2008 Communicators Conference

Need an idea for a birthday gift, wedding or anniversary? How about a flip camera? For less than $200, you can record and post your very own video on You Tube. At the ‘Point, Shoot, Post’ workshop Brett Nelson, ELCA audio visual producer and production manager, and Solomon Fong, production intern, provided a hands-on demonstration of the camera. Although there are hundreds of options to record video on various events and stories taking place in your congregation, synod, seminary or elsewhere in the church, the flip camera is a wonderful way to capture your story and share on You Tube or post on your Web site. The flip camera “caters to the widest range of computers,” said Nelson, and offers a 640×480 resolution.

Adam Bost, specialist for communications and mission interpretation, ELCA Florida-Bahamas Synod, outlined the basics of graphic design, the programs available at varying prices, and the importance of branding and demographics at the “When Hiring a Graphic Designer Isn’t an Option” workshop. Bost offered Adobe products such as Illustrator and Photoshop as the best products for graphic design but said that other less expensive products may be more cost-effective for some communicators. He said the church’s difficulty with graphic design is trying to speak to a wide audience; some generations are attracted to flashy, bright graphics, while others prefer cleaner, more subdued graphics, he said. Citing the Apple and Target logos, Bost said branding is “supposed to tell a story” and evoke emotion in the consumer. He said that groups within the church should design graphics to do just that.

Kristin Koskinen, ELCA Web manager, presented “Creating Your Organization’s Web Presence on the Cheap.” She talked about ways that Web designers can use free online tools to create a dynamic, “Web 2.0″ site, including blogs, photos, podcasts, and videos. Koskinen said Blogger offers tools to add all manner of things to a Web page. “You can make it just as fancy or as simple as you want to,” she said. Sites that Koskinen recommended included Blogger, Flickr, Delicious, and Technorati.

Other workshop topics ranged from the network power of online communities to video production basics, from building ELCA identity to the care and feeding of your audience.

Please share what you’ve learned from a workshop by clicking on the word “comments” below.

Written by Luke Tatge and Melissa Ramirez Cooper.

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In a special banquet to celebrate the work of Lutheran communicators the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation, told communicators how “absolutely essential” they are “in telling the story of what God is doing in and through this church.” He said, “We cannot tell the Good News absent your commitment as participants in that telling.”

Hanson observed three facets in the role of an ELCA communicator. “We are called as communicators to be first-class ‘noticers’ of this church,” said Hanson. The ELCA’s new tagline — “God’s work, our hands” — “will only work if we know what God’s work is. First-class noticers are communities of discerners,” he said. “We cannot be first-class noticers of God’s work, we can’t participate in God’s work through our hands if we know not God’s word” and “not only know the Word of God intellectually, but we must be fluid in the language of faith.”

A second facet is communicating stories creatively, passionately and personally — to be “creative storytellers,” said Hanson. “We have become a people absent of meta-narratives (and) so preoccupied about the particularity of our narratives as consumers, competitors, participants in the globalized economy that we have lost the capacity to tell the story of our lives in a larger narrative. There is a word for that allegation in the Christian vocabulary. It’s called sin. Lives turned in on themselves, lives that have become self-absorbed,” he said. “I think the challenge for us as communicators is for us not to settle to be transmitters of information but to be storytellers, to have the capacity to invite one person’s story and begin to tell and retell that story in a larger narrative, so that readers and hearers can hear their own participation in that larger story. For us, that’s the story of God’s work in Christ Jesus that frees our hands to be part of God’s redeeming story of humankind.”

The third facet is communicators as “improvisational blues players,” said Hanson. “I’m afraid our communicating about this church is heard, (both) by the people in it and those outside of (the church), as noisy riff and jamming that leaves them lost and disinterested, because we’ve lost the capacity to know and return to the basic chords. ‘God’s work, our hands’ is our recognition that we’ve got to have some basic chords to which we return and play again and again in the telling of all the wonderful things God’s doing through your expression in this church,” he said. “Go back to the basic chords of your baptismal life that you now live in your (various) callings.”

“There is a temptation today in our consumer-oriented, competitive religious marketplace to think that to get our market share of members, and hold them, we’ve got to shed who we are as Lutheran Christians and become something else,” said Hanson. “That is not true … mission and identity must flow from what we present, and that calls for creativity.”

In conclusion Hanson said, “Communicators are today’s evangelists, who help us to sense the improvisational God revealed in Jesus Christ (that) lures us into the company of those who are no longer satisfied with consuming or living as competitive strangers to one another. You are those poets, you are those communicators, you are those evangelists who, in your storytelling, noticing and in your riffing help people to imagine the improvisation God revealed in Jesus and be in a company of strangers that are far more than consuming, competing and living privatized lives. That’s God’s work, it’s through our hands and our voices and words. To be part of the ELCA is to be part of an evangelizing church for the sake of God’s mission in the world.”

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In her presentation, “Crossing the Lens: The Power of Compelling Interviews for a Christian Video Journalist,” Jamila Paksima shared her many ‘leaps of faith’ as an independent Christian filmmaker. Before her freelance career, Paksima worked for NBC News producing documentaries for NBC News specials and associate producer for “Dateline NBC” and “First Person” with Maria Shriver.

Paksima said she became disillusioned with what she had to do at NBC. “I was asked to compromise personal values and beliefs on some occasions, which became difficult for me to do,” and that “is not accurate to do as journalist. It didn’t sit right with me.” On a ‘leap of faith,” Paksima left NBC “to see if I could do this on my own.” She said it was “a very profound experience to leave NBC.”

Paksima is originally from Iran. “My dad is Muslim, and my mom was a nice Jewish woman from New York.” She spoke about the Iranian revolution during her teenage years, particularly observing the hostage crisis on television. Moving to the United States and befriending people her age, Paksima was “baptized as a Christian” much to her family’s dismay. “I had to start teaching myself (about) Christianity.” In determining the next phase of her life, she “prayed a lot” and discovered, through prayer, “that it was time for me to use my gifts for (God’s) work. It came through crystal clear for me.”

As a Pew Journalism Fellow, Paksima produced an independent film about South African children, who have been raped and tested positive for HIV. Paksima said it is an “uncomfortable story,” but one that must be told. Paksima’s trip to South Africa was her first overseas following 10 years of working as a journalist. Investing her own time and resources in producing the film, Paksima learned how to operate a video camera and edit film. “I was meant to do this story. I came back with 70 hours worth of film.” Bill Moyers agreed to air Paksima’s film.

“I would encourage you, when pitching stories to journalists, to encourage (journalists) to go and visit places because there is a community out there,” Paksima told ELCA communicators. When working on stories, feature “as many people from all walks of life. Ask provocative questions, seek resources to help you tell your stories and share those resources,” she said. “There are many opportunities, given current technology, to get and share the story.”

Paksima has reported from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In March 2007, she was exclusively invited to travel and report on an historic event in Iran, when she joined a delegation of U.S. Christian leaders on a peacekeeping mission with top religious and political leaders in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For more about Paksima, visit http://archive.elca.org/communication/comcon/bios/paksima.html on the Web.

Please click on “comments” to share your reflections about Paksima’s presentation.

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In her conversations with ELCA communicators, the Rev. Alexia Salvatierra said she’s learned that communicators are “often called to do so much with so little.” She said, “We are a consumer society, paying attention to what we don’t have.”

Salvatierra read from Luke 12. Reflecting on the text, Salvatierra shared three personal stories and insights. The first is that “we have to re-envision our work as a love offering.” The second is that “there is a way where there is no way,” and, “Our society teaches us to be instant people,” but “your work will be accomplished soon.”

She asked communicators to reflect on two questions: “How is God making an impact on your work despite the scarcity? Are there resources that you haven’t seen before but are there at hand — the loaves and fishes given to you?”

If you’d like to share your reflections to these questions, please click on the word “comments” below.

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During lunch, ELCA communicators were offered a presentation by Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and editorial board member for the Chicago Tribune. His presentation, “Finding Your Voice in a Crowded Media World,” emphasized the importance of embracing Web-based media, the rise of “argument culture,” and the definition of a journalist.

Page appealed to copy editors in the audience, saying that there is a distinct difference between “media” and “medium.” “People tend to think in the similar in media,” Page said. He drew from personal experience, saying that in Web-based stories he enjoys responding to negative responses more than fan mail. He said the response he gets from consumers is surprisingly grateful. He said it’s important to give them recognition of their opinions to maintain the “marketplace of ideas.”

Page also spoke about the “argument culture,” saying “the art of true debate has been lost in our society.” He made the distinction between argument and abuse and cited cable talk shows and polarizing commentators as increasing dispute over debate. “The more you dramatize differences, the more you heat up and attract an audience,” Page said.

And on the (alleged) decline of print journalism? “Paper may be dead,” Page said. “But news is expanding like crazy.”

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The Rev. Alexia G. Salvatierra opened the day with devotions. She told communicators that “a conference of the church must be different than a secular conference.” A conference of the church is a retreat, an opportunity to step back from one’s daily lives to reflect on “our common calling,” she said.

Reflecting on Matthew 25:31-40, Salvatierra said the Communicators’ Conference offers “an opportunity to celebrate the ways you are making Christ more visible.” She encouraged communicators to reflect on two questions: “What are the ways you’ve made Christ visible in the stories you’ve told?” and “What stories need to be told to make Christ more visible?”

Salvatierra is executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice of California. She is an ELCA pastor with more than 30 years of experience in interfaith and community ministry, community organizing and legislative advocacy. She has focused on helping the homeless, migrant farm workers and inner-city youth.

Please share your reflections to Salvatierra’s questions by clicking on ‘comments.’

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At the Aug. 8 morning plenary, Rick Klau, Strategic Partner Development and Content Acquisition for Google, Inc., and member of the board of directors of Augsburg Fortress, spoke about the tools available to communicators on the Web, feedback and content management, and tips on effective electronic communication.

Klau illustrated the rise in the use of Web-based information through the rise in the term “Lutheran” on YouTube – from 158 video hits in 2006 to about 7,000 in 2008. He also told the audience that one ELCA group on Facebook has acquired 3,883 members. Klau said the important thing to take from this is that people have questions about God, and communicators within the organization need to speak to them “where they are” – in this case, online. “There are millions of people (online),” he said. “Many of them have questions about God. If you’re not there to talk to them, someone else will.” He urged communicators to “go to where the growth is.”

He also offered tips to effective e-mail communication. These included:
• Don’t use all caps in a subject line.
• Don’t provide unnecessary or repetitive attachments.
• Offer an unsubscribe option, in cases of frequent mailings.
• Include a “call to action,” a personalized signature, a name-specific greeting, and a conversational tone.
• To make sharing easy, offer a “forward to a friend” option.
• Avoid being put in the “penalty box” by recipients for spamming

Blogs were something that Klau emphasized as an important tool for Web communication. He said that they are “the single most effective way of scaling your availability in Google.” He demonstrated several Google tools that aid in measuring what aspects of a Web site attract the most viewers and the most search queries. He cited Google Analytics, Google Insight, Google Webmaster Tools, and Google Docs as being useful tools.

What success have you had with these tools or others you may have utilized? Click on “comments” below to share your thoughts on Klau’s presentation and your experiences with Web-based communication.

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Though I’m sure many of us have forgotten, something occurred between worship and dinner last night that had best be discussed – laughter yoga. In the name of health and wellness, the ELCA Board of Pensions blessed the ELCA Communicators’ Conference with a little stretching of the abdominals. Started by Dr. Madan Kataria in Mumbai, India, it is intended to energize and bring more oxygen into the body.

Whether performing the laughing handshake or “sprinkling” your laughter onto other conference-goers, after last night’s wellness moment, there will certainly be no shortage of energy in those gathered here this weekend.

And you? Did last night’s laughter yoga give you a six-pack? Will you ever laugh the same way again? Click that “comments” button below, and you just might have the opportunity to tell us all about it!

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ELCA Communicators’ Conference 2008 kicked off with some “juicy” statistics from our very own Kristi Bangert, executive director, ELCA Communication Services:
• People registered for the conference: 174
• People new to the conference: 65
• Synods represented: 43
• Regions represented: 9
• Nearly 200 communicators engaging in laughter yoga: priceless

Okay, that last one came later, but the Rev. Peter Marty, host of Grace Matters – the radio ministry of the ELCA – preached a sermon during opening worship about what a communicator should do to be “good and effective.” These tendencies included being a guide, understanding people (caring about people more than information), having a reflective quality, having something to say, and, dare I say it, having an imagination.

Pastor Marty certainly gave us a lot to consider, so as “good and effective” communicators, you must have something to say. Take a gander below, click on “comments,” and respond to Pastor Marty’s sermon.

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