Tag Archive - Conferences

ReThinking How We Do Conferences

March 12, 2009 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 7 Comments

meetingsA couple of months ago I started a series called ChurchTechCamp-8 Things To Know If You Want to Help Organize One. You can see my last post, with the previous posts at the bottom. I actually did have 8 posts within me, but got distracted which is easy for me to do. I could continue those posts, but I think I’ve made my point….(and to be honest, it’s part of my letting go process of perfection…I don’t need to finish 8 posts…haaa).

Conferences are changing, and the traditional way of doing them will disappear for many, but the few elite ones.

Church Crunch had a recent post, Hey Where’s My Conference?!?!

Eric Jones writes:

Has anyone else out there become aware of all the church conferences going on around the US? We’ve got leadership conferences, worship leader conferences, youth ministry conferences and more. It seems like every time I turn around I see a new conference popping up for my pastor, associate pastors, church staffers, worship leaders etc to attend.

I like to check out these sites to see what, if anything am I’m missing. The speakers are all people I typically am aware of and have much respect for. The topics are as expected, slanted towards church leadership and church staff.

But then I started to wonder, what about me? What about the church attender? Where is our conference circuit?

Cynthia Ware at The Digital Sanctuary says this in The Idea Camp Lives On (Idea Camp):

The entire event (free, of course)is still openly challenging all of us who are used to paying for conferences to see speakers we can listen to rather than those we can collaborate with.

And yet, Generation “We” seems to clearly resonate with a new set of values. Open source cross-pollenation, dynamic conversational collaboration, elevating innovation, celebrating creativity, participating, dreaming, designing, doing.

A taste of things to come.

So I’m wondering where you stand on all of this conference stuff. I know some people are frustrated with the sheer number of “conferences” or “unconferences” popping up, while others are thrilled.

Continue Reading…

Do You Have A Feedback Loop When You Speak/Preach?

February 24, 2009 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 11 Comments

I hate being captive in an audience when the people on stage don’t have a feedback loop going with the audience. We’re used to living a two-way life online and expect it when in an audience too. Our expectations of speakers and people on stage have changed, for better or for worse. Robert Scoble

public-speaking-picI just finished reading the article by Olivia Mitchell, How to Present While People are Twittering, which can be found over at Laura Fitton’s blog. THIS IS A MUST READ IF YOU SPEAK!

And now I’m asking that question, “Do you have a feedback loop when you speak?”

It’s a question I have been wondering about for a while…and not just in conference speaking, but in preaching. The conference speaker and the preacher are essentially the same…not in content of message…one is evangelizing the gospel of Jesus Christ and the other is evangelizing a product or idea. BUT, they both come into the engagement with the expectation of a one-way conversation. Though honestly it can’t be a conversation if it’s one way…CORRECT?

Whatever the scenario, the pulpit or the podium, those who stand behind it expect the audience to sit, listen and be attentive.

I think those days are over, or at least coming to an end. Both the audience and the congregation want more engagement and interaction with those who speak from up front. They want more of a conversation…more of a dialogue.

The reality is this. I think some conference speakers will get it and some preachers will get it. They will seek methods and tools to engage the audience and provide more of a real time experience through the use of a feedback loop such as Twitter that is mentioned in the article above. And others will not get it. They will continue to speak to an audience and congregation, demanding one way conversation.

Why is that? Their theology? Fear of losing power and authority? Difficulty in doing it? Tradition? Training?

I’m not saying this needs to be mastered now, but it’s something to be thinking about. It will take a very different kind of leader and speaker to engage audiences in the future whether you are evangelizing ideas or the gospel.

What do you think?