Slowly, Slowly, Catchee Monkee … #cmn11

Sometimes change has to happen slowly, to allow people to accustom themselves to things! I am very much not for doing things “the way we’ve always done it” because that’s “the way we’ve always done it”, but also not in “change for changes sake”.

The Academy

This year is my fourth at the Church and Media Network conference (starts tomorrow), and it’s been interesting to see how it develops. In 2007 I was in the ‘Academy‘, which seeks to encourage young Christians into media spaces, and I think all those I am still in contact with on Facebook are doing exciting things in the media.. so definitely worthwhile! Meeting Rachel from Rechord (who was training us) was the highlight of that event for me, especially when I realised that I could have run the sessions myself… a great confidence boost which has evidenced itself in later years! Those who are in this year’s Academy are already en route to the conference, if not there already…

The Twitter Feed

Last year I blogged on the growth of the Twitter stream… that the second year I was at the conference (as a delegate), there was around 6 of us tweeting away from a hashtag I’d suggested, last year there was real activity going on, and we suggested this year that there’s to be a third screen to the side of the main conference hall, enabling people to see what goes on on Twitter before choosing whether to join in (many of those at the conference are from a traditional media background (as the conference emerged from BBC meetups), and still getting their heads around social media). I would have been incredibly happy to have offered a ‘How to Tweet’ session, but am instead co-hosting a blogging session with Pete Phillips! These practical sessions, including podcasting, social media apps, etc. are a great step forward, and how much more social media will we see this year, who will join in from the outside (we know that Peter Ould isn’t there, but will be interested in what’s going on), and what will The Church Mouse say about it this year!

If you’re interested in social media and faith, don’t forget about CNMAC11 also!

What to wear?

If you’re there, look forward to seeing you, and in memory of the wonderful John Daniels, need to decide on which are the most appropriate t-shirts for this year… as we’d talked about having a “getting people talking t-shirt” competition this year … although I think most of mine have been seen!!