Cultivate is happening at Park in a little over a month from now. There’s been lots of buzz about it and I know with churches cutting budgets you have to be wise about which conferences/seminars you attend this year. So here’s my Top 5 Reasons Why You Need to Be at Cultivate.
I’m more and more convinced that if you are at all wondering how the church should engage with social media, the web, and are wondering what the future of church communications looks like, you need to be here. Period.
Here’s 5 reasons why…
1. We have too many conferences; this is going to be a conversation.
Conferences are invaluable experiences, and I’m a self proclaimed “conference junkie,” but at some point I think we need to not just sit and listen, we need to speak up and engage. Cultivate will be centered on conversation. Facilitators will take a few minutes to throw out some ideas, but the rest of conversation is driven by questions texted in by audience. The round tables will be awesome so people can be working together as a team to explore ideas
2. Small is the new big.
There won’t be thousands of people here. It’s going to be a small group of people and it will offer you face time with some of the leading minds in the church communications world that you would honestly not find at larger conferences. You’ll be able to engage with facilitators. Also, it’s not just people in churchdom. We’ll have several people from the marketplace leading discussions as well. We’ll have people from 37signals, iStock Photo, an award-winning brand firm, marketing experts, and social media gurus. Plus, there’s lots of names you may not heard of that are doing some pretty innovative stuff. You will also be able to customize your day based on the topics you’re most interested in.
3. It’s one day and it’s cheap.
We’re going to have a marathon of day, but it’s just that. One day. Even if your budgets are shot, Chicago is a transportation hub and I guarantee no matter where you are traveling from you can find a cheap flight. You could catch a red eye to Chicago early Tuesday morning, catch the train into the city, get to Park, be here all day and catch a late night flight out. No hotel fees. No rental cars. No parking. (Of course, it would be awesome for you to check out Story while you’re here, but even if you can make it for a day, it’s worth it.)
4. You’ll get to have lunch with people who you want to have conversations with.
Instead of turning you loose or giving you a boxed lunch and doing the whole awkward, “is there room at this table?” drill, we’re going to set up different lunches for you to go and have lunch with people you want to talk with. If you’re into social media we’ll have a lunch set up up with Cynthia Ware and other social media gurus. Want to talk web? Drew Goodmanson, Kent Shaffer, and Tony Steward will be talking web. Church communications? Come hang with Kem Meyer, me and others.
5. You’ll get to check out Park.
Now, I know I’m a bit partial, but I think there are some pretty cool and unique things going on at Park. Since we’re hosting it, you’ll get to see and hear what it’s all about and get a chance to experience life and church in the city!
BONUS :: No one is making any money off of this. Any profit we make will be split between the Center for Church Communication and Blood:WaterMission. Pretty sweet, huh?
So there’s my schpeel.
If you need more reasons, let me know… or if you need me to talk to whoever oversees your budget, I’d be happy to talk to them too.
I really believe Cultivate is going to spark some very important conversations and I think anyone that can be here needs to get here and be a part of it!
