When you do attend a session, workshop, etc. don’t just listen….in fact don’t just take notes. As a speaker, I don’t look at my part being that of simply a dumping of information. I have two primary goals whenever I speak:

1. Give everyone at least one idea, action item, etc. that they can take back with them.
2. Begin a conversation.

Too often conferences are just a blip on the radar. A successful conference is one that has an effect that spreads. I’m not just talking about spreading the content through twitter…though a great start (and I’m still kicking myself for not kicking off my session with my twitter ID and a hashtag) but it goes beyond that.

Don’t just take notes, process them later. Look over your notes and create action items based on what you’ve learned and experience. What good is inspiration if it remains static. Of course those action items can come from things outside of sessions and keynotes too.

Stay connected. This is the area I am terrible at. I just spoke at the HOW Design Conference and met some outstanding (these people truly stand out) people. What a shame it is to wait a year to connect with them again. Keep the conversations going, continue to develop the relationship. For me that means make a list of people to stay in contact with on a continuous basis. For me I keep that list fairly short, to help make it an achievable goal but I also have a list of everyone that I met that I will try to stay in touch with as well. Again, this is the hardest area as life and busyness get in the way.

In fact can I ask you to help me? If you’ve heard me speak will you do a couple of things for me?

• Connect with me at the conference.

Remember, I don’t usually go in with a team. And as much as I’m an extrovert, I don’t like to crash your group. So please say hi, let’s go to lunch, all that good stuff.

• Reach out afterwards

Again, this doesn’t come naturally to me and honestly, I don’t know if what I said resonated. If it does please stay connected through email, twitter, you name it.

• Give me feedback

I take my position as a speaker seriously. I want to be sure to give you everything that you are expecting out of your time at the conference. That’s why I always try to leave lots of room at the end for questions. If I can do things better, and I know I can, let me know so that I can bring the best content, engage you more, and ultimately give you what you need to do your work better.

You may not see the birthday card as a compliment, but I really do. I’ve said before that because I value the ministries I work with, because I truly want to be more than a vendor, that the ultimate sign that I’m seen as a part of the ministry is when I am invited to the staff Christmas party. It hasn’t happened yet…but today that birthday card is darn close.

It may seem silly to you, maybe even trite … but you see, what I do is really about relationships, it’s about people.

• Americans are very satisifed with themselves … and they want to change
• Growth is not planned but a result of spontaneous experiments
• People desire to be a part of the mainstream but they don’t want to lose the feeling of self
• We want to be connected but we feel very lonely and isolated

So what to do with this information?

Think about the first two on Sunday as you stare into your congregation wondering if anyone is listening. Remember that though it may not seem like it they are looking for change, but it will happen spontaneously and when they have a sense that it is good for them. Also ask yourself what types of opportunities for spontaneous experiments are you creating?

The next two points shows that even though we are very into ourselves we want to be a part of a whole. We tend to do a great job at creating the whole (small groups, marriage retreats, dinner with friends) but I wonder if we try to make everyone the same instead of celebrating our differences. If people want to connect, while not losing the feeling of self, and are feeling lonely could there be a pull between the two? In order to connect do we, the church, require people to be just like us?

What else can we learn from this information? I look forward to digging through the rest of the report and maybe we’ll talk about the rest of the findings later on.