In church, it seems we’re always fighting to get more done in less time as Sunday is always lurking around the corner. In this class we’ll explore time management skills and ways to get the most out of your week, helping you get more done in less time through these proven techniques.
Workshops
The greatest need for those who serve in creative & technical ministry is skill development. The impact you can make on your church, your community, or your calling is to improve the skill of your craft. Workshops are the environment where SALT Conference allows you to increase your skills and refine your craft.
This year at SALT Conference, we’ll have over 50 classes on practical topics covering nearly every area of creative, technical, and worship focuses.
The greatest need for those who serve in creative & technical ministry is skill development. The impact you can make on your church, your community or your calling is to improve the skill of your craft. Workshops is the environment where SALT Conference allows you to increase your skills and refine your craft.
This year at SALT Conference, we’ll have over 50 classes on practical topics covering nearly every area of creative, technical and worship topics.
“SALT Conference is the event I look forward to every year. It is a safe space to find inspiration, refreshing, and community.”
-ALEX L.
Past Workshops
As our team prepares the workshop classes for SALT 2022 Conference, take a look below at some of the past sessions at a SALT Conference. This list can give you confidence that registering for SALT 2022 will have a wealth of practical, relevant, and beneficial workshops.
Below you’ll see workshops broken into the key categories of classes we usually offer at SALT. To jump to a specific category, click one of the buttons here:
AUDIO WORKSHOPS
- CONTROLLING FEEDBACK AND BASICS OF EQ AND DYNAMICS
Helping to tackle problem frequencies that cause feedback and how to eliminate the problem with console EQ and positioning on stage. Where to start with EQ and dynamics for instruments and vocalists. Giving practical first steps to minimal EQ and dynamics without completely changing the tone of instruments and vocalists.
- CREATIVE AUDIO ENGINEER
Creativity and audio engineering can sometimes feel like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole with technology, worship, and people colliding. In this class, we’ll look at what stands in the way of what should matter in a worship environment and how to let worship and creativity shine.
- ACOUSTICS: HOW TO CREATE A BETTER SOUNDING ROOM
In this class, we will discuss the importance of acoustics in the AV space, the impact that it can have on audio quality, and solutions that can be deployed to help create a more intelligible and better-sounding mix. You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of room acoustics, and you’ll know the advantages of measuring and analyzing your room.
- STREAMLINING YOUR WORKFLOW WITH DANTE
In this class, we will explore Dante audio networking concepts, discuss Dante networking fundamentals, and create a small-scale Dante network utilizing Dante Controller and Dante Virtual Soundcard.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the Dante Architecture
- Route signal using Dante Controller
- How to integrate Dante into systems
- How to record with Dante Virtual Soundcard
- THE ART OF MASTERING THE MIX
During this workshop, you’ll uncover the secrets to getting the best sound out of your current system, while learning about choosing the best microphones, gain structure, troubleshooting on the spot, EQ, compression, effects, reverb, and the best practices on how the best sound engineers in the world build their mix. There’s no question, this in-depth class will result in immediate and personal growth for you to take back to your church immediately!
- THE ART OF MIXING MONITORS
Monitor mixing often takes a backseat to FOH in popularity but is just as important. Poor monitor mixes can be a major distraction in a live worship environment. In this class, we’ll discuss different types of monitor mixing setups, techniques, and communication tips that will help you improve your monitor mixes and relationships within your tech/worship team.
CREATIVE PROCESS WORKSHOPS
- ESSENTIAL RHYTHMS & SYSTEMS FOR EVERY CREATIVE TEAM
How do we plan more effectively? What can we do to create more margin so we can get more creative? How can we manage all the requests that are coming in? With Sundays always coming, and Christmas and Easter always on the calendar, it’s time to get some rhythms and systems in place to manage the chaos of creative ministry. In this session, we’ll cover some time-saving and game-changing rhythms and systems to help anyone in worship, production, communications, and video get more creative and effective in your ministry.
- CREATIVE PROCESS 101: BECOMING MORE CREATIVE
There is a commonly held belief that “creativity” is a talent, gift, or superpower. But those of us who are constantly called upon to generate ideas know that it is more of a skill to be learned, a muscle to be trained, and a discipline to be studied. In this class, you’ll learn tactics to increase your creative capacity and confidence in your creative ability.
- PITCHING IDEAS TO YOUR BOSS/PASTOR
As church creatives, we are called upon to develop new and innovative solutions that reinforce biblical truths, address the culture at large, look pretty, and cost nothing – usually at a moment’s notice. Learn how to present ideas to your pastor or boss from someone who regularly pitches, and convinces, pastors of some of the country’s largest and most influential churches (and occasionally convinces his wife using the same techniques).
- PUTTING AN IDEA INTO ACTION
Once you have an idea or a concept that you want to present, what are all the possibilities for how to turn it into action? What steps of development, collaboration, and delegation allow for ideas to become innovative? This class will cover all of this and help you sharpen your creative skillset.
- SERVICE PLANNING MADE SIMPLE: USING CREATIVE BOARDS
Every service planning process needs a proven method for distilling creative big picture ideas into manageable tasks and timelines. We don’t want to stifle creativity by managing it to death, but we also don’t want to invite chaos by having no way to see things from a 30,000 foot perspective while filtering what belongs where and how each element of the service connects to and enhances the whole. In this class, we’ll explore the Creative Boards process – the same process many of the engineers from Disney World have implemented to increase clarity, creativity, and communication.
- FEAR, FAITH, AND FAILURE IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Is fear something that paralyzes your creativity, or is fear something you use as a catalyst for your creative gifts? In this class, we’ll look at the creative process and how fear and faith can become activators of the God-given calling within you and help you make more of an impact within your community.
VIDEO WORKSHOPS
- MAXIMIZE & STREAMLINE PROPRESENTER 7
ProPresenter 7 has so many features and ways to accomplish what your church needs to do each week. So in this class we will look at advanced topics & ideas that will help you use ProPresenter to more fully and streamline your content creation processes while making it easier on your volunteers.
- CREATING AN IMMERSIVE BROADCAST EXPERIENCE: 90% HEART. 10% TECH
This breakout is designed to help churches create more of an immersive experience for their congregation at home by making them feel that they are there with you. It includes learning how to use video production, and live stream technology for your church but at the same time focusing on why your team is truly there in the first place. Worship First, Capture Second.
- AUTOMATING WORSHIP LYRICS WITH ABELTON
What if your lyrics would auto advance with your multi-tracks rig? How amazing would it be if you never had to worry about a lyric being “behind” the music? In this class, we’ll look at the practical application of using Midi, IP and other open source technologies to automate our lyric system with a software like Ableton to accomplish this task.
- INTRO TO VIDEO DIRECTING / USING CAMERAS IN WORSHIP
Go behind the scenes and learn practical tips on becoming a better video director. How do you train your volunteers? What’s your process for getting unique shots? How do you get a better live video mix? These are all things we’ll cover in our time together.
Learning Objectives:
1. Learn how to transform your chaotic, stressful control room or tech booth in to a calm, smooth running machine.
2. Anyone can buy gear and talk fast in to the comm. Learn the true art of communication and why the directors headset is the most important tech tool in the entire media operation.
3. Experience why it doesn’t make a difference if your ministry has 15 cameras with a multi-million dollar media operation OR a single projector with ProPresenter and one camera. Most techniques for successful media are the same! - CINE CAMERAS FOR LIVE PRODUCTION & IMAG
How can we bring the post-produced look of cinema cameras into the live environment? This will be an in-depth session which will speak into the many considerations. In this class, you’ll learn about cameras, lenses, latency, controllers, converters, frame rates, ISO, aperture, depth of field, image stabilization, stage lighting, stage plots, and shooting in a cinematic style for live multi-camera environments.
- MASTERING THE CHURCH TESTIMONY VIDEO
Story is the language of our culture. Scientists tell us that our brains retain 65-70% more information if shared through a story (I should’ve used a story to get that information across) Plus its’ in the Bible! Psalm 107:2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so (tell your story). We see the value of story, we all love to hear a great story, but how to TELL a great story can be rather tricky. Its a craft! In this workshop Adam, Gary and Chris will lean on their decades of experience to help you refine your critical storytelling skills. No more yawns on Sunday morning! Let’ tell captivating stories in your church that move people toward action. You in?
ONLINE CHURCH WORKSHOPS
- SETTING UP AN ONLINE BROADCAST STUDIO
In enhancing your Online Worship Experience, how do you set up an Online Broadcast Studio for your Host? What should your Host say on camera? How do you choose talent to be your Online Host? Does it have to be a Pastor at your church? These questions and more will be answered in this workshop as the Twelve:Thirty Media team gives you practical tips on on to take your Online Worship Experience to the next level.
- WHY NOBODY WATCHES YOUR STUFF: HOW TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH CHURCH ONLINE
Most churches find it challenging to adopt church online in ways to drive real engagement instead of publishing for vanity metrics’ sake. Digital ministry is hard since content consumption habits have changed drastically and you can’t just copy/paste analog content offline to online. In this workshop, you’ll discover the 4 shifts you need to grapple with so that you can create content with purpose to target, attract and engage your community online.
- THE TEMPLATE TRAP: AVOIDING THEM IN SERVICE PLANNING
Tools like Planning Center and Worship Planning are all the buzz in the church as we plan services and coordinate people with greater ease. However these tools also have a downside. In this class Nancy will share her thoughts on how we can get more out of a template by using it less. Come for a practical class on service programming that expands our options in ways that will inspire our communities and enable more artists.
- THE FUNNEL: PROGRAMMING SUNDAY WITH PURPOSE
What if every weekend, you had a road map to help get more out of your service programming and worship plan? North Point Community Church has designed “the funnel” programming method to make sure that every element works to drive home the main message. Learn their process while identifying ways you can benefit from more structure in your weekend services.
- PLANNING TECHNOLOGY FOR MULTIPLE CAMPUSES
There are many churches currently in a multicampus model or exploring the pros and cons to expanding beyond a single campus. We will explore what it may look like to have a unique atmosphere on each campus while keeping a consistent culture and discuss the pros and cons of atmosphere’s that are similar or different.
- CAN COMMUNITY BE CREATED ONLINE?
Time is the most valuable resource someone can give but how do we steward someone’s time well when it’s hard to get them in the doors of the church, ask them to sign up for one more “thing” or navigate the ever-so-present Zoom fatigue? Is it possible to create community online?
LIGHTING WORKSHOPS
- LIGHTING 101: THE BASICS
Do not let the world of lighting intimidate you! In this class we will briefly discuss the evolution of lighting in the live environment, but more so will look at the various types of lighting instruments used and their typical applications. We will discuss picking the right lighting fixture for the job, ideal placements, and creative uses. Find out how lighting can help transform the entire live environment!
- PROGRAMMING LIGHTING WITH AUTOMATION
Keeping it simple with all the features at your finger tips. I know the lights can move, but should they? Learn the dos and don’ts of programming with automated lighting, and how their many tools and features can be used to create incredible environments of worship.
- THE DO'S AND DONT'S OF RIGGING
Don’t let the world of rigging hold back your creativity. In this class we will talk about how to rig, hang, and connect your lights and scenic pieces safely and stay creative at the same time. Please note: THIS IS NOT A CERTIFICATION COURSE. but you will learn what rigging is, how too be safe when considering how to hang lights, technology and/or your set design, as well as navigate rigging challenges and concerns for leadership.
- DESIGNING AND RENDERING STAGE DESIGNS - DIGITALLY
Learn how to design and render stage designs in the digital realm, using programs such as Capture, Vectorworks, and Sketchup. In this workshop, we’ll give an overview of the top rendering programs available to the church, as well as how to get started on making a realistic and good-looking 3D model for your leadership team. This class will allow you to communicate ideas/designs more effectively to your leadership and help increase your ability to create amazing stage designs.
- LIGHTING FOR BROADCAST/STREAMING
The world has changed, and broadcast lighting has never been more critical than it is right now with the increase demand on streaming and watching church remotely. Come and learn what you can do to serve your church well in this season focused on online services. We will tackle questions like, “how can I leverage what I already have to elevate the online experience?” and, “what are the key things I need to invest in to make our broadcast look the best?”
- COMPLETE GUIDE TO LED LIGHTING
With the mass amount of LED available in the marketplace (par lights, ellipsoidals, strip tape, moving head lights and more) there are many pro’s and con’s to switching to lamp-free lighting fixtures. We’ll explore these fixtures and help you walk away with a comprehensive understanding of LED lights so you can be ready for your next event or install.
COMMUNICATIONS WORKSHOPS
- MARKETING AND REACHING YOUR COMMUNITY
Most Pastors are asking, “How do we get people back?” We are in a unique and every changing moment where understanding and maximizing marketing, advertising, and story telling well matters. It’s not enough to just “get it” we have to know what it means for the next season of ministry and how we will use these tools to increase the kingdom.
- DEVELOPING A COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE
We are now communicating to the most diverse of group of generations. Which means the Church must have a strategy to communicate to these ever-changing demographics. In this class we’ll look at the foundations of great church communications strategy and the tools that will help you accomplish your goals with greater effectiveness.
Learning Objectives:
- You will learn core fundamentals of communicating to a wide range of generations.
- Identify how to maintain context across the rapid changing technological culture we live in.
- Learn how to clarify your communications goals, so you can create a proactive environment for their communications.
- LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA TO GROW AN ONLINE COMMUNITY
Social media allows you to continue the conversation started on Sunday all the way through the week. Don’t let your impact stay within that one hour of the week, instead begin to seize the remaining 167 hours by building an online community through your social media platforms.
- WAYFINDING AND SIGNAGE IN THE CHURCH
Signage is an art; an underappreciated art. But great wayfinding is necessary for a first-time visitor to find their way around your building. Sometimes we forget the best practices of great signage and wayfinding because we’re so familiar with our building. But in this class, we’ll explore new strategies and ideas to increase your wayfinding presence by diving into best practices for church signage.
- DIGITAL MEDIA: BUILDING BETTER BRANDS ONLINE
When you think of branding, what comes to mind? If you’re like most people you might think of a logo or a slogan. But your brand is so much more than that. In this session, learn how to share the essence who you are and what you care about using a simple straight-forward step-by-step process.
- POWER OF STORY: EFFECTIVE ON & OFF STAGE STORYTELLING
Three acts, characters, conflict, setting and resolution. These are all words we associate with Hollywood movies and great films. But what if those same elements of great story could impact and affect every aspect of our communication and storytelling? From on-stage announcements to interview videos, social media campaigns to series theme videos and everything in between.The story arc is a powerful tool that will revolutionize your ability to cut through the noise.
LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS
- STRUCTURE YOUR CREATIVE TEAM FOR SUCCESS
Let’s be honest–leading creatives is hard work! Many of us weren’t trained to manage a team, balance budgets, or know what to do when the structure isn’t working. Tim Stevens has led teams of feelers and thinkers for more than three decades, and transitioned last year to become the Executive Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. You’ll pick up on some strategies and practical learnings, but more importantly you’ll be able to dive into your own team challenges with Tim in an interactive session.
- CULTIVATING A HEALTHY STAFF CULTURE
Leading any size church team can be a challenge and leadership has to be intentional about creating a healthy staff culture. Learn how you can create the right culture for your staff and ways that you can benefit from their insights, wisdom, experience and spiritual healthiness.
- BUILD A THRIVING VOLUNTEER MINISTRY
Unless you have a massive budget to pay a full-time staff member for every position in your creative arts team, then odds are good you rely on volunteers to make Sunday happen. Come learn some ready-to-implement tactics to build and sustain a thriving volunteer ministry from the person who wrote the book on recruiting and retaining great volunteers.
- MORE DONE IN LESS TIME: EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT
- PREVENTING BURNOUT, SUSTAINING CREATIVE TEAMS
Give your leadership skills a boost with this highly focused leadership workshop specifically designed to help you learn how to lead creative teams better, help them (and you) avoid burnout, and achieve greater effectiveness. No matter where you are as a leader, leading a full time creative team, or want to increase your leadership capacity, this will be an incredible opportunity for you. Join leadership expert Dr. Andrew Johnston as he unpacks leading creative teams with practical, insightful and inspirational content that will compliment his recently released Fired Up: Kindling and Keeping the Spark in Creative Teams.
- CREATING A CULTURE OF IDEATION
Culture is about what we do not what we say to stop having boring creative meetings. Let’s figure out how we can have fun making our absolute best stuff! Learn how to bring your team around a few key personalities that will constantly help you win in the area of creativity and set your organization up for success!
WORSHIP WORKSHOPS
- KEY STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR VOICE
Many people believe singing is only about whatever talent you’re born with. Your voice, though, is a result of the coordination of a variety of muscles and these muscles can be trained. Come learn about the first steps that you can take to discover the possibilities that lie waiting in your own voice.
- THE WORSHIP MENU: CHOOSING SONGS FOR CHURCH
Choosing the worship songs you’ll sing every Sunday as a part of your set list may play a larger role in the spiritual formation than you realize. In this panel, we’ll have an open discussion on how you can be more intentional with making your menu of songs that you bring the Church body.
- WHY WE LEAD WORSHIP: NOT A BIBLICAL TERM BUT A BIBLICAL ASSIGNMENT
We’ve never seen the term “worship leader” in the bible but the bible has absolutely introduced us to a few. It can appear to only be about music but, the beautiful burden of leading worship stretches beyond what we sing or play. In this session we will talk about the importance of the worship leader – biblically and institutionally.
- COLLABORATIVE SONGWRITING PROCESS
Collaborative writing is responsible for some of the biggest songs in music, all genres. While it is easier said than done – the art of collaborative writing not only gives a song more legs, it also builds each songwriter individually as a creative, collaborator, and person. In this session we will discuss the beauty and benefits of collaborative songwriting with other artists/songwriters as well as members of your local church music department.
- PRESENCE OVER PRESENTATION
The Church is a body, not a building and Jesus wants an an encounter over entertainment. However, these are still temptations for those of us who craft worship, technical and/or creative environments. Sit with Co-Pastors Alex and Henry Seeley of The Belonging Co as they share insights from their journey of growing a thriving culture of creatives and artists in their thriving church.
- USING TRACKS & STEMS IN WORSHIP
Sometimes the live band needs some help by sounding bigger. By carefully selecting, mixing and using tracks and stems, you can create a big, engaging sound without breaking the budget. You will learn how to prepare the tracks and how to help the band play with a click.
DESIGN & FILM WORKSHOPS
- HISTORY OF DESIGN FROM CREATION TO TOMORROW
Design nerds ASSEMBLE! Have you ever wondered how we got from Eden to Expressionism? From the Golden Rule to the Golden Ration? From Heaven to Helvetica? In this session, you’ll see how design evolved from the creation of the universe to the creation of your next logo.
- PROCESS BEFORE PRODUCT: SUSTAINABLE FILMMAKING
Whether you know it or not you have a workflow process for each video you make. Maybe you’ve never had time to think about HOW you make videos because you’re too busy actually making the video. In this workshop you’ll learn why taking the time to examine, strategize, grow and refine your video workflow will lead to better videos, less stress and more capacity for your work and your life. Regardless of the tools you use or the size of your team, come hear how you can produce better work faster than ever before.
- THE ROLE OF SOUND IN FILM
When it comes to the world of film and video, what you hear is almost equally important as what you see. Next time you are watching your favorite movie try turning the volume off for a few minutes and you will quickly see that this is true. In this workshop, Tyler will dive into the intriguing history of the relationship between music and film, share stories from his own experience as a composer, and discuss the effect sound has in ministry.
- DRAWING 101: THE ART OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustration and drawing aren’t exclusively for artists, but everyone! With a few simple lines, connectors and shapes, you can learn the art of drawing and notetaking. Learn from the one who wrote the book on “The Art of Visual Notetaking” and increase your creative craft with these ready-to-implement techniques.
- PIXELS TO KEYFRAMES: THE ART OF ANIMATING OTHERS' DESIGNS
In many professional environments, animators make other designers creations come to life and the church isn’t all that different. Together we’ll explore some ideas and examples of how to take a sermon series graphic & turn it into a short animated bumper.
- THE ART OF AN INTERVIEW IN SHORT-FILMS
A great short-film starts with a great script. But what does it look like when a personal story is told in interview format? Gary has interviewed over 100 top athletes and performers, creating short-films with the content results. He’ll help you discover timeless principles and practical processes to capture their best content, all in an interview setting where any subject feels safe, a little anxious, and courageous.
© 2022 SALT Community.
THE CREATIVE CONFERENCE FOR THE CHURCH.