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Workshops  

Additional details coming soon, subject to change

From Chaos to Clarity: Practical Tools for Effective Social Media Management
Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Caught between the daily grind of responding to time-sensitive requests and wishing you had more time to develop or implement strategy? Interested in exploring how to create systems that organize all the “little things” so you can focus on the big picture? This workshop is designed for big thinkers with limited time. We’ll dive into strategies rooted in neuroscience to effectively craft high-quality social media and communications content efficiently, while utilizing time-saving bulk design, scheduling, and batching techniques.  

Together, we’ll also lean into an abundance mindset – exploring how to leverage expertise in our network to co-create resources to make our collective work stronger and lighten individual workloads.  

You’ll walk away with a year-long outline for consistent social media content, a jumpstart on your own evergreen content bank, and strategies to tackle inevitable unpredictable content. You’ll also receive links to resources ready for you to adapt and use in your own context and a plethora of trainings and tools (both free and paid) to streamline your work. The overall goal: do your “shallow work” more efficiently and learn how to prioritize “deep work” for more impact with less stress.

Presenter: Mary Grace Puszka, Communications Manager, Episcopal Ministries of Long Island

Mary Grace Puszka is a communications expert with seven years of experience professionally managing digital and traditional communications for faith-inspired nonprofits. Her work centers unique stories of impact that strive to shift cultures and bend our collective path closer towards an equitable, just, and peaceful world. She serves as Communications Manager for EMLI and also supports the Diocesan Office of Communication Ministry.

Mary Grace holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Religious Studies from Stonehill College. Prior to joining the team at EMLI, she served as Communications Officer for an interfaith, international peacebuilding organization.

Mary Grace has completed fellowships with both the Ministerio de EducaciĆ³n Nacional de Colombia and the Andi Leadership Institute for Young Women in Peacebuilding. She has designed and taught peace-centric curricula to hundreds of adolescent students in both Colombia and South Korea. She is an outdoor and travel enthusiast and enjoys technical hikes, swimming, and kayaking, often with her husband, Rob.

Crushing Communications as a 1 Person Team
Level: Advanced

How can you manage to communicate effectively across different platforms to people of different ages and backgrounds as the sole communications person? We’ll explore strategies to pare down and streamline communication so you can adequately give information to people without getting distressed. 

Presenter: Sara Bitner, Communications Officer, Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee and Parish Administrator, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Milwaukee

With both of her jobs, Sara manages websites and social media platforms, crafts bulletins, newsletters, and other publications, coordinates databases, and more. Before beginning her work at St. Mark’s in 2014, Sara was a speech-language pathologist in the school system for twelve years. Her terrible joke is that she used to work with children with communication disorders and now she works with priests with communication disorders. Outside of work, Sara can be found knitting more socks than she’ll ever wear, attempting to crush her StoryGraph reading challenge by juggling more than one printed book and an audiobook at a time, and singing. She has sung with several choral ensembles in Milwaukee.


Parish and Cathedral Communications: Beyond Beginner (Intermediate/Advanced)

Level Up Your Campaign Communications
Level: All Levels
In this interactive workshop, we'll dive into the latest trends and strategies to amplify your church’s message. Discover how to craft compelling campaigns that resonate with your community and beyond. We'll explore the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate and enhance communication efforts, from personalized email marketing to AI-driven social media content creation. Participants will leave with actionable insights to elevate their campaign effectiveness and engage their audiences more deeply.

Presenter: Katie Allred, Director of Curriculum and Co-Founder of Church Communications
Katie Allred, founder of ChurchCommunications.com, leads an online community of 30K+ church leaders from all over the world. She previously oversaw faith partnerships at Meta. When she isn’t doing that, you can find her teaching at different universities, speaking at conferences, doing improv, and writing at KatieAllred.com. Katie is a thought leader in marketing, business, and Christian leadership. Connect with her on Instagram @katiejallred.

Content Calendar and Management: What's Next
Level: Intermediate
What does it look like to plan social media posts in advance? What tools should I use to build a content calendar, and how can I keep everything organized? Join Abbie McGilvery, Marketing Coach and Social Media Strategist, to get all of your content questions answe
red and to see a live demonstration of a content calendar beingbuilt in real time. You’ll walk away knowing how to streamline the content creation process so you can be more proactive and excited about planning your content.

Presenter: Abbie McGilvery, Marketing Coach, Social Media Strategist, and Owner of From The Nest
Abbie McGilvery is a Marketing Coach, Social Media Strategist, and Owner of From The Nest in Southern Maine. Serving as advisor and guide, she helps business owners and organizations get focused on their marketing goals, build brand visibility, and tell their stories on social media. Since launching her business in 2014, she has captivated hundreds of listeners at her workshops and speaking engagements around the country. In 2020 she published Scrapbook Social Media, her first book, and she enjoys bringing together groups of brave people, inspiring others to tell their stories out loud, and watching people SHINE!

Intergenerational Communications Beyond the Basics (Intermediate)

Public Relations
Level: All Levels
Welcome to PR – Where Worlds Collide, a workshop designed for all levels of expertise in Public Relations. Explore the latest trends, including AI, influencer marketing, and purpose-driven PR. Gain insights into client demands for strategic thinking, risk management, and 

transparent communication. Learn about planning methods like the PESO model and effective project management, technology utilization, time management, and client management. Understand crisis and change communication trends and how to align PR with a brand's purpose and values. Engage in workshop scenarios to apply your knowledge to real-world situations. Walk away with practical strategies to excel in PR, whether you're just starting your career or are a seasoned expert.

Presenter: Linda Varrell, APR, President & Founder
Linda has close to 30 years of experience in communications, public relations, crisis handling, and project and sales management. As a former vice president and company spokesperson for a publicly traded financial institution, she created and executed external and internal communications campaigns supporting expansive growth, product introductions, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, financial disclosures, high-visibility construction, and technology projects as well as numerous crises.  She is nationally accredited in public relations (APR), holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership and is regularly tapped to speak at C-level events and industry-specific conferences. Linda is a member of the Forbes Business Council, instructor for New England School of Banking and serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including Past President of the Maine Public Relations Council, Board Member for Maine Press Association, Institute for Family-Owned Business, USM Foundation and LifeFlight Foundation.  

Basics of Effective Communications
Level: Beginner
No matter what task gets thrown at a church communicator, whether for pages or screens, it almost always involves words, either to impart information or to share a story. In this workshop we’ll explore how to get started on any writing assignment, what needs to be in a news story, ways to organize your writing and tips on editing your own work. A bibliography of helpful books and articles about writing will leave participants with items to explore later.

Presenter: Melodie Woerman, Freelance Reporter, Episcopal News Service
Melodie Woerman has worked in church communications for 30 years at the diocesan and 
churchwide level, now as a freelance reporter for Episcopal News Service. She has won multiple Polly Bond awards for writing and is a fervent champion for communicators and their work. She has one adult son and two large cats, Harry and Hermione. In her spare time she likes to read biographies and works about history, do cross-stitch and crochet, and having watched  HGTV for years would be happy to give advice about home renovations.

Next Level Diocesan Communications
Level: Advanced
This session will discuss every element of broad-based strategies to propel your work in way that all roads will lead back to attractive and effective communication. It will include website considerations (from discarding the one you inherited, to creating the one you dream of having), and making the best out of your e-publications. It will cover creating an annual publication that brings visibility to your whole diocese and its institutions, or to your church. The session will take a dive into the importance of branding standards and strengthening your brand. We will dissect a visual standards and branding guide you may wish to consider if your church or diocese doesn’t already have one. From utilizing editorial calendars for social media postings to ensuring visibility from your own large congregation or your small parish, this session will have it covered. From the diocesan perspective, the same will be explored on a larger scale. We will also discuss the usefulness of getting your bishop(s) or members of clergy involved in podcasts and the release of sermon tidbits during the week, and how they can be utilized to attract both seekers and followers. Appeal to all as you attempt to attract lay, focus on formation, and celebrate those who are being raised up. Whether it’s from your public-facing platforms to an inward-facing intranet that you may or may not have, there’s always room to grow and expand, creating a comprehensive communications platform. This session will leave you with ideas to ponder.

Presenter: Tammy Lanier, Director of Communications, Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Tammy is a seasoned director of communications at the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, headquartered in downtown Houston. She also served in that capacity at the Department of Education of Harris County, the most populous county in the state. Additionally, she has similar experience in higher education. Having begun her career at the Houston Chronicle upon graduating from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Tammy holds a BA in Communications (with emphasis on Broadcast Journalism and a minor in English). Responsible for the full scope of diocesan communications, supporting all areas of diocesan operations, she and her team manage messaging, media relations, branding, social media, publications, and website management, among other responsibilities, including an annual magazine project, The Texas Episcopalian. While involved in her church, St. James’ Episcopal, Houston, Tammy is also a member of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., The Links, Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and Episcopal Church Women (ECW). She is married with a daughter and son (both college students) and enjoys an array of activities in her spare time, including traveling and spending time with family and friends.

Video Editing and Content Production (All)

Racial Reconciliation Communications (All)

Episcopal Beliefs and Practices 101
Level: Beginner
So, you are working in an Episcopal Church and start hearing some strange words:  what is a sacristy or the triduum and why does it matter?  Your rector has asked you to advertise an event, but you have never heard of Evensong. Here is a chance to learn about the vocabulary and beliefs of the Episcopal Church.  We will have fun together as we explore church terminology and vocabulary and answer your questions. You will leave the workshop having learned some new things and feeling more confident about the words of the church.

Presenter: Sr. Kristina Frances, SSM
A member of the Society of St. Margaret, an Episcopal Religious Order for women since 2001, Sr. Kristina Frances, SSM is currently the Superior of the Order. As such she is responsible for oversight of the operations of the Society in its locations in Duxbury, Massachusetts, New York City, and Haiti. Sr. Kristina Frances is a great lover of technology and enjoys exploring the ways that we find God and create quiet in a busy and ever-connected world. She has been the Society’s primary cantor for over 10 years, bringing her love of classical Anglican worship and early music to her work as she helps create beautiful, simple, and silence filled liturgies for her community. Sr. Kristina Frances has served as co-chair of the Liturgy & Music Commission of the Diocese of Massachusetts and as the Secretary of Convention for the Diocese of Massachusetts. She currently serves on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music.

Website Design for Intermediate and Advanced Learners (Intermediate/Advanced)

Crisis Communications (All)

Canva Deep Dive
Level
All Levels

Canva can help you create graphics, presentations, print and marketing materials, photo and video edits, and so much more! We’ll go over the basics of Canva, how to build a brand profile, working as an individual and team on the platform, tips and tricks for easy and efficient use, and dive into thenewest Canva AI tool, Magic Studio. For this workshop, we’ll have time to test out our Canva skills with a design challenge so please bring a laptop if possible. Whether you’re already a Canva user or hoping to see what the craze is about, this workshop is right for you!

Presenter: Tatiana Suggs-Perea, Communications Manager, Seminary of the Southwest
Tatiana Suggs-Perea is the Communications Manager at Seminary of the Southwest. She previously worked as the Digital Media Specialist for the Iona Collaborative, a program at the Seminary. She has worked with various organizations in The Episcopal Church including the Diocese of West Texas, The Episcopal Parish Network, and The Episcopal Church Office of Global Partnerships before working at Seminary of the Southwest. Tatiana holds a Master’s in International Development from the Barcelona Institute for International Studies in Barcelona, Spain and is bilingual in English and Spanish. Since 2022, Tatiana has served on the Board of Directors for Episcopal Communicators.


Intro to AI for Church Communicators: Education, Ethics, Empowerment Level: Beginner 

How do we balance productivity and authenticity in this new digital AI era? With AI, there is no "undo" button; these systems are learning from us as we're learning from them. Get practical marketing and business guidance around the most essential AI concepts. See how AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Canva, and CopyAI can help with research, fundraising, campaign planning, content creation, social media, and community engagement. Learn how to craft effective prompts that complement rather than replace the authenticity of your communications. This session will equip you with important information and best practices around the ethical and responsible use of AI, and offer encouragement to explore new strategies to enhance your work and deepen the impact of your mission.

Presenter: Rebecca Emery, APR, Founder and AI Business Consultant

Rebecca Emery, APR, is a marketing communications executive with more than 25 years of experience working for corporations and agencies in B2B and B2C markets, including telecommunications hardware, development software, SaaS, internet security, mobile monitoring software, K-12 education, tourism, and aviation. She successfully led communications efforts for multi-million-dollar acquisitions and helped launch new products and startup companies, and is also a versatile hands-on marketer. She founded Seacoast AI to help teams, agencies, and companies harness the potential of AI through expert training, consulting, and workflow automation development. Rebecca earned an M.B.A. from Webster University and is nationally accredited in public relations (APR). She serves on the board of the Maine Public Relations Council and previously served on the board of the Florida Public Relations Association and the MIT Enterprise Forum of South Florida.



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