In a recent meeting with some people about the kiosk project, a perspective came to light that could probably be best addressed with the statement, “yea, and.”

We were talking about the method of delivering content by way of removable memory cards, but in the midst of the people whom I was speaking, only two of us had devices that had such a feature. While explaining that the kiosk also had a wireless hotspot aspect to it helped things move forward, it hit there that many opportunities for mobile engagement are at best left behind because its difficult for people to take it from a piece of technology to a relevant tool.

Finding relevancy for mobile (or anything) can be as simple as asking questions around what are needs and opportunities. Statistics help here, as do understanding the lay of the land within and without religious contexts. Unfortunately, not too many projects lend to doing all of this kind of work. Many times, we dive into a project without a clear-enough understanding of all of the points of relevancy, and therefore end up posturing mobile (or anything) as a savior, when to the people we are pitching it to, it just doesn’t fit.

In another project from the same week, I received some excellent feedback about the class that I led, “offers great content but would like to have seen the training more targeted towards our immediate needs.” The subject matter was needed, but overall relevancy was lost because I didn’t have key information about the class participants which would have better driven the content application. I put the blame of this one on me, despite working with another company on this one. As a trainer, if the technology that I’m teaching is relevant, then where engage it must be in a place that’s personal to the persons listening.

So here’s the lesson. We can go mobile. And in fact, we’d tell you without thinking about it twice that going mobile(-firs) is probably the best thing you could do. But, if you are looking for the best use of your time and resources, and would rather not want mobile or anything else to fade faster than it started – pick the key relevant points for mobile and the effort you are engaging in. You will not only be relevant, but have a better chance of doing something that sticks.