Networking - so little time so many options

Have you noticed how many opportunities you have these days to network. Whether it is conferences or networking web sites, they seem to be popping up everywhere. How do you make these choices when your life is already too full?

Here are some tips worth considering:
1. In regards to networking web sites (linkedin.com, facebook.com, myspace.com), each one has a personality and a style. Join all three and watch how the features play out. You will probably find that one or two really fit you and how you operate. Then stick with that one instead of trying to manage 5-6 networking profiles successfully.

2. When looking at a potential conference, the first thing you should do is throw away the promotional materials they send you. There are many good conferences but you won't know it from the materials.

3. When you find a conference that looks interesting, find someone who has gone. Usually these conferences tend to focus on a certain type of person. Some attract CEO-level people and are most beneficial to them. Others attract workers who are dealing with very practical day-to-day issues. You need to know that so that you will understand what kind of networking can be accomplished.

4. The city where it's held is important. Are there other organizations/people you need to meet with in town? If so you can combine the event with other key meetings.

5. The keynote speakers are usually hyped significantly. Think about listening to something they have online via podcast. Or read something they have written. Decide whether hearing from them will help you in your specific ministry/function.

I hope these help you as you wade through the onslaught of networking opportunities.

Everyone else is writing about facebook so . . .

It only seems right if you are writing a blog on innovation to talk about facebook. It is an amazing tool that connects people in exciting new ways. But I want to focus on how we use it and what is truely innovative.

Sometimes people think that just by using the "cool new tools" they are being innovative. The issue with that is this - if you are simply using the features and tools designed by someone else the way they envisioned them being used, you are enjoying their innovation - not making your own.

But, you can be innovative with someone else's tool. You just have to come up with a new way to use it that solves a key problem/ministry need.

For instance, when we started using YouTube at HCJB Global, the first few videos were very much just getting a feel for the tool. We were enjoying their innovation and how it could help us to share what God is doing.

But then we decided to get more creative. Instead of only using YouTube as a channel for viewing, we made it into a virtual repository focused on feeding video to our missionaries' blogs. That was an innovation. All of a sudden, the purpose of the video was not so much that it was on YouTube as it was feeding dozens of other sites of people who had no way to get their hands on video content or to make it available to their donors/family/friends.

As you look into using facebook, myspace, YouTube and the like here are some good steps:
1. Set up an account and emerse yourself in the tool - figure it out.
2. Understand the community and the culture it has created.
3. Look at your goals and objectives in your ministry.
4. Try and use those tools in creative ways to meet those objectives.
5. Have fun with it - someone can really tell when you are doing it because you have to or because you don't want to be left behind.