The Full List of Our 2024 Training Opportunities
Buckle up, kids: it’s time to peer into the new year.
For those of you on a calendar-year budgeting cycle, you’re probably obsessing over spreadsheets, forecasting, and big plans right about now. (Or you’re like me and you’re going to wait until 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, hoping it all goes away and / or the Budget Fairies show up and do all that for you.)
But I digress. Part of your planning ought to include training for yourself and your team, and today we roll out all the dates that we have on the docket for 2024.
One of our staff values is that we want to “show our work,” meaning if there are potholes, pitfalls, and dead ends we’ve hit through the years, we want to help you avoid all of those things. (And who knows, we might even share a decent idea or two along the way.)
The Summit’s Guest Services and Events Team – the group that I lead – offers three tiers of training each year. 2024 is coming soon, and since some of you have been asking, here’s the skinny:
Guest Services Weekenders
- What they are: a Sunday morning or Thursday evening event on site at The Summit Church, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at our Guest Services Team training, a glimpse of our team in action, and plenty of time to debrief and ask questions.
- Who they’re for: Weekenders are perfect for church staff and volunteers who are responsible for guest services or first impressions. Weekenders are limited to 30 people per event.
- 2024 dates: February 25, May 30, August 22, November 17
- Cost: toss your budget out the window, because all Weekenders are totally free.
- Sign up begins: Tuesday, December 12 (sign up is now live!)
- More information: dfranks.com/weekender
One-Day Workshops
- What they are: we take one full day and dive deep into one single topic. We talk about the philosophy, theology, and practicality behind Guest Services; how to recruit, train, celebrate, and develop your people in Volunteer Culture, how to move your guests from connected to committed in After the First Visit, and how to create a hospitality culture in every crevice of your organization in Guest Services 2.0.
- Who they’re for: Workshops are designed for teams, so we encourage you to load up the van with staff or volunteers. Our Workshops are designed for 40-80 people per event.
- 2024 dates: August 22, September 26, October 24 (the topics listed above will be matched with specific dates once sign up begins)
- Cost: $99 per person, per Workshop covers materials, lots of resources, two meals, and snacks throughout the day
- Sign up begins: May 2024.
- More information: dfranks.com/workshop
Connections Confab
- What it is: the Confab is a coaching network that includes three on-site visits to the Summit over the course of January to June. We intentionally keep the numbers small so we can keep the conversation deep. We drill down on your issues with guest services, volunteer culture, assimilation, leadership development, multi-site, and more.
- Who it’s for: Confab is best for church staff members who are primarily responsible for guest services or volunteers, but our alumni include lead pastors, exec pastors, communications directors, worship directors, next gen staff, and even the occasional intern. Each year’s Confab is capped at 15 people.
- 2024 dates: January 31-February 1, April 14-15, June 4-5
- Cost: $1,450 per person includes all meals and experiences on site, a ton of resources, and way more. (It’s a lot of bang for your buck, and 1/3 of the cost of similar coaching networks.)
- Apply: applications are being accepted through Monday, December 4.
- More information: see this post
Do random dates drive you a wee bit insane? Me too. Here they all are in chronological order:
- Jan 31-Feb 1: Connections Confab session 1
- Feb 25: Guest Services Weekender
- Apr 14-15: Connections Confab session 2
- May 30: Guest Services Weekender
- Jun 4-5: Connections Confab session 3
- Aug 22: One-Day Workshop #1 (topic TBD) / bonus Guest Services Weekender that evening
- Sep 26: One-Day Workshop #2 (topic TBD)
- Oct 24: One-Day Workshop #3 (topic TBD)
- Nov 17: Guest Services Weekender
Of course, there’s a little fine print here: all dates above are subject to change.
One more thing on that budget planning: if you’re traveling to our area – as roughly 80% of our participants do – you’ll fly into / out of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Our team has also worked with area hotels to get you the best group rates possible.
Finally, if all of these dates and options leave your head spinning and you’d like to talk about the best route for you and/or your staff or volunteer team, email me or let’s set up a quick phone call.
If you want to get notifications whenever sign up links go live, fill out the super quick form below.
