UU Growth Lab members and friends,
As part of our ongoing UU Growth Lab monthly trainings, you are invited to attend “Video Strategy for Thriving Congregations” live via Zoom.
This is the 2-hour live version of my Video Message Academy for Congregations online course available to all UU Growth Lab members.
I'm offering three identical live sessions this month, each an interactive opportunity to get oriented, deepen your understanding, and ask questions.
Learn more about this training and why video is increasingly mission critical for membership development below.
Members may sign up to attend either of the first two sessions now. The first option is NEXT TUESDAY!
Choose the session that works for you, member login required:
- Tuesday, 1/13 at 1:00 pm EST Members, register for 1/13 Zoom Here
- Sat 1/24 at 2:00 pm EST Members, register for 1/24 Zoom Here
- A third session will be scheduled for an evening (EST) the last week of January.
Not a member? Learn more and join the UU Growth Lab membership program as an individual or congregational team.
Questions: If you have any questions about UU Growth Lab membership, team participation, or other logistics, you may contact me here.
Video Strategy for Thriving Congregations
Why Video is Mission Critical
The way newcomers engage with congregations has changed. The vast majority research, explore, and discern if a congregation is right for them online before choosing to visit.
In today's world, the "first visit" or two or three is no longer live and onsite. For many, it is their online experience researching your congregation.
Video is a powerful way to enhance and support this self-guided online visitor experience!
Your congregation’s digital presence, your videos, your Sunday worship experience, and recordings are all part of the newcomer path to membership, engagement, outreach, and program growth.
There are so many things we can do with video to support membership development and advance your ministry goals. I try to prioritize strategies that are easy to implement and can have the most significant impact.
In this two-hour live Zoom session, we’ll cover:
- The Big Picture: Digital trends, changing norms, and the role of video in today's world
- Membership: How to think about video through a membership development lens, including pre-visit discernment and the emotional dynamics of choosing to visit
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Video Essentials: Core video content for your First Time Visitor page, Meet the Minister/Team videos, and how to use them on your website and social media
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Worship: How to optimize your worship services and recordings for newcomers, including shifts in structure, hooks, calls to action, and YouTube chapters
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Shortform Video: The role of vertical video clips (“shorts”), social media algorithms, and how to use them to increase visibility and connection
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Planning: How to prioritize your next steps based on your capacity, context, and communication needs
- Your ministry goal: We'll discuss specific video content and video strategy to advance ministry, justice, and program goals identified during each live session.
I'm offering three sessions this month so that more of you may participate live, and each session is smaller. This will allow us to go deeper into your questions and how to use video to advance the goals of session participants.
This session builds on core insights we’ve explored in previous UU Growth Lab monthly trainings, including:
- Building a Digital Path to Membership
- New Algorithms, New Strategies
- Deepening Newcomer Engagement
- And more!
These trainings are available with handouts on-demand in our member area.
If you’ve participated in any of these sessions, this live training is a great next step.
If you haven’t, this session will give you an integrated understanding and help you make informed, strategic choices moving forward.
From supporting potential new members during their research and exploration process to harnessing the power of your weekly services for outreach, I hope you'll join us!
Peter
PS - A reminder that these live sessions will inform the January 2026 update I make to the Video Message Academy for Congregations course, which all members have access to. If you can't attend but have questions on video strategy you'd like me to address in the update, you're invited to submit them here.
Peter Bowden, The UU Growth Lab
www.uugrowthlab.com
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