Since so much has happened in the last 10 months, we thought we'd take a minute to recap the tips and topics we've covered so far. We also have big news for 2016 that we can't wait to share!

2015 was a big year for us! We launched the2015FishhookWebinars, and were blessed to continue meeting with you quarterly at The Table. Since so much has happened in the last 10 months, we thought we'd take a minute to recap the tips and topics we've covered so far. We also have big news for 2016 that we can't wait to share!

The 2015 Fishhook Webinars

Who you are really matters to the Fishhook team! And that's why we launched this series of webinars. Designed with you in mind, we wanted to set out on a journey to help you improve your effectiveness on a continued monthly basis. It was our hope that each 60-minute session would equip and encourage you, with a minimal time and financial investment. 

Here's a look back at the topics we covered: 

The First Four!

Will the Real Priority Please Step Forward
For our first webinar of our 2015 series, Jamie Shafer, our Learning and Development Strategist, took an in-depth look at how you can help your church or organization make strategic moves when it comes to prioritizing communications. She talked about learning how to make the right choices and face the inevitable opposition.
  • 4 strategic steps to make a bigger impact
    • Approach your leadership team for input/insight
    • Meet with each of your core ministries to understand their priorities
    • Collaborate with your communications ministry team and your worship team
    • Use a project management tracking system
Heroes and Heroines: Maximize Your Team Types
In March, we sat down with Allison Rhea, founder of Known Counseling, to learn all about how finding our superpowers can make us better leaders and better teammates. She walked us through the basics of Myers-Briggs Types and set up how these play out in a workplace scenario. 
  • 3 ways to join forces with the extroverts on your team: 
    • Build social time into your work calendar
    • Encourage brainstorming and collaborations sessions
    • Keep a "water cooler" area
Do-It-Yourself: Secret Worship
During this session, we shared tips on how the Fishhook team helps church leaders gain insight on what’s working and identify areas for improvement. Leah Norton, one of our Communications Strategists, and Jamie Shafer, our Learning and Development Strategist, set up the why and the how of DIY Secret Worship. 
  • 6 reasons why a Secret Worship Assessment can be powerful:
    • It can help you think in fresh ways so you can really understand your first-time visitors
    • It can be exciting and inspiring
    • It can really become a momentum builder for your team 
    • It can be a proactive way that you can learn and grow together
    • It can help you think of new and better ways to connect with guests 
    • It can, ultimately, help you "Catch More"
Pulling Rabbits: Design Tricks 
Our designers have worked on many different projects and they understand the kind of challenges that come with designing for various types of media and people. In this webinar, the Fishhook Design Team (Meredith, Anna and Megan) set-up some basic principles that can be followed no matter what you are designing, or how much experience you have. 
  • 6 important design tricks: 
    • Gather and finalize all content before you start designing
    • Assign priority to each piece of design
    • Use ALL CAPS sparingly 
    • Color is dependent on context
    • Pursue excellence not perfection 

The Final Five are Free!

After the first four webinars, we realized we needed to break down some barriers. We were so excited to be able to present the final five webinars for free!

Beyond the Date & Time: Writing Content that Connects 
During this webinar, we had an incredible number of insights and questions from our group discussion time. Linsday Dudeck, one of our Communications Strategists, and Jamie Shafer, our Learning and Development Strategist, spearheaded the conversation and provided helpful guidelines for writing content that connects. 
  • 4 key writing principles: 
    • Provide essentials/next steps
    • Keep it simple and clear
    • Use visual language 
    • Add love
Once Upon a Website: The Story of Your Web Analytics 
Analyticsare a powerful thing but if you don't know what to look for, you can feel like you're lost in a sea of scary data. For this webinar, I, the Online Engagement Strategist here at Fishhook, had a great time diving into the basics of Facebook,Twitter and Google analytics to discuss ways in which they can be used to further your ministry. 
  • 3 ways to implement change in your ministry with analytics: 
    • Only bring the most pertinent data to the table
    • Be specific about your goal and tie it back to one of the church's overall goals
    • Present more than on option to achieve your desired outcome

Dead Ends: Autopsy of an Event Fail
We talked event fails and healthy conversations with our Learning and Development Strategist, Jamie Shafer. She shared some helpful tips on how to create positive processes and healthy situations for leaders and their teams. 

Worship Where You Work
We dove into some very important topics with our guest presenter, Natalie Chandler, founder of Imagine Hope Counseling Group. She talked about how to recognize and prevent burnout so that you can fully worship where you work! 
  • 5 tips to help you get started setting healthy boundaries at work: 
    • Decide for yourself what your boundaries are 
    • Learn to say no and feel okay about it
    • Allow other to do their part 
    • Speak the truth in love 
    • Remember, people need reminders when it comes to boundaries 
Dirty Jobs: When Leadership Gets Messy
We were thrilled to have our founder and Chief Culture Officer, Evan McBroom, as our "guest" presenter. He spoke candidly about how things got messy during a recent season of change at Fishhook and uncovered some key lessons he learned as he strove to rise to the challenge of becoming a better leader. 
  • 3 key leadership takeaways:
    • Be careful about "whack-a-moleing" the problems that arise
    • Murky messaging just makes a mess
    • Be careful of the vision gap

The Table

Along with the new webinar series, we continued to meet quarterly at The Table. We love The Table because it gives us an opportunity to bring an amazing group of like-minded individuals together to talk about the wins and the challenges everyone has been experiencing as they strive to catch more!

Here are the topics we tackled this year:

Tiered Communications 
We gathered at College Park Church and kicked-off 2015 with a workshop on Tiered Communications! 

  • 4 key inspirations for Tiered Communications 
    • There is no perfect system. It's about relationships.
    • It's important for leadership to have a vision for this and to make these decisions with you. 
    • Try to never say no. Start with asking, "what is the best way we can get this information out to our audience" (Plainfield UMC).
    • "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin" (Zechariah 4:10, NLT).
Visual Identity and Style Guides
We met at The Creek to talk about the importance of creating detailed visual identity and style guides. 
  • 5 important things to remember about visual identity and style guides: 
    • A style guide identifies consistent language for your organization, which helps present a unified vision. 
    • Though different, church brands still have the same impact as corporate brands. They give us an idea of what to expect. 
    • Your visual identity is a huge part of your first impression. It is often the first "door" a visitor walks through. 
    • It's important to love your logo. 
    • Don't be afraid to be painfully specific! It's better to have too much information than not enough. 
Online Engagement
We sat down with a great group of Communications Directors and other church leaders at Kingsway Christian Church to talk about building a successful online presence. 
  • 3 things analytics and data can give your team: 
    • New insight into your audience 
    • Increased online engagement 
    • Added credibility to your goals 
Fishhook's Favorite Things
For our last meeting of 2015, we met at St. Monica Catholic Church to celebrate the past year and share all of our favorite trends!
  • 3 trends worth discovery:
    • Periscope
    • Inbound Marketing
    • Canva 

We've got even bigger things coming in 2016!

We're excited and blessed to have the opportunity to continue offering webinars in 2016. We will be revealing topics soon! Also, be on the lookout for a very special announcement about another 2016 learning and development opportunity. 

Click below to join our 2016 training VIP list! You'll receive news, updates and reveals before they go live to the rest of the world.

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