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Jim Purtle here, I’ve loved the new Sidekick Live Voting feature, but realized it would be even more fun with a big audience. For our little church, one of the biggest crowds of the year is at our Christmas Eve service (which is attended by around 500 people), so at this year’s Christmas Eve service, we used Sidekick to help with the pre-show before the service started. It was so much fun!

Here’s the setup:
We had a gingerbread-house-decorating contest on the stage, with four pre-selected couples competing for the top prize. We bought the gingerbread houses premade with no decorations, and then we put all the decorating stuff on a table off the stage. The contestants had to run to the table, grab the decorations, and decorate their house the best they could in under three minutes (It was hilarious!)

My wife Cindy was hosting the game with Ryan, a guy who graduated from our youth ministry last year. Ryan always hosted games when he was a high school student, so we drafted him when he came home from college to host our pre-show. As always, the hosts and their interaction with the contestants is so important!

We were running a game timer countdown just on a laptop sitting on a table where they could all see, and then we used up our big screens in the room for other stuff! (I used DYM’s Candy Cane Snowflakes countdown, starting at 3:00, because the numbers were huge enough to make up for the small screen we were playing it on.)

On that note, here’s how we did screens and voting:

We have a screen setup that seems to be pretty common to a lot of churches: three large front screens, with separate content on the two side screens vs. the center screen.

So we did…

• Live camera shots of the teams decorating their gingerbread houses on the two side screens, and…
• The Sidekick Live Voting graphic on the main center screen.

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Since our church is primarily senior-citizens, when the hosts introduced Sidekick’s QR code and the concept of Live Voting, I ran up, pulled out my phone, and showed people exactly how to do it.

Here’s what I actually said (while demonstrating):

“Open your camera, and zoom in on that black and white symbol thingy. DON’T take a photo. Instead, wait until a little link pops up on the screen by the QR code, and tap that. If you’re having trouble, ask a teenager to help you.”

And our hosts made sure to emphasize:

“You only get to vote once, so make sure you’re happy with your vote before you send it!”

We counted down, kicked off the chaos, and took votes. It was so much fun! I can’t wait to find other creative uses for Sidekick in 2024!

Here Are A Few Quick Notes That Might Help Someone Else Who Wants to Do Something Similar:

• Even with our elderly crowd, we had a strong voting response, and people LOVED seeing their vote tally before their eyes!
• The option to show the QR code full-screen was very useful for the larger room.
• If I had it to do again, I’d make sure the color-coded tables were in the same order as the vote graphic (rookie mistake 🤷‍♂️).
• I got the new DYM Platinum Membership the week before Christmas. It gave me all the live voting capacity I needed on Sidekick, plus literally everything I need for my program budget, volunteer training, and parent seminars for the entire year. They aren’t paying me to say this, but I highly recommend it.

Happy New Year! If you haven’t poked around on this blog yet, I recommend that too–so much to learn from other youth workers!

Blessings,

Jim

I’m a Fan of Sidekick!

I recently had the privilege of beta testing DYM’s new Sidekick–it’s a game-changer. I was always a huge fan of the OG Sidekick, but I always wanted more. This latest [totally rebuild] Sidekick not only exceeded my expectations but also reshaped how I lead and structure our youth nights, even extending its benefits to leadership training. 

Here are 5 of the Top Reasons I’m a Fan:

1. Everyone Can Participate without Actually Participating.

Whether they are shy or visiting for the very first time, not everyone wants to be front and center during a game. Enter Live Voting. Now, when we play a trivia game, the audience can cast their vote for what they think the answer is. If they get it right, their phone lights up green, and it lights up red if they get it wrong. Either way, they are playing the game without having to be in front of everyone. Everyone from introverts to extroverts (and yes, even visitors) are all leaning into what we’re doing.

2. The Crowd Becomes Part of the Game.

Remember when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? changed game shows forever when they introduced the Ask the Audience lifeline? Sidekick absolutely brings that same vibe with Live Voting. The crowd gets to vote on every question, and it keeps them hooked, even if they’re not one of the ones on stage. And then, after you close the voting, you can reveal the answer if they got it right, they stand up, and it feels like they all accomplished something together. And it’s even more fun if the student playing up front gets it wrong! In that case, we actually give the prize to someone in the crowd who got the answer correct, so that way, everyone has a chance to win! And don’t worry, we still give the upfront player something, too 🙂

3. It Resets Their Attention Spans.

We’ve all been there, the “how long is too long to teach?” dilemma. The answer depends on how long you can keep them engaged. Our typical go-to methods are videos, images, or questions to discuss at round tables. We’ve found that every time we do something like this, their attention span resets, and Sidekick just made that process SO MUCH EASIER!

Recently, we wrapped up a series on the Birth Story, and while building up to the angels appearing before the shepherds, I did a Live Voting Poll, where I asked:

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About 95% of them voted for either an influencer or an expert. This unintentionally became more than resetting attention spans… it created an ah-ha moment with a biblical story they’ve heard many times.

4. Slide Transitions are No Longer Dependent on Attendance, Behavior, or “Less-than-Reliable” Teenagers

Sidekick came in clutch for me when our student leadership team took a hiatus (meaning my “media team” was gone). But, I didn’t even worry for a second! Since I’m able to control presentations from my iPad or phone, I didn’t have to stress about who was going to run the presentation. Even if someone’s absent or dealing with distractions, I can smoothly navigate through the lesson without needing to rely on that one media kid (we all have that kid, right?) to pay attention. Sidekick has been a lifesaver during those shorthanded moments, especially when training someone new isn’t an immediate option.

5. Our Media Training has Gotten an Upgrade.

Yes, Sidekick has even changed the way I train leaders and students on our presentation computers (and not just because it’s a new/different software). In the past, when I trained someone on how to use our presentation software, I had to schedule them to come to the church early or on a different day, and it became a little bit of a nightmare (both in terms of scheduling and them forgetting what I taught them). But, since Sidekick is web based, I can give my team access to our Sidekick Workspace where they can mess around with a presentation on their own time and essentially learn on their own (because, let’s face it, they are naturally way better at this than any of us are).

And since Sidekick is already so easy to use, my media team is already more confident and comfortable with Sidekick in two weeks than they ever were in over a year with our old software (can you guess which one we were using? It’s the confusing one 😄). Plus, Sidekick is perfect for prepping for our big Christmas Party because I can send out the link ahead of time, they mess with it, and we’re all set!

Check Out This Sidekick Hero In Action:

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In a Nutshell, Sidekick Isn’t Just Software… It’s a Youth Ministry Superhero.

It makes things more fun, more inclusive, and way less stressful. If you’re not on the Sidekick train yet, you’re missing out on some serious youth ministry magic!

5 Ways Sidekick Will Help Me in the New Year!

As a youth worker, who is responsible for presenting his own presentation from the stage, Sidekick has been an absolute game-changer for me. I’m in my 10th year in youth ministry, and I’ve never seen anything like the new Sidekick! I’ve loved the opportunity to play around with Sidekick 2.0 as part of the Beta Test Group and I’m thrilled to now have a new tool at my disposal that will save me time and make me so much more effective.

Here are 5 ways I believe Sidekick will benefit me and the way I do youth ministry in 2024:

1. It Saves Me TONS of Time!

Until now, I feel like I’ve been stuck in 1990 because I’ve been using PowerPoint as my presentation software. I just wasn’t able to afford anything else. But the truth is that it’s just so difficult to change things on PowerPoint. But now, it is so easy to just drag and drop images into Sidekick! Plus, I love that you can make the presentation ANYWHERE and then log in from somewhere else and the presentation is right there. I used to dread making PowerPoints each week, but now I love making Sidekick presentations–the continual updates that the DYM team is implementing keep making every week a new and fun surprise.

2. No Longer Stuck Behind the Laptop!

I currently present everything myself from a laptop hooked up directly (via HDMI) to a TV screen on stage with me (see pic). BUT NOT ANYMORE! With the ability to use Sidekick’s remote feature from my phone, I am able to move around freely throughout the crowd and not miss a beat! Plus, I’ve been super impressed by how quickly the screen responds when I click the button on my phone! This allows me to interact with my students more during my message and the games.

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3. From Distraction to Interaction!

I’ve been fighting phone battles with my students for years… but not anymore! With the ability to create LIVE POLLS, students’ phones have just become a very cool engagement tool. Whether it’s used for icebreaker questions as students arrive or trivia questions during a game, they have LOVED the ability to interact with what’s happening on the screen! Even my students who don’t have phones have partnered up with their friends who do, so everyone gets to participate!

Todd prepping a poll for youth group…

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Using Sidekick to run a game for his group…

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4. One-Stop Shop for the “Do-It-All” Youth Pastor

I’ve learned that I can’t do effective youth ministry alone… I need volunteers! But I’ve encountered weeks where volunteers don’t show up, and everything falls on me (I’m hoping at least one youth worker can relate to this). Sidekick makes it so easy to present everything myself. It’s been super easy to integrate games, worship lyrics with the CCLI SongSelect (thank you for including this DYM!!), and slides for my message. In our meeting space (our gym), we don’t have a tech booth, so presenting from the stage is our only option, and Sidekick makes it so much easier. I’m so excited for the upcoming features like “Pick Me” and “Wheel Spinner” to be added in January. Those additions will only make my presentations/programming even more effective.

5. So Easy, My Senior Pastor Can Do It!

I haven’t asked my senior pastor to present using Sidekick yet, but I’m positive he could–it’s so easy to use. When I first heard about the new Sidekick, I was a little nervous because I thought, “Oh great, another tool/program/software I will need to learn.” But I’ve been super impressed with how easy it was to figure out and implement almost immediately. Plus, I love that it is web-based, so it’s all built into a browser! There’s no software to download and nothing to take up more space on my hard drive. Everything is extremely user-friendly, not to mention all the tools like this blog and the how-to-videos that DYM has created to help youth workers win. Just drag and drop elements into the presentation, hit “present,” and BOOM, it’s live!

In the words of my friend Buddy the Elf, “The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” And let me be the first to tell you that Sidekick gives all youth pastors something to cheer about! I’ve been telling all my youth pastor friends about Sidekick 2.0 so they, too, can experience the wonderful gift of this new revolutionary tool for youth ministry. Join the crew, check out the brand new Sidekick, and become a Sidekick Hero like me. You won’t regret it.