dec. 31, 2009. Did you meet your registration goal?
We did not have a necessary goal. Normally, our registration is close to 400 and we definitely came within our expectations. The majority of registrants took advantage of the pre-registration. We had 30 people register onsite.

The ushers association was organized to break down discrimination. Is that still a part of your mission?
It is part of our mission, but as time goes forward, that’s not our main goal. Our main focus now is an organized way of ushering in churches. We are also about community involvement and education. Our mission has expanded.

Does the conference provide training for ushers?
We actually have a national school of ushering that provides a 7- to 8-month course where people are taught how to usher. One of the afternoon sessions at the conference was a school of ushering workshops but that was optional.

You said that ushering is a ministry. Can you explain that?
In church we keep order and make sure everyone is comfortable. It is such a wonderful thing because the love that we have for one another makes you feel like you aren’t a stranger anywhere you go. You may not know anyone when you walk in, but church ushers never meet a stranger. We also gravitate to one another and we have wonderful relationships. When we get together for the conference, in addition to taking care of the business, it’s just a great fellowship.

Could you describe the training concept of the silent uniform method of ushering?
We believe that church services should be orderly and that there should be limited movement and minimum talking so as not to distract from the service. In that regard, we usher solemnly, everything is by signs. We use hand signs that we learn in school. When you are on the floor there is no talking; we are given an assignment; you carry out your assignment; you are relived. All of this is done through signs.

Any advice for fellow meeting planners?
I would say, anytime traveling, we never know when emergency situations will arise. I recommend that travelers always plan for a trip to last a couple days longer than they anticipate. That means bringing extra money or credit cards that you can put a room on. When you are prepared you aren’t as stressed by the situation.

By Jennifer Garrett

Following Jessica Levin on Twitter, it’s easy to see the association marketer, meeting planner and owner of 7 Degrees Communications consulting company wears a lot of hats, but it is also apparent she has fully taken hold of social media and its benefits in every role she takes on.

Meetings and social media go hand-in-hand, says Levin. “Events are largely to bring people together and share information. Social networking really helps people engage in relationships and provides access to share information much more easily than we’ve ever been able to do before.”

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc., can be overwhelming. We asked Levin to share some basic tips for those who are just getting started or feel they are already in over their heads.

Social media may seem daunting. How can an organization get started?
I would tell them to start with “What are you trying to accomplish?” That really drives what they are trying to do. So in terms of putting on an event, the “big four,” which are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs, all have a place, but it all has to do with what you are trying to do — if you are trying to increase engagement, promotion, etc. Social media is not one-size fits all.

What if engagement is your goal?
Ultimately, if you can afford it, implementing an event community that ties into your registration system is really a great way to tie a community together because they can know who is attending and can have message boards and can link to all the outside sites like Twitter and Facebook. It really is a pre-dialog about the event. Twitter is a great tool during an event. Having a Twitter hashtag [#] and following the conversation there really changes the whole dynamic of an event.

What are some meeting-specific social networking sites?
There are three big players in that market — Pathable, Social Collective and Crowdvine. There are some other products but I would say those are the main ones.

What if promotion is your goal?
You have to figure out where your attendees are. If you have a group on LinkedIn, that might be a platform you use. In terms of promotion, it is easy to use multiple platforms. Start a group on LinkedIn, incorporate blogs, YouTube, but put your emphasis and your time where you find that your attendees are.

If you’re using multiple channels, do you risk sounding redundant?
I prefer the word consistent to redundant. There is a lot of noise out there whether it is hard copies or social media, so while as a planner we may feel like we are saturating the market, the recipient may only see it once or twice. Social media clearly expands what you can do. Blogs are terrific; you can get a lot of different people blogging. You can have your speakers blogging whether you have them blogging for you on your site or on their site. Generally, when they are blogging on their site about your event, they have huge reach so they are helping promote your event as well as providing content and teasers for the attendees about what to expect.

What is a common mistake when implementing social media?
They try to do it and don’t realize that they need to plan and there is a time commitment involved. They throw up a bunch of sites and then there’s no one monitoring them.

When time commitment is a factor, what should planners focus on?
One of the best things you can do is get other people involved. Your attendees are going [to your event] because they want to meet other attendees. They are not really going because they want to interact with the staff — whether its an association or a company. So having what I call Social Media or Communication Ambassadors can be really helpful. With social media it’s important to spread the wealth, so you’re asking people to handle some of the updates and help spread the word.

Every group has leaders. It’s just a matter of identifying them and finding people who want to help.

What do you recommend for an audience  that is not tech-saavy?
One of the things that I highly recommend for an audience that isn’t savvy but is interested (if they aren’t interested it’s going to be difficult) is to provide an education. This education has nothing to do with why they are coming to the conference, but you can teach them how to use some of the tools so their attendee experience is enhanced. Have webinars ahead of time, and maybe even a series of webinars, on using different platforms. If you have decided that you are going to implement an event community than you need to teach people how to use it. You need to have a session and allow people to ask questions and really be patient, speak in plain English and not text terms. The same thing if you are using Twitter or having a Twitter stream during an event. I do a 1-hour Twitter101 to really give people an overview and it helps them not only for the event but it teaches people a new skill.

“Youth Harvest Training was born out of the desire to train youth to be ministers,” says Reid, who has been planning meetings on the local, regional and national level for 10 years. “I saw a need to equip leaders in our organization. We wanted to train our leaders according to our denominational focus and values.”

The Operation Omega mission, based on a scripture in which the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to train those who will teach others (2 Timothy 2:2), is to encourage youth leaders to reach, raise and release this generation for Christian service. “We are coming alongside to train leaders who will coach our youth,” she says. “Everything that we teach them, they will go back to their ministries and train youth to win their peers. In every area in which we are training leaders, we ask them to replicate the process and make a cycle.”

Reid’s love for languages began during a five-year stint as a co-pastor at a church in Montreal, Canada. Her passion has turned the COGOP’s headquarters in Cleveland, Tenn., into a trilingual office. In the past two years, she has planned two bilingual conferences with upfront translation and downloadable Spanish-language registration forms. She currently is coordinating logistics for the Operation Omega 2010 global tour, which includes five dates with locations in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Peru and Calgary, Canada. In 2011, Reid hopes to expand the tour to include French-language conferences in Africa.

Rejuvenate caught up with the globetrotting mother of three to learn more about the intricacies of an international tour.

When did you first become involved with the COGOP’s International Youth Ministry?
My husband and I have been working for the COGOP in various capacities for a while. We took the position as International Youth Pastors in September of 2008 to revamp Operation Omega. The International Youth Ministry has existed in the church for the last hundred years. We renamed it Operation Omega because we believe this is the Omega Generation.

How do you define the Omega Generation?
We see today’s youth as the generation that will usher in Christ. We are a last day movement and we believe Christ is coming soon. We call them the Omega Generation in the sense that omega is the ultimate and the last letter in the Greek alphabet. When we look at this generation we see the most influential generation that the world has ever seen.

How did the Operation Omega Youth Harvest Training conference come about?
We saw a need for training while visiting summer youth camps in various states. The youth leaders themselves expressed a desire for training. The North American Training Harvest in January was meant to draw all of our North American leaders from our youth and camp ministries.

Why did you hold the North American event in Murfreesboro, Tenn.?
It was a central location for many of our churches. The greatest population of COGOP churches is situated in the South. It’s an easier place for people to travel to by car and we wanted to get the greatest attendance. We had groups come from as far away as Alaska, California and the Cayman Islands.

How successful was the event?
We didn’t reach our goal of 200 but we had 140 attendees. Financially we came out OK in that we are able to cover our costs. In the end, conferences aren’t about attendance; they are about the overall experience. We did train more than 100 youth leaders. We were able to really touch some key areas of leadership training and development. After every class we had workshop evaluations and from those we could tell that people were pleased with the programs.

How was the training program structured?
We had a youth ministry track and a day camp track during the conference. So we touched on subjects like child protection, youth culture, the casual sex revolution and fundraising for youth ministry. The North American event had workshops, speakers and classes on preparing for full-time ministry. We addressed at-risk youth and the arts as a means of outreach.

There were four-hour intensive classes and a practicum. The rest of the weekend was composed of general sessions, speakers, workshops, and praise and worship. Every morning opens with devotional time and every night we have a powerful inspirational message.

How are the international locations chosen?
When we go outside of the country, we try not to go to hotels. We use campgrounds that we own or can rent. In North America, most of our leaders are bi-vocational and volunteers with full-time jobs. When we go outside of the country we realize the attendees don’t have the resources Americans do. So we have them travel to places where accommodations are as cost efficient as possible, meals are easy and where meeting space is cheap so the registration fee can be less.

How do the programs for the international events differ from the North American conference?
We vary the structure depending on budget and resources. With the North American event, we had it at a hotel and we had more meeting space. We are focused on the camp and youth ministry training. When we go out of the country, we don’t focus on camps or training as much as we focus on new and emerging ministries. Youth ministry is still a developing ministry outside of the United States. For international events we try as much as possible to use the same speakers but my husband, another team member and I will be the only consistent speakers. We might have two or three others who will be able to travel to different venues.

What are the different challenges you face when you plan internationally versus here at home?
Budget and facility are challenges. When planning in the United States, we have the choice of using a camp room or a hotel. We can choose to have 10 breakout rooms, state-of-the-art AV and just about everything at our disposal to plan a really great meeting. We have wonderful hotel venues and staff that we can work with to meet our budget. We can bring in speakers and we have a greater pool to draw from in our network.

When we go outside of the country, we face serious venue issues. What kind of space are we working with? If the space is open air, how do we use overhead projection? Are there enough areas for breakout sessions? We also try to keep the registration fee under $15, which is a lot for some areas.

What’s your planning schedule like?
While I was planning the North America conference, I was also planning the meetings in South America. My planning team of five has to think and plan several Youth Harvest Training conferences at the same time. Our planning process begins at least a year in advance for major conferences. For international events we often have a shorter timeframe, but we are fortunate that we have great teams in those nations to help plan the logistical aspects while we plan the teaching and programming. The teams are a part of leadership teams in those nations. They are volunteers and not paid staff. When we go to Venezuela, I will be working with their national youth director and all of her volunteers. Those volunteers will be about 40 youth directors from the local churches in the nation.

Sounds like a tough schedule. How do you juggle everything?
The planning — I’ll be honest — is a killer, but when you see it all come about you see God’s work. It’s a killer because there is so much to do logistically. There is a lot of working with registration, working with venues, working with speakers and contracts, and pulling materials together. Sometimes it feels like your head is spinning out of control. It takes a lot of preparation and prayer time. Physically it is draining, with all of the traveling, but the process allows you to meet great people and work with great leaders. On top of everything else, we have to make all of the contracts, applications and materials bilingual.

It gets crazy. When I got to the North American conference I saw the beautiful binders lined up and realized I forgot to include the course synopsis. The synopsis was completed and on my computer, but it never made it in the binder. It was a little glitch. For some people it would be a big deal but for me it was OK. I know you can still have a great conference without having every duck lined up.

How many youth leaders does Operation Omega expect to train globally?
We expect to train 5,000 youth leaders globally in 2010. We could exceed that. When we go outside the United States, we will train between 300 to 550 leaders in each area. We have five training conferences lined up for 2010, which is a great start for us since we are just launching this ministry.

You have a strong Facebook presence with 534 friends? Do you consider social media an important planning tool?
With every event we do, we have an intensive training session on youth ministry and technology. We give both teens and parents a 42-page booklet on all the latest technology and social networks and talk about the benefits and cautions. For me, it’s a great way to stay connected with the youth. The teens are on Facebook posting things and we have teens IMing us; it is a great way to connect because we’ve moved a lot in the past eight years. When we are traveling we post where we’re going and say pray for us, and [we] get tons of messages. We find Facebook to be a crucial tool right now.

What do you like most about your job?
I like my job most when I am traveling and working with leaders. We really feel a calling to raise leaders in this generation. I love young people, working with parents and going to different nations. It’s a challenge linguistically many times but it is also an opportunity. I am developing my language skills. Seeing youth leaders being so hungry for training is satisfying. We thank God for the grace to endure and bare it. Our heart is in this.

How did you learn to speak French and Spanish?
I don’t speak either fluently, but when I was in Montreal I took courses. I depend on the little that I know to have quasi-conversations. When I was growing up in New York, I took Spanish classes but I was never in an environment where I had to use it. Now that we are traveling so much in Latin and South America, it comes back a little bit but I wouldn’t say I speak Spanish. I do have a love for languages and it isn’t something I consider a hurdle in my work. It is something I embrace whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Do you have any advice for fellow meeting planners?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Work with an expert when it comes to the contract. Let other people look over your contract to see where you can find more leverage. Sit on the contract a while and think through before you sign. Realize that hotels have room to bend a little. With that said, however, look for the hotel that will give your participants the best overall experience. Sometimes that will mean added cost to you (it may not be the best offer/proposal), but our end goal is always to give the participants a great experience that will make them feel that their time and financial investment was worth it.

What do you believe makes a great experience for attendees?
Venue and programming is key. When attendees arrive, the whole registration process can make or break an experience. If it is chaotic and disorganized, they will feel it and form opinions of what to expect. Organization is crucial.

By Joan Drammeh

In June 2009, a U.S. Meeting Planner Intentions Survey conducted for the Professional Convention Management Association revealed 41 percent of meeting professionals were planning to postpone, cancel or rebook meetings already booked in 2009/2010 due to current economic conditions. Jarvis Ward, national facilitator of City & Community Ministries with the Mission America Coalition (MAC), was one.

“I serve on the MAC national staff and work closely with our Chairman/CEO Dr. Paul Cedar,” says Ward, 47, who’s been with the coalition since 1994. “Paul made a recommendation to the board of directors that because of the economy and because a number of our ministry partners were seeing major drop-offs in registration, it would be best to postpone our 2009 event until 2010.”

The coalition began discussing the possibility of canceling the October 2009 Mission America Coalition Annual Gathering as early as December 2008. The annual gathering represents the coalition’s commitment to discussing strategies for collaborative evangelism and discipleship among Christian leaders. In March of 2009, the Mission America board of directors announced the postponement of the gathering until March 1-4, 2010. In addition to the change in date, the board announced plans to combine the gathering with the National City Impact Roundtable, an annual gathering where city reaching practitioners come together to share best practices.

“When Mission America made the decision to postpone the October meeting until the first quarter of 2010, I realized then that we could have a conflict with the National City Impact Roundtable,” Ward says. “In this economy, having two national conferences in the first quarter of 2010 and within a three-month time frame would be a struggle. I brought the idea of combining the two events to the Mission America board and to the National City Impact Roundtable.”

Due to foresight of Dr. Cedar and Ward, there were no contracts to be broken or cancellation and attrition fees to be paid — just a group of prospective attendees that had to be informed. Rejuvenate caught up with Ward to learn more about Mission America and how he handled a tough decision.

What was your opinion about the decision to cancel the 2009 MAC Annual Gathering?

I was in full support of the postponement of the event in light of what we were hearing from some of our colleagues around the nation. It gave us the opportunity to put
together the best program for the roundtable and the MAC.

What were your members facing?

A number of meetings were experiencing a significant drop in registration in the first quarter of 2009. We also heard a number of local and regional ministries experienced major drop in their funding. We have a great relationship with our leaders. In many cases we are attending their meetings or encouraging others to attend their meetings and we get a lot of feedback. We get a good feel for what’s going well and what isn’t.

How did your membership react to postponing the gathering and combining it with another one?

It was positive. I believe the membership appreciated the fact that we were considering their economic situation and trying to make the most of the meeting. It made more sense to have a meeting where we would draw a much larger attendance than to just have a meeting for the sake of tradition. It is not something we are planning to do each and every year, but in this particular time we made the decision and had a strong positive response from across the country. The bottom line — this Christian organization was sensing that the Lord was telling us what to do. The real measure of the coalition’s support will be how many register to attend.

Do you expect attendees to go to both simultaneous events?

That’s what we are hoping. We’ve never had these two meetings happening at the same time and same location. What we are presenting in our registration information is the notion of getting two national gatherings for one price. Many of them would attend both events anyway. I think they will be able to get a lot more in terms of resource providers, potential relationships and connections.

Have you benefitted from the extra planning time for the 2010 events?

Yes. In fact, the word is that 2010 could be our best yet in attendance, and the best in terms of the number of speakers and representation of ministries and denominations.

Will the schedule be more compact?

Yes. Trying to do two conferences over a four-day, three-night period will be very tight. We have intentionally planned a program designed around having combined sessions.

How many volunteers will you have in Birmingham?

We will have 30-40 volunteers and a few additional staff members. We rely on relationships that we have built and continue to cultivate in different cities across the nation. Our volunteers are people that we know. Whoever works with us does it because they have a desire to see city collaborative efforts grow in their areas.

What other ways is Mission America trying to save money?

We are always looking to be the best stewards of the Lord’s resources. We are currently in budget season and have been asked to cut our budgets. I was asked to cut the Mission America budget for City & Community. I submitted a 15 percent reduction by cutting corners, travel expenses and continuing without an administrative assistant.

How many roundtables occur a year?

We hold national gatherings once a year. About five years ago we began to encourage regional city impact roundtables that can be limitless in terms of the number of cities. This year we have five regionals.

Any plans to reduce those meetings?

Regional meetings are easy because those are locally owned and operated. The cost is lower because you aren’t bringing people from across the nation. You are usually just dealing with a couple of states. People are able to drive and get good hotel rates.

What role do you play in planning the events?

With the National City Impact Roundtable, I am serving on the planning team of six and working with our event planner, Jamie Brooke with Arrowhead Conferences & Events. Now that the contract has been signed, my role will be as point person working with the hotel on site to fulfill all of the provisions of the contract.

How did you first join the MAC?

I have been affiliated with the MAC since 1994 when I served as the executive director of the Mission Mississippi. I was invited onboard in 1997 as the national facilitator of City Community Ministries because of my work with the Christian reconciliation across the state of Mississippi.

What drew you to Mission America?

Mission Mississippi is a state organization with a local focus and Mission America has a national and international focus. The coalition is a network of church leaders with a shared vision to collaborate in prayer, evangelism and marketing. I wanted to take what I was doing on a statewide level and have the opportunity to have influence on a national and international level. It was the opportunity to see the gospel spread through collaborative evangelism and discipleship.

How do you think your work with Mission Mississippi prepared you?

Back in 1991, there was a clear line of separation and demarcation racially and denominationally in the body of Christ in Mississippi, particularly in Central Mississippi. What I got on a local level with denominational differences, racial differences, economic differences and so fourth, was solid strong preparation for moving to those national and international levels.

The MAC is made up of national church leaders. How does the coalition go about identifying community leaders?

In the early days we would seek them out. As people heard of the network we were building they started identifying themselves. They contact us now and ask to be a part of our newsletter and monthly conference calls.

What do you enjoy the most about your work?

I do what I do because I believe that when God’s people come together, in an understanding about long-term commitment, we can affect change in our communities.

In 1991, the Dare2Share youth ministry was founded to teach teens across America how to share their faith with courage, clarity and compassion. Less than 10 years later, the ministry has reached more than 300,000 teens and features seven annual conference dates. With tour themes based on Bible verses, Dare2Share events are structured for students ages 12-18, bringing youth pastors and youth groups together for a combined learning and worshiping experience.

“We all want teenagers to own their faith and part of that is giving them the opportunity to share their faith,” says Ken Allen, 41, director of events for Dare2Share. “We want teens to ask themselves, ‘do I really believe what my parents have told me about church?’ Part of that growth process is finding out who God is and what place he has in their life.”

Based in Denver, Col., Dare2Share Ministries launched the Blaze 2009-2010 conference at the Denver Coliseum Nov. 6-7. Drawing from Isaiah 6:1-8, a passage in which Isaiah is called to be a prophet, this evangelism training conference aims to equip teens to encounter God in powerful ways. Although registration numbers aren’t as high as the 2008 Invincible Student Conference — where 42,954 students attended, 725 volunteers assisted and 2,557 churches were represented — the Blaze tour is relying on strong local communities to keep attendance numbers up.

“Our intention is not to go into a city and say, ‘Hey, here we are, now everyone come to our event,’” says Allen, who joined the Dare2Share team in 2003. The Kansas State University graduate first discovered Dare2Share at a DCLA Youth Specialties conference in 1997. Allen was working with Youth for Christ/USA as director of communications at the time. “We want the community to see and share the vision for Christ and be reflective of that. We believe that for us as a ministry, we are there to support what the local church is doing. That’s where our heart is. We want to empower youth pastors to be more effective in their communities and help share the gospel.”

Rejuvenate caught up with Allen and spoke with him about the rigors of a conference tour before Dare2Share’s biggest event of the year.

Describe your yearly schedule.
We try to schedule events during the school year so that we don’t have to compete against the camps and summer activities. It also works better with church schedules to have an event like ours between the spring breaks and proms. The majority of our events take place in November, February and March.

Why do you call the Blaze event a conference tour?
We call it a tour because we pull off the events the same way even when we go to different cities. This year our tour is called Blaze; last year we had the Invincible tour. Our theme changes each and every year. The Blaze tour includes seven cities. We do the same event seven times and everything on the program and everything on stage is the same.

So it becomes routine?
It does from a production side, but with that said, we do find variety in what we are doing. For example, in some of the cities we have coliseums, arenas or convention centers that we are in. Each of those venues creates a different dynamic or variety so that each setup is unique. The logistics change and every once in a while we change aspects of the program.

Can you describe your planning process?
It’s a 12-18 month process in terms of planning. I am starting on next year’s tour now. For this 2009 Blaze tour, I started locking dates in last December. It is important to have everything prepared for the marketing team as we go into the contract process with the venues and out to the hotels to get room blocks.

We negotiate hotel prices after we sign the venue contract. I don’t want to sign hotel contracts until dates are locked in. Once the schedule is set, we approach major hotel chains with our dates so that they can submit RFPs. Hotel rates are usually determined around March and April.

How big is the Dare2Share staff and planning team?
Our ministry has 30 people on staff and the events department is made up of ministry advocates who are assigned to particular cities. The ministry advocates work alongside youth pastors in the area to encourage them and support them with what they are doing. We have two assigned to each city on the tour, charged with making connections in the local community.

Our ministry advocates are constantly on the phone with youth pastors, emailing them and keeping them informed with downloadable registration forms and schedules. We have a staff member assigned to each city to encourage and pray for them. We also follow up on the experience with surveys and welcome input. We want people to take what they learned at the conference and apply it to their churches with our podcasts. They are the ones having the direct impact on kids.

Any clue what next year’s theme will be?
We are calling it the Untour. We base tour themes on different scripture or biblical verses each tour and build our programs around that. The Blaze tour is based on Isaiah 6:1-8. We based the weekend around that particular scripture and verse and bring out the truth to encourage teens to share their faith with friends.

How do you choose host cities?
Our conferences are regional conferences so we draw people from surrounding cities and states. We try to do a good job with coverage in the United States regionally speaking. We love to hear from churches inviting us to come to their communities and help them build a network of churches that want to be a part of this. We really want local communities to express interest. We choose venue space based on a number of things including cost, size and scheduling.

Dare2Share does not provide refreshments in order to avoid food and beverage costs. How do you cover these needs?
We work with venues on providing concessions and lunch options for our students. We find that most of the groups will do a combination of bringing lunches in church vans or going offsite to restaurants.

What about transportation?
[They provide] their own. For a lot of events, people use charter or church buses.

How do you organize volunteers and how many do you average for each conference?
The average number of volunteers ranges from 200 in Denver and St. Louis (our biggest events) to 50 in Seattle or Phoenix. It is really based on what we can do in terms of recruiting and attendance in determining what our needs are. We are so dependent on volunteers to provide safety, ushering and administrative help. We have a wide variety of roles for those volunteers to play and they are so critical in terms of pulling off our event.

One exciting thing that we have is a volunteer staff that truly works as an extension of our staff. These are people who have been volunteering with us for a number of years at their own expense. They travel to cities to help us pull off these events. They will pay their way to go and help train up local volunteers. We try to help with hotel rates, food and complimentary stays. If they can get there, we try to cover their costs.

How much does it cost for a student to attend a Dare2Share conference?
We encourage early sign up. Registration fees vary based on how early groups sign up. We do have early bird rates. They can be spending anywhere between $39-50 depending on when they sign up.

How has the economy affected the Dare2Share tour?
Everything from registration to rooming has been affected. We have seen a dip because of the economy. A lot of churches that brought groups with 20-25 students are now looking at 15 students, people are being more conservative. Our original goal for the Denver, Colo., event was 6,000 students in attendance. We are at 3,600 right now and expect to reach 5,000.

We have a number of churches that stay in hotels but if there is a church that can’t afford the hotel side of it, we find a local church where the group can stay. In this economy, we want to provide that service as well and give groups a number of options. We try to negotiate the best hotel prices that we can but if a group can’t afford that then we find a way.

We just want to be faithful with what He’s given us and at the same time trust and pray that God will make a way for the people that need to be there.

How often do you work with convention and visitors bureaus?
We are making more of an effort to work with the visitors’ bureaus in the cities we tour. There are some cities that we have toured for years where the CVBs don’t even know who we are. We’ve been in Columbus, Ohio, for eight years but 2009 was the first year that we actually went out and introduced ourselves.

In other cities like Seattle and St. Louis, we’ve been working hand in glove with the CVBs. They really help us in terms of getting information out to the hotels, negotiating contracts, searching out venues, and making their restaurants and partners available to us. We have a person on staff dedicated to going out and educating CVBs about who we are and what we do.

Any advice for fellow meeting planners of youth events?
I would encourage planners at local churches to continue building a community network. Inviting the community to come together to be a part of youth events is important. There are a number of local networks of churches. The National Network of Youth Ministries is a great place to start to find other churches in the area.

BY JONATHAN LERNER

Martin Deacon, vice president for global mobilization of Call2All, an international ministry, thinks today’s economic slump just might be the best thing that ever happened to churches and their outreach efforts. Born in South Africa in 1968 and educated at the University of Johannesburg and the Dallas Theological Seminary – where he earned an M.A. at the age of 21 – Deacon is considered an innovator and efficiency expert at this kind of work.

“Churches and organizations with long histories,” he says, often tend “to protect the clan, and not to first and foremost pursue the mission and vision. Being viable or having modest growth was often rewarded, and a complacency and reliance on established core competencies and constituents were natural. Leaders that initiated organizational change often faced opposition, and change was often rejected.” But, he observes, “The current financial crisis is forcing everyone to rethink models, costs, programs and personnel.”

In the past, Deacon has promoted faith-based events and “train the trainer” programs all over the world for groups including Walk Thru the Bible, Purpose Driven, Equip (Christian Research Institute) and the Silver Ring Thing. Rejuvenate caught up with him as he was attending the Pacific Call2All Congress in Kona, Hawaii, in late July.

How has the economic downturn affected faith organizations?
Faith-based organizations are particularly slow to change in stable and good times, as changing programs and adopting new technology causes a change in how many people we need as well as the skill sets they need to employ. As the financial crisis came, change had to be reluctantly enforced as a way to survive. So the last 18 months have been in many ways a very traumatic time for organizations. But there is a big silver lining in the storm and I do believe that after the turmoil, organizations will emerge with a lot better focus and much better business models. And the good news for those in the hospitality, venue and conference industry is that faith-based organizations and churches will, by their very nature, continue to meet.

What kinds of changes has the situation forced groups to make?
Unproductive programs, meetings and staff probably – and hopefully – did not survive the downturn, and leaders will emerge with a team that feels wanted and has been empowered to succeed. Much of the middle management in organizations has left,
leaving the remaining junior staff with decision-making responsibilities that they are implementing themselves. A lot of leadership development is happening as people learn new skills, as they add the workload of others to their own job descriptions, and as they outsource non-core activities.

I have also seen, with a lot of relief, that most people that were affected by downsizing have been able to find new opportunities often better suited for their gifts than in the organization they worked in previously. To work in an organization that has too much capacity or redundant programs creates an environment for internal politicking versus outward productivity.

How has the current economy affected your group’s mission?
We are a new organization so we are growing. Most of our staff are missionaries that raise their own support. I called three new leaders to join me in Call2All in January, and they are funded by monthly supporters who believe in them and the vision.

Our organization has a vision to have at least 40 congresses, to reach 100,000 leaders globally. Our meetings are designed for interaction, networking and then for those who attend to make significant commitments towards the mission of Call2All.

Call2All started as a collaborative venture of major missions organizations to share a platform and mobilize leaders together. Mark Anderson, the president of Call2All, had a vision for our first global congress to be in Asia, and over 3,000 leaders from 101 countries attended the event. The event was only finally decided on in December and promoted from January onwards. We mobilized all our networks and did not rely on traditional marketing strategies.

Speaking of non-traditional marketing, what roles do technology and the Internet play in your “universal” call?
What’s interesting is how many of us are investigating telepresence technology as a new option to use in communicating, training, meeting and consulting.

You have to communicate constantly through your database. We sent out daily emails for over two months. A DVD with the vision articulated well in five minutes was key for us. We have a media site where our constituents can upload their videos related to the themes of our mission statements. People want to contribute, not just receive.

How does a Call2All event differ from other, faith-based conferences?
It attracts action-oriented leaders that are motivated by the challenge of practitioners to adopt new best practices to reach the least, the last and the lost. At least 40 percent of the time is spent in round-table discussions, and time for reflection is given.

It is very experiential, with maps of the globe the size of Olympic swimming pools that are walked and prayed on during the conference.

Each session calls for very specific commitments that on the final day are collected as forms, and then are returned with solemn intents to pursue previously unthinkable goals.

What practical decisions helped make this event a success?
The congress was affordable – $149. We used the Expo center adjacent to the Hong Kong airport. The local Chinese hosts paid for the venue, and this was a true partnership in making it affordable for our constituents. It also meant that our Chinese hosts had ownership for mobilization and in the presentations. More than 800 leaders from the Chinese mainland attended. It was probably the biggest gathering of mainland Christian leaders coming together outside the mainland.

The event caught people’s imagination, but so did the cost to stay over for five days in what is traditionally an expensive city. We were also able to negotiate $32 per night per person sharing rooms in 5-star hotels – something the current economic environment and bulk commitments made possible.

What expectations do attendees bring with them?
They do not want a talking-head conference with one famous speaker after another who disjointedly preach one message after another, or promote their own agendas. They appreciate the intentional structure and collaboration of the presenters who work together on a cohesive strategy. People seek collaboration and best practices and want to network with others. The venue, program and setting all contribute to this.

Traditionally, the faithful have been adamant about their annual get-togethers, meeting with other churches within their denomination or their country. Is this changing with the global nature of organizations like yours?
Leaders want global exposure. We had more leaders from the U.S. attend our congress in Hong Kong than attended our regional meting in Dayton in January.

Are there any other special challenges involved in global meetings?
English is accessible for many, but we did have translation from the front in Mandarin, and with headsets in languages like Korean.

What is the age makeup of Call2All?
We are delighted that it is multigenerational. Although young people made almost half of our global congress, our regional congresses are created for the needs of established leaders.

What plans do you have for future meetings?
We want follow up with local chapters meeting in cities and we want to implement telepresence technology to globally meet, train and network.

We are launching Call2All “next generation” in New Zealand in January, and plan for 3,000-plus to meet, camp out and have very different prayer and worship expressions in 24/7 meetings during the congress.

I am currently working on getting mission teams to come to South Africa on 10-day outreaches during the Soccer World Cup.

What other advice do you have for faith-based planners?
You cannot assume traditional loyalty. You have to rethink, reposition and promote a dream that will meet the needs of people that attend and equip them to make a difference in line with your mission statement. Traditional marketing strategies are not enough. Viral marketing through networkers who have a vested interest in the success of the event is crucial.

The younger, next-generation leaders want experiential, authentic environments that challenge them in and beyond the event. They want in on the planning, presentation and future implications and adventures related to the event. We always must leverage the momentum out there for our organizational goals.