(click image to enlarge)

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Okay… BUT WHY AM I BEYOND EXCITED? 

1. Sidekick will change the way I communicate! 

I will use a Sidekick Poll EVERY TIME I speak. Since I got to play around with this before most, I’ve used it in a large crowd (1,400 couples at a marriage event) and a small crowd (9 interns in a training event). In each message, I included 3 different polls, and the people loved participating. 

2. Sidekick moves the phone from distraction to engagement!

When I first started in youth ministry, there was no such thing as phones in the hands of teenagers. Phones hung on the wall. For the last decade, phones have been one of the constant battles with teenagers. Now, with the NEW Sidekick, their phone will become a tool of engagement.

3. Sidekick allows me to run my presentation from my phone!

This alone almost gives me an aneurysm of excitement (most of my medical comments should not be taken seriously). I like to use graphics when I teach. I use A LOT of them, and it’s really hard to delegate “timing” to the AV person. Don’t get me wrong, I love my AV people, but humor/timing isn’t usually one of their gifts. But now… I.AM.IN.CONTROL (yes, this comes up in counseling). In 40+ years of speaking to teenagers I’ve never had the freedom to run my presentation from my phone or my iPad. Now I do… and, my heart is happy. 

4. It’s so easy to use that even I can use it. 

The team at DYM teases me about my age and technology… I feel like I could talk to HR about that, but technically I’m HR. Anyway, I may be a little behind on the newest tech-wizardry that “the kids” are gushing over, but I can make a Sidekick deck… AND… run it… without help. Boom. Mic drop. And I’ve done it (I even have photos to prove it!). I’ve taken old Keynote presentations, exported the slides, imported them into Sidekick, made my own polls (which takes about 1 minute), and presented on my phone, my iPad, and my laptop. So, if Doug Fields can do it… you can do it!

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(click image to enlarge)

5. There are upcoming features that I can’t even tell you about.

We’ve put together a list of so many features that will be added to Sidekick, and there are so many that our developers don’t want them released… but, the developers aren’t in charge of me (what? Who talks like that? Since when have youth pastors been so bold? 😄) There is going to be a Spinny Wheel (AI integration–yep, probably), there will be Scripture Inserts (type in a reference and it creates a verse slide), there will be Name Picker (coming in January), there will even be the ability for students to text in comments and questions that will appear on the screen (with the ability to moderate, of course!).

SERIOUSLY!

There are so many fun ways that Sidekick will change the way you communicate with teenagers and program for them. 

Finally, if you choose to use the new Sidekick… let me know how you do it and what types of polls you do because I want to highlight you. My goal is to highlight a youth worker every week with different ways they’ve used Live Voting and Sidekick. If you’d like to become part of our Sidekick hero team, just click the big red button below: