Chuck Scoggins | Web + Print + Video Design

I’m currently re-reading Kem Meyer’s book, Less Clutter. Less Noise. This is probably my 5th time reading it (I feel like a stalker) and it has dynamically changed the way I think about church communications. If you do anything church-related, go get it. Now. Don’t finish this post. Go! Are you still here?

There is a passage that I keep getting stuck on, and I thought I’d share it with you.

People are busy and life is hard. They have too much information bombarding them from everywhere (not just one hour on Sunday) and never enough time. But, they’re still looking for answers that make a real difference in their lives. Being part of something bigger than you makes a difference. And, people experience that life change one step at a time. The value we provide grows in direct proportion to how easily people can find and say yest to their next step.

And the opposite is true: the value we provide decreases in direct proportion to how hard we make it for people to do what they’re trying to do.

The minimalist approach here is all about breaking a big leap into smaller, incremental steps. A person’s journey away from God does not happen in one step, but rather in a series of steps and decisions that seemed otherwise perfectly rational at the time. One day, he wakes up and realizes just how far he traveled as a result of the sum of steps in the wrong direction. And, what about when he’s ready to start taking steps back? How hard are we making it for him?

This certainly makes me re-think the way I do a lot of things.

I was recently asked to give a presentation to our Leadership Team about social media. They wanted to know the definition of social media and how we (Calvary Church) are using it as an organization.

Defining social media is a tricky job. There are so many varieties - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, LinkedIn, Delicious, MySpace, Blogs, and more – each with a differing purpose. So, I tried to keep with wide concepts and “rules of play” rather than getting into the nuts and bolts of all the various social media streams that are available.

I hardly consider myself an expert on the topic and am constantly learning new things about it, but as the resident communications guy on staff, it falls on me to be the teacher in this situation. Here are some of my notes (gathered from various spots around the internet) that I shared in that meeting:

The Main Concept – A Conversation

The main thing to know about all of the social media tools is that they were not created or intended to be a way for one party to bombard another party with a message. They were meant to be a conversation (for lack of a better metaphor). This makes sense with services where words and dialog are the main medium, such as Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. But, it’s also true for YouTube, Digg, and Delicious where the point of posting videos and links is to share in the conversation. The minute that advertising enters in and businesses see it as a way to tell people things, especially things that they aren’t interested in hearing about, the tool begins to lose effectiveness. In other words, the louder you try to shout with social media, the fewer the number of people who will be around to hear what you’re shouting.

The Main Rule – Add Value

It goes without saying, if social media exists to facilitate people engaging in conversation, that the main goal should be to add value to that conversation. It’s easy to be a “taker.” It’s also easy to try to control what is being said. I have found, however, that the more I try to give – that is, add value – to my networks, the more I gain. Rather than try to control what is being said (about the organization or myself), I try to put out a good product and trust that the dialog about that product will take care of itself.

Side Note: It’s an interesting concept to think of a church, or even an individual, as “putting out a product.” But, we do exactly that. As a church, our product or service is helping people on their spiritual journey. It’s our job to walk along-side them in their faith…providing tools, events, etc. to help them along the way. As an individual, the product is my character and giftedness. The more I leverage the essence of who I am in order to serve others in their life-journey, the greater the quality of the product.

Other Rules / Things To Consider

1. Listen
   Take time to truly hear what other people are saying. Seek to understand. Then respond and add to the conversation. Say “thank you” and give kudos.
2. Don’t do it if you can’t do it well.
   How many times have you seen people start a blog or get on Facebook once or open a Twitter account and never check it again. Relieve yourself from the pressure of having to “do” every social media product just because it seems that everyone else is doing it. If it’s not a natural extension of who you are, don’t do it. On the other hand, if you think you might be able to add some value and engage people, these tools have unlimited potential! Don’t be afraid to get in and try it out if you feel like it might be a way for you to engage.
3. Don’t Spam and Self-Promote
   As mentioned above, these tools are not for self-promotion but for community interaction.

Calvary Church and Social Media

Our philosophy with Calvary’s communications, particularly with social media, is derived from a combination of Seth Godin‘s Permission Marketing and Kem Meyer‘s concept of Less Clutter, Less Noise. We use email newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to interact with people and let them know about events, ministries, and serving opportunities that might add value to their life and their spiritual journey. We try to carefully select what we “promote” and – particularly with Facebook and Twitter – try to make sure we are listening to people’s responses as to what adds value. We are constantly evaluating whether we’re interacting, dialoging, and having a conversation versus spamming, shouting, and bombarding. We also try to use these tools for storytelling and encouraging our circles of friends. It’s an ongoing, evolving philosophy, but we’re excited about what we’re learning from and about our people and about getting the most out of these new tools.

What about you? What have you learned about social media? How does your organization use these tools to engage your community in conversation? I’d love to hear from you in the notes!

This past weekend, we wrapped up my 6-year-old’s first season of basketball. I was recruited to be an assistant coach – which in kindergarten basketball is more like “assistant crowd-controller.” It’s tough being a coach. Trying to get kids to pay attention. Trying to get them to realize the value of practice. Trying to get them to work hard – for their own benefit. Trying to teach them technique.

I did learn a few valuable leadership lessons. It’s helped me realize the importance of coaches. I’ve only had a few coaches in my life…people who cheered me on to work on my strengths and to help me overcome my weaknesses. I know that I would not be where I am in life without them, and I’m very thankful. After this season of basketball, I do wonder how hard-headed I’ve been to the coaches in my life.

What about you? Do you have / have you had any coaches who’ve invested in you? What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from coaches. Share in the comments and let’s learn together.

My buddy, Aaron Latina, started a new blog on creativity and excellence. In his first post, he discusses the creative process and, particularly, the notion that for a team to function creatively they must not stop at the first idea they come up with. Even though the first idea might eventually end up being the best idea, the true essence of brainstorming is coming up with what I call “throw-away ideas.” He says,

Usually there’s nothing “wrong” with your first idea. But we’ve been taught all our lives as school children that you should always go with your gut instinct on a test; don’t over-think yourself out of a right answer. But successful creators are successful because they force themselves to exercise their creative muscles–to push themselves through and explore many different paths.

I completely agree. This process forces you to  intentionally make several ideas that you intend on “throwing away” – just to help you exercise your creative brain. And, experience shows that it works. In our brainstorming sessions, some of our best ideas came from ideas that, at first glance, seemed silly. It often turns out that the very idea I thought would be a “throw away” is in fact the one we ended up using most successfully.

A word of advice: It’s hard to force yourself to develop “throw away” ideas without intentionality and margin. It’s nearly impossible to do in a strict deadline-driven environment. If true creativity is a value for your organization, everyone (from the top-down) has to be extra-organized to be able to create the space necessary for “throw away” creativity to happen. If you leader does not create space for margin in your workflow…your organization probably doesn’t truly value creativity.

Head on over to Aaron’s Blog and then come back and let me know your thoughts on creativity in the comments.

Teaching others has always been something that I really enjoy. It’s fun when I get to share my (limited) knowledge on a subject with others – particularly in matters relating to design and design software like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, etc.

So, I was really excited back in December when Lindenwood University (in St. Charles, MO – just outside of St. Louis) called and asked me to teach a course on Digital Design Concepts (Print Concepts and Web Concepts). The class is a graduate-level 9 credit-hour course designed to teach concepts through applied methods using design software. I thought I was going to be awesome at it given my passion for teaching. I have taught communication classes before, but never one on design concepts (abstract) specifically.

What I learned was, sharing your knowledge in an informal setting is much easier than in a formal setting. Giving someone a software tip or shortcut over their shoulder is much easier than preparing an hour-long lecture and trying to explain the nuances of design – balance, harmony, movement, color, type, etc. Add to that lesson plans, attendance tracking, and grading papers and it has been a much more challenging experience than I expected.

Nevertheless, I am doing the best I can to do just that – to formalize my knowledge into a classroom experience. Hopefully my students have learned enough from me that they can be successful in their future classes and in their endeavors to find employment in our field. Hopefully, if nothing else, I’ve helped to inspire students in their art form and help them realized that it takes hours and hours of dedication to hone their craft.

In spite of the unexpected difficulties, the teaching experience has been very rewarding. I love building into the lives of future designers. And, I must not be doing too bad because he school has asked me to teach the course again in the summer.

I think it is really important for people in any field to pass on what they’ve learned. What are you doing to raise up the next generation in your area? I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences, etc. in the comments!

Kem Meyer has published a list of Communication Paradoxes on her blog that she’s found in the book, Management of the Absurd. I haven’t read the book (though, I just ordered it added it to my reading list), but I am really intrigued by her list. My favorite is:

The more we communicate the less we communicate. Most organizations OVERcommunicate believing everybody should be in on everything.

I completely agree with the philosophy behind that statement.

What about you? Head on over to Kem’s blog and check out the paradoxes. Leave me and her a comment about the one that resonates the most with you.

On New Year’s Day, I thought I’d list for you the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards.

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the aforementioned things.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

Continue Reading…

I get asked this question from time to time, so I thought I’d post a list of blogs that I read. Some are design-centered, some are productivity-centered, and some have no theme at all. Let me know if you have any jewels to add  in the comments.

• Church Communications Pro
• Church Marketing Sucks
• Church Relevance
• Creative Worship
• Daily Cup of Tech
• Dumb Little Man
• Life Clever
• Life Dev
• Parent Hacks
• Productivity501
• Seth Godin’s Blog
• Six Revisions
• Stepcase Lifehack
• The Scoggins Saga
• The Wisdom Journal
• Web Worker Daily
• The Happy Manager
• Work+Play+Experience
• Butch Whitmire
• Kem Meyer – Less Clutter, Less Noise
• PSD Tuts
• Shawn Wood Writes
• Urban Word of the Day (caution, this one can be R-rated)
• Web Driven Church
• Church Crunch
• Good World Creative
• Grayscale Gorilla
• Instant Shift
• Matt Knisely
• Smashing Magazine
• Mac App Storm
• Tim Schraeder

Also thought I’d throw in that I use Google Reader to manage my blog feeds.

I recently finished reading Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From A Life At Disney by Lee Cockerell. A friend purchased the book for me and I was really excited to read it because I’ve always been intrigued by the success of Disney. Anyone who has ever been to one of the Disney theme parks or resorts knows that the strategies employed by Disney really does make for a magical experience.

A few quotes and my take-aways from the book:

• In the first few chapters, Cockerell explains how he came to be VP of Disney and some of the overarching lessons he’s learned. One that really jumped out to me as a “second-chair” leader is that it doesn’t matter what your title is or where you fall in the chain of command, you can be an inflencer over all the levels of your organization (those above and those below you) where you are if you remember that it’s all about people. If you treat people respectfully, and taken a step further, make them feel unique and special, you’ll be able to influence them.
• On organizational structure, Cockerell writes, “Break the mold…hire the best people, inspire them, and pay them every sent they’re worth, but if you don’t give them the right frame work in which to operate, they can’t perform at their best.” “Our primary objective was to empower all Cast Members [Disney employees are known as Cast Members within the organization] and make the most of their talents, and we saw that making the lines of responsibility, authority, and accountability sharper would greatly improve our chances of succeeding.” One of the biggest problems that I see in organizational leadership is the failure to give people authority with their responsibility and to unleash people within the boundaries of that authority.

  “Every individual in your organization should clearly and completely understand what he or she is responsible for, what level of authority he or she has, and how he or she will be held accountable.”

  “If you give people responsibility without giving them the necessary authority to carry out those responsibilities, you are setting them up for failure.”
  Responsibility without authority is one of the leading causes of stress.

• “A great leader never settles for good enough.”
• The better your direct reports, the more of them you can have because they will need very little supervision. Seth Godin says it a lot and Cockerell agrees: Your people are your brand.
• Great leaders are always in a learning mode. Learning about their people, their organization, and their customers. They ask, “What happens on your job that makes you want to quit?” and “What do you most want for your department right now?”

  “The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

  “Those who create magic are constantly on the lookout for tricks that can give them an edge. Remember, the most important skills are hard before they become easy, so don’t shy away from a challenge.”

• ARE: Appreciation, Recognition, and Encouragement are the key.
• Key Communication Take-away: Don’t give speeches, tell stories.

Creating Magic covers a wide-range of organizational and leadership principles, and is in my top 5 most beneficial leadership books of all time.

Cultivate 09 was a fabulous one-day conference. Thanks to Tim Schraeder, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Kem Meyer and others for coming up with the concept. It was an amazing chance for me to get to know a lot of my friends from Twitter in person and to learn from some of the most gifted people in my field.

Rather than recap my session notes from conference (Tim took great notes over on his blog), I thought I’d give a few points from the lessons I’ve learned.

Stories

99% of what I do as a communications professional is (or should be) story-telling. Even when promoting events & ministries, I need to tell stories. Branding is, in essence, telling a story. Most people think of story-telling (in communications terms) as something done with video – and video is a great medium for visual story-telling – but it is also done through every other thing we do. The parking lot attendants are telling a story. Brochures, either directly or indirectly, are telling a story.

The tricky thing about story-telling is that everyone else is telling a story as well. In this current age of digital communication, there are shorter messages and more messages being sent. The challenge is to make our particular story relevant to the audience we’re trying to reach. One key to doing just that is to make sure we don’t fill up our stories with so much of  ‘us.’ By leaving a little extra space in the story, the hearer can have room to find themselves in and share a part of our story. The connection of two people or groups with separate stories in a common experience has the potential to speak loudly.

Youth Audiences

The differences between Generation X and Generation Y (Millennials) is significant. If we’re trying to reach both generations, we’ll likely fail to reach either of them. Gen X-ers are “me” focused while Millennials are “we” focused. That significantly effects what story we tell and what story they hear. Speaking of the story they hear, that leads me to the biggest lesson learned at the conference: It’s not about what ‘we’ are saying, it’s about what ‘they’ are hearing.

Web Site Design

I wonder what people are hearing when they visit websites that I’ve designed. I know what I (or the organization I work for) is trying to say, but I’m not sure that message is always being heard. In the web communication breakout I attended, I was challenged to re-evaluate all of the design techniques that I use when designing digitally with the end-user in mind. I learned that I need to be more community focused in web design. I also was challenged with the thought that the computer or even the traditional web site is no longer the first contact, but rather the mobile device. I need to design towad that idea.

To Sum It Up

At a conference full of Macbooks and iPhones and the latest, coolest trends in communications, there was one additional comment that was made that really struck me: The question isn’t what’s cool at the moment, but what people will respond to. The question is what will bring about life-change. Our job is not to send the right message; our job is to release the right response. My I never be more concerned with the tools than the people. May my love for the latest technology never be stronger than my love for God and love for others.