Check out Your Tech Style Suggestions chart.

How do you discover what tech tools fit your lifestyle and your ministry? I know from talking with many staff that sometimes it’s hard to even know what you need or what might be available for you.  Also, I’ve found that people might decide what tool to use, but it actually may not be their best choice.  Cost, ease-of-use, compatibility, and whether a tool is out-dated might all factor in what you choose to do.

For those of you following the You-Can-Too series, this post is designed to help you make a personalized plan for what you’ll learn in 2014.  In January, we’re planning for the year. Save room in your schedule for actionable steps as we move into next month.

To start, I recommend the minimal tech essentials for MPD.  These are:

• One database for contact management
• An up-to-date site at give.cru.org/your-account-number
• eMail  (there’s a handful of you out there that don’t do eMail)
•  An eNewsletter in addition to your prayer letter
• An MPD list on Facebook to connect with your financial partners

For your one database, choose either TntMPD or MPDx as your one database. I frequently recommend TntMPD, which can manage all your contacts and would, in general, be a great address book for any staff member, especially if you track a lot of names, not just your donors. I’ll focus on this topic in February (that’s the first action step we’ll take in the series).

For today, I composed a chart in Google Drive that could help you think through what might be some good goals for this year. For those who want to do more than the minimal MPD essentials and are considering, for instance, an MPD website or starting some type of eMinistry, I hope this chart helps you. The ideas aren’t exhaustive, but are simply meant to fuel your dreams. Find your staff profile and/or your communication style to find some tools you could consider using. As an example, you’re a discipler or trainer and prefer using your mobile phone, therefore (picking one or more), would you or your ministry benefit if you:

• Start a blog on discipleship
• Call a donor right away (instead of playing phone tag later) when you notice they’re on Facebook
• Send a text to a potential donor to arrange for a phone appointment or to a current donor to ask for prayer
• Share photos from your ministry project or event through social media or a photoblogging platform
• Create a YouTube channel to share your material

Did you find a few things you’d like to learn on the chart? Great! If you like (or need)  to be organized, you can even make note of the dates when  I’ll be presenting the topics you’re planning to follow. (Check the schedule.)

I can’t wait to see what you’ll be doing by the end of the year! To quote my good friend, Dr. Seuss:

“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”
―  Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

< First   Last of the three intro posts >

Visit the Table of Contents for the You-Can-Too series posts. This is the second post in the introduction. Keep following the series for posts on databases, communication, websites, and social media.

NOTES:

• If you’d like to review my opinion on the essentials for staff, watch the 10-minute video in the post, Your Must-Have Tech Tools for MPD.
• Read all the posts in the You-Can-Too series.