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Tech requirements for CCC staff?

April 19, 2011 in Technology with 21 Comments

I’ve already argued that a smart phone should be a required tool for campus minister here and here. The question now is…should there be minimum proficiencies in the ability to use certain technology while on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ? I’m not sure, but I do know that in any other job I couldn’t get away with saying “oh I don’t like computer stuff, I’m not going to use any of those things.” Here’s my top 5 technologies that I think our staff members should be reasonably competent in.

  1. An email client (Mail, Outlook) – Stop logging in online and start managing your email better. Use some Getting Things Done tips.
  2. Dropbox - Synchronize your documents in the cloud!  Everyone is using this now, you better get accustomed to it.
  3. Google Doc’s – Again another way to share documents. Instead of attaching a document to an email, send a sharable link. So easy.
  4. Skype – I’ve started using this more and more over the past year. I love the power of it. The ability to type chat, share links all the while using either the conference call or video chat is awesome. Again if you’re not using Skype you’re going to get left behind
  5. RSS (Blog) reader – Everyone should use some sort of Blog RSS subscriber. I use Google Reader and then synch it with my favorite app Reeder!

Is this asking to much? Would you add anything else? Should we require our staff to meet certain requirements in technology? Should we have tests every year and if you don’t pass you get the boot? :)

My new assistant.

April 12, 2011 in Innovation, Technology with 2 Comments

Meet Fancyhands, my new assistant. At least for the month anyway.

Go ahead laugh it up. I’ve gotten all kinds of fancyhands jokes since I threw down $35 big ones for 1 month and 15 tasks. Then I showed my regional director the task results of finding the total university population and demographic breakdown for our entire 7 state region. Totally worth the money.

I’ve also made them find a Fall Retreat location for me and call individual locations to check dates. Saved me at least a half day and a headache already.

I love my fancyhands.

Gmail Motion

April 2, 2011 in Innovation, Technology with 0 Comments

Lot’s of April Fools jokes buzzing around the internets yesterday. I appreciated this one.

Everystudent.com and Facebook Ad’s report

March 26, 2011 in Innovation, Technology with 5 Comments

Recently I ran some ad’s on Facebook for everystudent.com in the Portland area. My purpose was to add an element of broad exposure to our evangelistic efforts and well as test the response. Keep in mind that I’ve set up our ministry email to receive any everystudent.com questions that come from students at schools in the Portland area.

I targeted 18-21 year olds who are in college in the Portland area. The ad’s ran for a Sunday and Monday at about $1/click. Here’s the results.

Yada, yada, yada got 58,962 impressions and 5 clicks.

Human Kindness Matters got 400,649 impressions and 59 clicks.

Questions about Life got 9,970 impressions and a whopping 0 clicks.

Out of all of those clicks has come three emails. One person with a real question, one with no question and one that was belligerent.

On a side note this ad was dissaproved from Facebook. Haha!

Long story short, I’m still not sure how I feel about this strategy. I love the thought of reaching students that we don’t have access to right now, but was this worth the $60 I spent? How could I make it work better.

8 reasons why every staff person should have a smart phone

March 3, 2011 in Innovation, Technology with 2 Comments

I can’t mandate it, but I can tell you that there is value to having a smart phone on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. Here’s my top 8 reasons why.

  1. Facebook – can’t remember that students name? Pull it up quickly on your phone.
  2. JotNot – Take a picture of that receipt you need to send in to HQ and quickly turn it into a jpg. or pdf. No more scanning!
  3. Google Doc’s – If your team using Google Docs’s (and they should) access them from your phone
  4. Concur – Manage those pesky One Card reports on the go
  5. Task  Managements ( I use Things) – Get all your to-do list in one place and relieve some stress.
  6. Reeder (a blog reader) – stay up to date on leadership blogs, friends blogs, etc.
  7. Evernote – Keep track of any notes, ideas, meeting agendas with this handy app. It’s like my brain but never forgets anything. You can also take pictures of things and store them here…like that strategic plan masterpiece you drew on the whiteboard.
  8. The Bible – All kind of apps that put a multitude of translations at your fingertips. My favorite are YouVersion and the ESV Bible app.

Things and stuff of the week

February 18, 2011 in Innovation, Technology with 1 Comment

Three things that might be of interest to you all:

I loved, loved, LOVED this post by Ryan McReynolds on the Cru Press blog about how we ought to view facebook. Lately I’ve seen a bunch of people give up Facebook. I don’t know the whole circumstances but I do know that God calls us to engage the culture and Facebook is a tool to do that.

We’re starting to try out a texting service called Begrouped.com within our ministry at Portland State University. We’ll use it for timely reminders, room updates, etc. So far, so good and it’s free. We’re also going to institute it at the Lake Tahoe Summer Project.

I knew about Arcade Fire before the rest of the world was alerted to them at the Grammy’s thanks to Tim Casteel, who’s blog I love. You should get to know Tim.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Next Level Blogging? Standard Theme 20% Off!

February 15, 2011 in Technology with 1 Comment

If you’re finally thinking about investing in a premium WordPress theme for your self-hosted blog, now’s the time with the recent sale on Standard Theme.

I switched to the Standard Theme almost a year ago now and haven’t looked back. I love the simplicity and how easy the dashboard is to use. It’s got all kinds of built in goodies and it’s incredibly customizable. Check out the showcase tab if you’d like a view of what it can do. If you’re thinking about taking your blogging skills to the next level, this would be a great investment.

I ponied up the money for the the support licence and have learned a ton about WordPress through the support forums. I currently use this theme on 4 different sites!

I fully endorse the Standard Theme for you serious bloggers out there.

My favorite iPhone app’s

February 13, 2011 in Technology with 4 Comments

This is for all you Verizon customers who finally got the iPhone last week. I hope your patience is paying off. Here’s a sampling of the 86 applications I have on my phone. Have fun searching the app store!

Productivity:

  • Evernote – Synch’s with my computer. I use this as a catch all inbox. It can handle text rich stuff, plus pictures of things I want to remember.
  • Simplenote – Auto synch between phone and computer. No more stickies on my computer.
  • Things – This is the task manager app that I use. It’s the most expensive app that I’ve bought at $10, but it’s legit. It synch’s with my computer over a wireless network (cloud synching is coming).
  • Mint – I’m slowly getting this dialed in for our personal budget. My wife has an iPhone too, so she can pull up the grocery budget easily.
  • Dropbox – Access all my  files.
  • Google – access all my Google doc’s

Social Media:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Hootsuite – I use this when I want to post something to both Facebook and Twitter at the same time.
  • Reeder – It took me a while to come around to paying for this, but now I love this blog reader.
  • Foursquare – Not everybody likes location based social networks, but it’s been fun watching all the CCC staff members checking all over the city.

City Living:

  • PDXBus – Up to the minute arrival and route info on the public transportation in Portland.
  • Groupon – Cheap deals, plus no need to print off your coupon…just take the iPhone with you.
  • Fandango – Info on movie in your area.
  • Redbox – Rent a movie from your phone at your local red box…no need to stand in the rain.
  • Realtor.com – Find out what that house your driving by is selling for.
  • Amazon.com – When you’re out shopping scan a barcode to see what the price is on Amazon.

Spiritual Life:

  • ESV Bible – I take this to church with me.
  • Bible (YouVersion) – I’m using this to read through the Bible in a year.
  • Knowing God – An evangelistic tool that’s nice to have on hand.
  • God Tools – Great CCC resources (including Soularium).

Other:

  • TripIt – Track all your travel information in one place.
  • Craigsphone – Simple version of Craiglist.
  • WebMD – Figure out what ails you.
  • Southwest – Find cheap flights.
  • Netflix – We use this all the time! All the Veggietales you can handle streaming through your phone.
  • Pulse – A customizable news source with a cool interface.
  • Kindle – Read e-books on your phone.
  • Wikipedia – Helps me when I want to look smart.
  • Pandora – All the music you can handle.
  • Keynote Remote – Control your Keynote presentation with your phone and amaze your coworkers
  • Angry Birds – The addictive game for wasting time.

Did I miss anything important out there!

New Facebook Groups

February 2, 2011 in Innovation, Technology with 0 Comments

Have you checked out the functionality of the recently revamped Facebook Groups? I’ve started using them with various groups of people and so far…me likey. My highlights:

  • Quickly email everyone in the group.
  • Create documents and allow the group to edit the document
  • Group chat with all or part of the group
  • No more confusing email conversations between 5 people.

Here are the best examples of how I’ve seen Groups be helpful so far…

  • Creating instant community and information transfer at a Washington State University – Vancouver a commuter school that we’re launching a ministry on. Incredibly helpful!
  • A place for our staff team to connect about random things, post funny pictures and for the mom’s to weigh in on any thoughts they might have. A work in progress.
  • The Lake Tahoe Summer project directors have been using a group to capture random thoughts, develop conference call agenda’s, and tackle a few less important items that don’t need to take up our conference call times. Super helpful tool for us so far.

The goal is to make technology work for you right? Are these new group a helpful tool? How could you use them?

Is an extra monitor worth it?

January 31, 2011 in Technology with 0 Comments

I added a second monitor about 2 months ago and so far it’s been the best addition to my home office space in a long time. My calendar and productivity software of choice (Things) can always be right in front of me, which leads to a greater focus on the task(s) at hand.

Please ignore the pile of mail in front of the monitor. David Allen would not be proud of my inbox.
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