GETTING STARTED
Getting Started
History and Vision
History ................................................... 4
Vision .................................................... 5
Operations Team Roles
Know the Roles of the Team ................. 7
Event Manager Job Description
Job Description ..................................... 9
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The Global Leadership Summit
Any endeavor’s successful outcome starts with having a clear understanding of its
background, purpose, and objectives. As you prepare for The Global Leadership
Summit be sure to pass on the History and Vision of the Summit to all those serving
on the Summit Team. Having a common vision can rally the team to get behind this
project and invest ownership into their role. It will ensure that everyone is on the
same page.
Use this chapter to familiarize yourself with the History and Vision of the Summit as
well as each key Role on your Summit team. Your team will need to work as one unit
to make the Summit a successful event in your church and community.
History
The premier leadership event of its kind, The Leadership Summit in the United States
has convened each and every August since 1995 with one objective: to transform
local churches around the world with an annual injection of vision, skill development,
and inspiration in the lives of Christian leaders. More than 110,000 Christ-following
men and women gather annually in more than 250 sites in 60 countries around the
world to explore and sharpen their leadership gifts and abilities on behalf of the local
church. Offering fresh ideas, powerful teaching, and relevant drama, the main-stage
faculty includes some of the best leadership experts and communicators in the world.
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The Leadership Summit is broadcast live via satellite from the Willow Creek campus
near Chicago to more than 140 locations across North America. It is experienced via
videocast in an additional 100+ cities around the world. This event offers people and
teams in your community the opportunity to join hearts and minds with church
leaders from around the world in one spectacular event to:
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Explore cutting-edge leadership principles and embrace a leadership culture
that grows stronger from year to year
Enjoy latest learnings and motivation from topic communicators and
leadership experts
Tackle issues unique to the role of leaders including casting vision, motivating
others, self-management, team building, managing volunteers, problem
solving, decision making, and much more
Laser-focused on leadership, this multi day event challenges and stimulates as it
provides clear vision, practical development, and heartfelt inspiration. Each session
is filled with transferable principles for every level of leadership.
Vision
Below is an excerpt from Critical Importance of Leadership, a message that Bill
Hybels gave at the first Summit in 1995. He has cast this vision on many occasions
and in many countries since then
and he’s even more convinced of it today. It
gives us all a glimpse of how passionate Bill is about the local church and why
effective leadership within the church is so extremely important.
Critical Importance of Leadership (1995)
“I say it a lot, but I mean it every time I say it. One of the reasons why leaders are so
important is because the local church is the hope of the world. I don’t know if you
really buy that. But I’ll tell you, I think you should. Just look at our world, friends. It is
unraveling at a rapid rate, and pretty much nobody knows how to fix it.
Bill Bennett said it well when he said, “I submit to you that the crisis of our time is
spiritual. What afflicts us is a corruption of the heart and a turning away of the soul.
Nothing has been more consequential in the unraveling that’s going on in our society
than large segments of the American people privately turning away from God. And, to
turn things around, there must be wide-scale personal spiritual renewal.
Question: Who traffics in the spiritual renewal business? We do! The church!
I’ve come to the crystal clear conclusion that the church possesses the single
ray of hope left in the darkening skies of human depravity.
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The church has the Gospel. The church has the instruction manual, the Bible, for
human behavior, the guidebook for relationships, the road map for ethics and
morality. The church has the gift of community to offer wayward, wandering and
lonely people.
The church has a transcendently powerful mission to invite people to be a part of. For
this church or your church to reach its redemptive, life-giving potential, it must be well
led.
It must be powerfully envisioned, strategically focused, internally aligned. Its
members and volunteers must be motivated; its message must be preached with
clarity; its problems have to be addressed and solved; its values must be enforced;
its resources must be leveraged
and that’s all the business of leaders.
Which is why the Apostle Paul cried out,
“If you have the spiritual gift of leadership, for God’s sake, LEAD!’”
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Operations Team Roles
Know the Roles of Team
There are many roles that make The Global Leadership Summit possible.
Familiarizing yourself with “who does what” will help you lead your team lead with
excellence and prepare for a successful Summit event.
Event Manager (expanded description on following page)
Lead and oversee the Operations Team through the preparation process in
cooperation with the WCA Representative or Organizing Committee. The Event
Manager is responsible for the Conference Planner (conference planning document)
and coordination of staff and volunteers. He/She will plan and execute the guest
services areas of The Global Leadership Summit.
Volunteer Coordinator
Schedule all volunteer positions. Communicate with the Operations Team for all
required positions to be filled. Host Volunteer Meeting Room and Volunteer check-in.
Registration Coordinator
Oversee, set-up, training and implementation of the on-site Registration and
Registration Solutions for guests during conference days.
Guest Services Coordinator
Oversee, organize and train volunteers in the areas of Information Centre, Ushers
(Stewards), Greeters, Prayer Team, Parking, and Emergency Team.
Hospitality Coordinator
Coordinate and serve meals and refreshments for volunteers during the conference
and set-up days. Coordinate and serve refreshments for guests during the
conference days.
Prayer Coordinator
Recruit the prayer team and be available in the Prayer room throughout the
conference, praying as a team, individually or with conference guests as requested.
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Resource Coordinator
Lead and mobilize volunteers that will set-up and work in the resource area. To
assist in tear down of the resource area.
Facility Coordinator
Develop a facility team that will set-up, arrange, care for and clean the facility prior to
and during the conference.
Administration and Finance Coordinator
Responsible for tracking and reporting all conference expenses with the WCA
Representative or Organizing Committee.
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Event Manager Job Description
The primary goal and responsibility of the Event Manager is to execute The Global
Leadership Summit by providing a distraction-free environment for conference guests
to experience The Summit.
Gifts/Abilities
 Leadership in organization and team-building
 Administration
 Delegation and follow-up
 Clear communication
 Detail oriented
 Troubleshooting and problem-solving
 Working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel)
 Accessible by email
Essential Tasks
 Recruit Operations team leaders; educate and empower them regarding the
details of their positions
 Recruit and cast vision for volunteers in partnership with Operation Team
Coordinators
 Follow-up with Operation Team leaders to ensure tasks are completed on
time
 Establish and maintain communication with WCA Representative or
Organizing Committee for necessary information and integration of teams in
areas of: budget, breakouts, registration, resources, refreshments, signage,
timelines, etc.
 Maintain the Conference Planner both before and during the event
 Provide rental quotes to Finance Coordinator (i.e. tables, chairs, tablecloths,
coffee urns, etc.)
 Call and lead Operation Team meetings
 Provide minutes from Operation Team meetings to team members within
three days of each meeting
 Debrief with WCA Representative or Organizing Committee within two weeks
after the conference
 Communicate all necessary information to Programming Team (as they’re not
required to attend all Operations Team meetings)
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Time Commitment
 3-5 months before the conference approximately 10 hours per week
 2 months before the conference, and until the week of the conference,
approximately 20 hours per week
The Unexpected Challenges
The best event management professionals agree that the concept of “eliminating
uncertainty” in the planning phase is the key to a smooth-running event.
Small challenges always seem to present themselves on-site. For example, equipment
fails, something is missing, someone calls in sick, or the weather doesn’t cooperate.
Knowing that there will always be unexpected challenges motivates the best Event
Managers to plan and organize everything they can ahead of time—leaving nothing to
chance, and pushing nothing off until the last minute.
When hospitality lists are complete, food items are ready-to-go, a solid plan for
equipment and scheduling is in place, you should have the time and resources you need
to handle the small challenges that occur during the event that couldn’t have been
foreseen.
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