After all the cheering and applause died down following the
DC08 conference (mostly in my head) I had to stop and look back at a very
successful event and wonder why it (and more importantly I) was so
successful. God played a big role in
this year’s conference no doubt. We sure
did pray a lot. We prayed for Tara
Coulson whose tireless efforts made the complicated things simple. She reviewed every presentation and training
guide for typos and validated the material.
Personally I can’t imagine doing this but she did it with a smile on her
face (maybe it was a grimace at times) and a bounce in her step. I personally think she personifies Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.
We prayed for each other because… well… that is just what we
do and who we are. We prayed for the
safe travel of our guests, the DC08 Conference attendees. I found this particular aspect of prayer very
fruitful. I prayed when I first received
my list of attendees, then I sent them an email letting them know I was personally
praying for each of them and also to ask if there was anything I could do for
them and asked when specifically would they be on the road so I could pray
again at that time. Once they replied I
set reminders in Outlook to pray for them at the specific time they left their
homes.
Another reason we were so successful was because we had a
Tammy. I think everyone needs a
Tammy. I think they are on sale right
now at Home Depot for $499 but I am not sure about that. Tammy set time lines,
Tammy sent email reminders, Tammy called you on the phone, Tammy griped at you
when you didn’t have your presentation done, Tammy was mean when she needed to
be, Tammy was a sweet heart when everything was going well, Tammy made the DC08
successful. Everyone is fallen and has a
sin nature. When looking at the demographics of the people who read this blog I
am sure you would agree with that statement.
Not that you are more sinful just more aware. Sloth seems to be a big sin that has been
pushed aside for more glamorous sins like Lust and Greed. Tammy is also a part time Sloth Slayer.
As a member of the Delivery Team I think we also had
something working in our favor. You may
not know this but churches are very busy around Christmas and Easter. At this point you are probably saying to
yourselves “finally some useful information!”
Stay with me now… Christmas and Easter fall before the DC08
Conference. Since they are busy during
that time period they definitely do not want me around telling them all of the
things I want them to improve upon or completely change. So I have time on my hands to write blogs and
presentations. My manager Jeff has come
to realize that this Christmas cycle seems to happen every year so this year he
made it perfectly clear that presentations should be written during this annual
“Christmas Event”. So as others were
hastily writing/rewriting/preparing/panicking at 3AM prior to the conference I
was sleeping like a baby. My work was
done, my presentation was set, and I was ready.
Lastly, and this is just a personal note that I am throwing
in for Steve at Christ the King who recently was reviewing my presentation that
I sent him and wondering where all the presentation notes were, I never add my
notes to my presentation slides. Sloth
might play a role and it is something that I should do after the fact or maybe
as a separate handout but having them in my presentation has always caused me
problems. I want to know my material
backwards and forwards before the event.
If I am relying at all on notes I have a problem. No one wants to see me read my
presentation. I need passion to sell the
concepts I am presenting and notes are a stumbling block for me (Red Bull helps too but next year I am sticking to one instead of the 2 I had on the first day). I prefer to think of the presentation slides as
guidepost along the journey of discovery.
I hope that you all enjoyed the DC08 Conference
as much as I did. Don’t forget you can
find most of the presentations HERE. Also I would like to close with an apology
for those that attended the Creative
Uses of Check-In session. Steve and
I ended up doing way more of a standup comedy routine than I intended. If you missed the point (not 100% sure we had
a point) of the presentation it was that you should be more creative with how
you use check-in. If you were offended
by some of Steve’s comments you can email him at sDrechsler@fellowshiptech.com. Or if you have a sense of humor you can email
him and tell him how funny and informative he was.
Matthew McMaster
Delivery Manager (Part Time Public Speaker)