401 – Growing the WELSTech Community

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This week on WELSTech we reflect on the recent conference and share resources from the many presenters in attendance. Our ministry resource is a new site with free biblical imagery, and updates to both WELS.net and the online WELS Yearbook are reviewed. The featured video is of a satirical IGNITE visit from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape on the 8 Rules of PowerPoint Complexity.

The discussion:

bundtPixel145x125Takeaways – Martin and Sallie look back at the WELSTech Conference experience and share some of their favorite takeaways from the event including a compilation of the social comments, the joy of techie fellowship, resources from the various presenters and a look at the happy winner of the Chromebook Pixel, Allan Bundt.

News in tech:

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Featured video:

Pastor James Aderman closed out the WELSTech Conference IGNITE session with a satirical look at what not to do in PowerPoint from the perspective of the C.S. Lewis character Screwtape. We’ve added the video to the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching Videos playlist on YouTube.

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 402 – Less than a week before the start of Synod Convention, Martin and Sallie walk you through the technology being employed to bring the convention to you. Join us Tuesday, July 21 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

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400 – WELSTech Celebrates 400!

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This episode of WELSTech is a live recording from WELSTech Conference 2015 held at Country Springs Hotel and Resort in Waukesha, WI. Martin and Sallie celebrate episode 400 with a live audience and special guests from the conference talking about church branding, technology planning and church intranets.

The discussion:

400Selfie145x125Anniversary celebration – Martin and Sallie broadcast the 400th episode of WELSTech from WELSTech Conference 2015 in front of a selfie-worthy live audience! There were plenty of shiny tech giveaways throughout to keep things fun. Special guests and topics include …

  • Ian Welch – Church branding
  • Bob Albrecht – Technology planning
  • Pastor Rob Guenther – Church intranets

Picks of the week:

Featured videos:

Visit the WELS Live Stream archives for recordings of other group sessions held at WELSTech Conference:

A special giveaway:

Little Luther enhances the celebration, and Martin and Sallie commit to race Martin Luther to 500 in 2017 as we look forward to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and the 500th WELSTech Podcast.

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 401 – Martin and Sallie share lessons learned, old and new WELSTech connections and special memories from WELSTech Conference 2015 – Tuesday, July 14 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

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399 – WELSTech Then And Now

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It was 399 episodes ago that WELSTech began its podcasting journey. We’ve seen some significant technology changes along the way. Today Martin and Sallie take a walk down technology lane to explore those changes and note some of the things that really haven’t changed. They also say RIP for old friends like Google Reader and Picnik.

The discussion:

Retro WELSTechRetro podcasting – In anticipation of the milestone 400th episode of WELSTech, Martin and Sallie roll back time to the beginning of WELSTech in January 2008 and review the transformation of tech-in-ministry over our 7.5 years of podcasting.

WELS now:

News in tech:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Featured video:

Keeping the WELSTech retro theme, we circle back to our featured artist from episode 001, WELS Musician Mike Westendorf. Check out his “Songs We Carry” Behind the Album video on the WELSTech Music YouTube playlist.

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 400! – Live from WELSTech Conference 2015, Martin and Sallie celebrate the milestone episode on a special day – Friday, July 10 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

Get involved:

398 – Hootsuite

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Martin flies solo but brings with him one of his favorite social networking tools – Hootsuite. If you have anything to do with your organizations social media activities, you might find this tool invaluable! And wouldn’t you know, in Sallie’s absence, there is more than just a little Community Feedback Martin struggles through…even a Pinterest post.

The discussion:hootsuite145x125

Make your social network manageable – You know that your organizations social network activities you be better. If only you had more time, a better strategy, or compelling content. This “monologue” provides excellent tips for content and network usage, as well as a walkthrough of Hootsuite — one of the best ways to schedule your social media posts, plus much more.

News in tech:

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

  • Slack – Team Messaging That Works!

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

  • Check back next week

Featured video:

New this week on the WELSTech Product Demos YouTube playlist is Ben Hommerding’s recent Review of the Chromebook Pixel. One WELSTech Conference attendee will walk away with one of these!

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 399 – Take a walk down WELSTech Lane with Martin and Sallie as we look back at at retro shows and look ahead to the big 400. Watch and participate on 06/30/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

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397 – Documentation Fun

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This week’s WELSTech focus is documentation, and Martin and Sallie demonstrate the ease of screen capture and video editing using TechSmith’s Snagit and Camtasia software. Martin shares a timely tip on keeping your passwords doubly secure, plus resources covering image sizing for social media and considerations for use of stock photography are highlighted.

The discussion:

techsmithDon’t reinvent the wheel – Documentation of church and school technical processes can increase quality and consistency of repeated tasks. Martin and Sallie share thoughts on processes which could benefit from documentation and tools for creating annotated images or videos to enhance documentation.

News in tech:

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Featured videos:

This week we’ve added another video to the WELSTech Product Demo playlist – What can Snagit 12.0 do? Features Overview

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 398 – It’s Martin’s turn to be a solo act, and he plans to share tips for managing social media with Hootsuite. Watch and participate on 06/23/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

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396 – Anything Goes

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On this week’s WELSTech Sallie broadcast solo and shares some interesting tech recommendations from her Facebook friends.

The discussion:

Note Pad and PenLatest and Greatest – Sallie’s on her own today as Martin vacations. But no worries as her Facebook friends pitch in to share their latest and greatest tech. From Pastor Kurt Hagen’s unfailing pen and paper technology to brand new Bible and education tools, there’s something for everyone.

News in tech:

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 397 – Martin is back and we’ll talk about documentation fun using TechSmith products. Watch and participate on 06/16/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

Featured videos:

The newest WELSTech Product Demo video is courtesy of Pastor Rob Guenther – Introducing the Lily Camera

Get involved:

395 – School’s Out

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This week we’re Martin-less on WELSTech, but no worries as Jason Schmidt co-hosts with Sallie and brings his excellent edtech experience to the show. The discussion covers great web sites for Art, Typing, Research and Internet Safety plus Digital Citizenship. Jason shares a 3d printer deal for schools, and we have an awesome school promotional video to spark video promo ideas for others!

The discussion:

WELSTech Goes To SchoolSeries End – Jason Schmidt, WELSTech’s sunny semi-regular edtech guest host, joins Sallie to finish up the education resource sharing series, WELSTech Goes To School. Visit the resource page for loads of great links covering …

WELS now:

News in tech:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 396 – Martin’s away and Sallie’s getting creative. Who knows what could happen?!? Watch and participate on 06/09/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

Featured videos:

This week we’re “happy” to add a new video to the WELSTech Promo Playlist. It’s a fun look inside St. Paul’s Lutheran School in New Ulm, MN

Get involved:

394 – Touring the Backlot!

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It’s WELSTech time again, and this week viewers are in for a treat as Martin and Sallie are together in the WELS studio for a professional multi-camera production. The discussion topic is live streaming, Sallie’s got a new gadget grid, and Martin shares great plugins for church webmasters.

The discussion:

LiveFromTheCMM145x125Tune in to Channel 6 – Martin and Sallie are broadcasting from the new WELS studio at the Center for Mission and Ministry in Waukesha, WI. They share a quick studio tour and not one, not two, but three lists related to live streaming!

5 Questions To Ask
  1. Who is your audience?
  2. Why will they watch?
  3. What is the content?
  4. When? – Live and/or archived
  5. Who will “own” it?
5 Things You Must Do
  1. Nail the audio
  2. Get smart about lighting
  3. Have a workable budget
  4. Learn basic production techniques
  5. Promote
5 Ways To Live Stream
  1. Livestream – $1,000 per year on the WELS account
  2. YouTube – Free
  3. Google Hangouts – Free
  4. Streamingchurch.tv – $1,200 per year
  5. FinalWeb – $400 per year
  • Join us in person for WELSTech’s 400th, live at WELSTech Conference 2015, July 9 – 11 in Waukesha, WI
    • Register by June 1
    • Congrats to our $25 Amazon gift card raffle winner, Pastor Nate Wagenknecht – He’ll be at the conference presenting on “Creating Christian Community”

News in tech:

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 395 – While Martin is away, Jason Schmidt guest hosts with Sallie for the last installment of the WELSTech Goes to School series. Watch and participate on 06/02/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

Featured videos:

For your listening pleasure, we’re featuring The Vine Brother’s Sing, Sing, Sing video, the newest addition to the WELSTech Music playlist on YouTube (Special shout out to Sallie’s nephew, Garrett Jones, on bass!)

Get involved:

393 – Church Office Productivity

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The productive church office is a blessing to ministry efforts and the topic of this week’s WELSTech Podcast. Tune in for office apps, keyboard shortcuts, breaking WELSTech news, tips for ministering to millennials and bonus boosts to your Psychic RAM!!

The interview & discussion:

emileBurgess145x125Psychic RAM – Pastor Emile Burges from Trinity in Caledonia, WI talks with Sallie regarding his upcoming presentations at WELSTech Conference on Evernote and MailChimp. The conversation continues as Martin and Sallie share more favorite church office productivity tools.

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Bread for Beggars

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 394 – Live from the CMM … Martin and Sallie are together to tour the new WELS studio. Watch and participate on 05/26/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

Featured videos:

This week we’ve added a MailChimp tutorial video to the WELSTech Product Demos playlist on YouTube

Get involved:

392 – Care and Feeding

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This week’s WELStech is quite a zoo as Martin shares digital outreach tips, there’s a BORAM on the loose, and the Education on Air archive is available. Tune in for all of this plus a milestone birthday for one of the zoo keepers!

The interview & discussion:

Another day at the zoo10 Tips for Cross-Cultural Digital Outreach – Martin is just back from Boise, ID where he assisted a congregation considering digital outreach strategies, particularly in their Vietnamese mission efforts. He boils down the efforts to 10 useful tips for anyone doing online outreach, locally and globally.

  1. Identify digital content
  2. Pick one priority at a time
  3. Can you do more or do things differently?
  4. Provide digital resources to members (friendship evangelism)
  5. Capture and share stories
  6. Provide digital resources to members for deeper study
  7. Develop a social media strategy
  8. Understand what websites are and aren’t
  9. Develop an engagement strategy
  10. Use a prospect management database

WELS now:

Picks of the week:

It’s Google Chrome plug-in week:

Community feedback:

Ministry resources:

Google’s Education on Air is archived. A few recommendations:

Featured videos:

The newest addition to the WELSTech Music playlist on YouTube is Koine’s Precious Lord, Take My Hand

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 393 -Pastor Emile Burgess from Trinity, Caldonia, WI, a presenter at WELSTech Conference 2015, joins us as we discuss church office apps. Watch and participate on 05/19/15 @ 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

The last word:

We hope you’ll attend WELSTech Conference 2015, July 9 – 11 in Waukesha, WI

Get involved: