Post Conference Blues
Conferences are great! I used to be the guy who would sit in the auditorium in the afterglow. I didn’t want to leave. I had been inspired, encouraged, stretched, and poured into. What I received was not just information, it was impartation. I wanted to take many of the presenters home with me.
In the early nineties, I went to all of Kent Henry’s conferences in St. Louis, Missouri. So many seeds were planted in my heart through those experiences!
Now, most of my conference experiences are as a speaker. Last week, I had a full-circle experience at the Worship 424 conference at Cedarville University. Paul Baloche’s band had two special people to me.
His keyboardist was Luis Vargas. We went to the same church as kids in Guadalupe, Costa Rica. He introduced me to several people glowingly, saying, “His parents brought the gospel to my community and started churches there.” It’s crazy that two kids from a little town in Costa Rica are here doing this. Pura vida, mae!
His drummer was Carl Albrecht. The same Carl who was Kent Henry’s drummer in the nineties. I was able to recall the conversation we had when I was a beginning guitar player and couldn’t figure out the voicing of the song he wrote called “Great And Mighty.” He had kindly shown me the simple shape that he slid up and down the guitar neck.
Conference experiences mark us. They are mountaintops.
When I first started Ad Lib Music in 2002, I described coaching with the phrase, “To bridge the gap between the mountain top of the conference and the trench of the weekly service.”
Often, it’s when we come back from the conference to a team that’s not as skilled or committed, a sound system that’s not as expensive, and a community that’s not as knowledgeable and that “gets us” less.
One of the thoughts behind coaching is “imagine if you could bring one of the conference speakers to come with you to your 125-member church to walk alongside you and help you know how to apply what you just learned to your specific (and sometimes very different context!”
While we’d certainly love to do that, I want to give you some ideas on how to integrate what you’ve learned at the last conference you went to, so you avoid the dreaded post conference blues.
Adapt not Apply
In the same way that your band isn’t Elevation Worship’s band and you can’t pull off songs in exactly the same way, take what you have learned and adapt it to your context. It’s the same thing that happens when you take advice from YouTube. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it’ll crash and burn. Ask, “How could this idea or principle work here? What will I have to change to make it fit?”
Bitty Bites
In a previous Fertilizer, I suggested identifying which changes will give me the most significant long-term benefit (like learning theory or taking lessons) and which changes will give me the most short-term WINS! (like figuring a way to get to rehearsal on time, or buying a tuner). The worst thing you can do is come back and change everything or introduce 5 new songs next week. Start small.
Reflect and Review
I hope you took notes. Scientifically, you remember more if you do. A week or two after you return from a conference, schedule an hour to read through your notes and ask the Lord how to use the ideas. Ask Him for timing and implementation strategy, and which ideas to shelve completely.
Start Something
Your church (likely) spent good money sending you to this conference. What is the return on their investment? While trying to implement everything is a recipe for disaster, not doing anything is just bad stewardship. This is a moment to be strong and courageous, to not give in to fear or apathy. That spark you had, take action. Do something. Start!
-Dave Helmuth
Author of the Five Faders and Founder of Ad Lib Music
Post Conference Blues (Nº 465)
