Workshops scheduled for ACP/EC 2014 include:
Digital Ministry: Starting With and Sticking to Strategy
Meredith Gould
Like any other ministry, getting involved with digital ministry requires discernment. We’ll talk about why starting with strategy is essential, what it involves, how to develop tactics and then choose appropriate tools. We’ll also discuss why your current website might be a major barrier to reaching and/or engaging with your intended audience. You’ll be invited to share what’s especially challenging you these days so all participants may learn.
Meredith Gould, PhD (@meredithgould) is a sociologist, author and longtime communications professional. An early adopter of social media, she’s known for being an exuberant evangelist for using digital tools for ministry.
Dr. Gould is founder of the weekly Twitter-based #ChSocM (church social media) chat. She has nine published books to her credit, including The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Today, which has helped position church communications as an essential ministry. Her newest book, The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways is serving a similar function relative to church social media.
An independent consultant since 1989, she provides counsel and training as well as hands-on fix-it services to local churches and judicatories across denominations. Fun facts: she was raised Jewish; sought and received baptism as an adult; is a clergy spouse. For more information, please visit: http://www.meredithgould.com
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Writing for the Internet
Jim Skillington
Visitors to your website, whether new or returning, are looking for something beneficial to them. Text and other content on your site should always focus on being useful and helpful. Sharp, clear writing is especially important for integrating social media and mobile devices into your online communications.
Explore some straightforward strategies for writing for the Internet, including responsive web design and communicating on mobile devices, with Jim Skillington @jimskillington
Jim is CEO of New Village Media, a full -service Web agency; speaker and consultant on Web strategies and online content.
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Reviving and Rejuvenating Mature Businesses
Managers can generate growth in revenue from mature products and services, such as publications, by carefully analyzing their target markets, and formulating innovative strategies. What causes the decline in revenue from products and services entering the mature stage? Can something be done to intercept the path of economic decline? These are important questions, and also will be the focus areas for this session. Participants will gain fresh insights about reviving, rejuvenating, and renewing growth in mature products and services. Emphasis will be placed on strategic thinking and value-creation strategies.
Roger K. Lall is Executive-in-Residence, in the Department of Marketing, at DePaul University. He teaches graduate level courses in Marketing Strategies and Marketing Management and consults to senior executives in the areas of strategic planning, new product development, and marketing.
Roger has 25 years of experience in the Information Technology Industry. He has directed product management and marketing functions for information systems targeted at the Retail, Manufacturing, Call Center, and E-Commerce industries. Roger has served as Founder and President of Renaissance Conferences Corporation; Director of Product Management at Zebra Technologies Corporation; Marketing Manager at Standard Register and Monarch Marking Systems; and Product Manager at NCR Corporation.
He holds an MBA degree from Wheeling Jesuit University and a B.Sc. degree in Statistics from the University of Bombay.
Roger has taught courses in Marketing at DePaul University, Keller Graduate School of Management, Cedarville University, and Purdue University.
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Backpack Journalism: A guide to multi-platform story creation
The Rev. Gregg Brekke
Journalists today are expected to possess an ever-increasing set of skills and call upon expertise in writing, editing, photography and video production to do their jobs. The revolution in digital media production and delivery allows for more news and information to be created and distributed than ever before. While the costs to produce such material has gone down drastically, revenues for traditional news media have also taken a dramatic plunge. To compensate for a growing demand for information, news outlets – print, television and online – increasingly are requiring their journalists to be skilled in multimedia news gathering and production. Relying on traditional journalistic principles, this workshop will introduce the necessary reporting and technical skill required to complete multi-media assignments without stress.
The Rev. Gregg Brekke owns and operates SixView Studios, a communications company dedicated to the art of visual communication and interpretation. Formerly the news director for the United Church of Christ, Brekke now travels the world as a journalist giving significant attention given to global health and economics, justice issues, immigration, and religious topics. Recent work has been published by the World YWCA, Sojourners Magazine, Religion News Service, US Catholic, Presbyterian News Service and is found in syndication at major news outlets including the Washington Post. He serves as president of the Associated Church Press and lives in Portland, OR.
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Why the prophets swore and why you should too:
dos and don’ts for Investigative Reporting
Robert Wildeboer (WBEZ-Chicago Public Radio)
Why the Old Testament prophets swore in righteous anger, and why you should too – a session on how it’s time to get serious about our urgent concern for the poor. Includes practical tips on battling stone-walling officials, getting to the right people, reporting out difficult stories, pursuing your story with follow-up reporting, and other vagaries of social-justice reporting.
Rob Wildeboer is the criminal-and-legal-affairs reporter for WBEZ, and much of his recent work has focused on prisons. He waged a public battle with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn over his refusal to let reporters into prison facilities, which was featured in a Columbia Journalism Review cover story.
Rob’s reporting has been recognized with dozens of awards, including several Edward R. Murrow awards. He currently teaches in the graduate journalism program at Columbia College Chicago.
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Communicating within el Cuerpo de Cristo
Carmen Aguinaco, Hispanic Ministry Resource Center, Claretian Publications
This workshop will offer practical tools for engaging the Latino congregation—and allowing the Latino congregation to engage you. Key things you need to know about the diverse realities, gifts, and needs of the fast-growing Latino population in church and society, and how Latino/as are transforming parish life today.
Carmen Aguinaco is the director of Claretian Publications’ Hispanic Ministry Resource Center and the president of the National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry. She is also one of four official representatives of the Catholic Church on the World Council of Churches Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. Carmen has started the HMRC’s line of bilingual publications and products: ¡OYE! an annual discernment guide for young Hispanic Catholics; Nuestra Parroquia, a monthly resource for Hispanic ministry; the catechetical program Amigos de Jesús; and the parish handout series El Momento Católico. She is a native of Spain and a member of the Teresian Association, an international Catholic lay association.
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Thriving in today’s brave new magazine world: How editors need to adapt to new digital formats
Patti Wolter (Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University)
In a world where readers are tuning in online, on the go, on a tablet, and in print, editors need to rethink what makes a “magazine,” and what editorial thinking best serves multiple platform environments.
Patti Wolter teaches magazine journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, with specialties in narrative, health and science writing, and multimedia publishing platforms.
Her previous editorial experience includes serving as the managing editor and acting editor at Mother Jones magazine and as the senior features editor at Self magazine. She writes regularly for major consumer publications and has also served as a freelance editor and editorial consultant for print and online publications.
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The Reign of God is Like . . . : What makes for good storytelling
Charles Whitaker (Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University)
This interactive session will explore tools and techniques for crafting compelling feature stories for both print and digital presentation.
Charles Whitaker, a former senior editor at Ebony magazine, is the Helen Gurley Brown Research Chair in Magazine Journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
He teaches magazine writing and editing and is the co-author of Magazine Writing (Routledge 2014).
Charles has written for the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago magazine, Jet magazine,Essence magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Saturday Evening Post, Chicago Parent magazine, and Folio.
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Social Media Best Practices Panel
Join this interactive panel discussion on best practices in social media and hear how others are using their social networks to engage audiences, activate participants, and raise funds. This will be an open forum and we encourage audience participation. After our panelists each give a brief presentation, you will also be invited to contribute ideas and ask questions of the panel and other participants.